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Baker Act Basics
How does the Baker Act work? Perhaps your child was picked up at school by the police after an incident. Perhaps your loved one ended up at the hospital and, before you know it, he or she was detained in a Baker Act Receiving Facility (read: a psychiatric hospital). Regardless of the situation, Florida’s Mental…
Designation of Health Surrogate
Attached is a fillable-form Designation of Health Surrogate PDF that can assist you in designating what you want to have happen in the event you cannot make health decisions for yourself due to incapacity (coma, unconsciousness, serious brain injury). Please read over the form very carefully and modify it as you deem necessary. You can…
Living Will
Attached is a fillable-form Living Will PDF that can assist you in designating what you want to have happen in the event you are terminally ill or find yourself in a persistent vegetative state. Please read over the form very carefully and modify it as you deem necessary. Initial before each item that you agree…
Removing a Nominated Personal Representative (And why the courts need discretion to do it)
In Pontrello v. Estate of Kepler, 528 So.2d 441 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988), the court made a rather overwrought proclamation: “A judge treads on sacred ground… when he overrides the testator's directions regarding the appointment of the person in whom the decedent placed his trust to administer his estate according to the powers given in…
Transferring the Farm Before You Buy the Farm – Estate Tax on Family Business
How Uncertainty in Proposed Changes to §2704 Affects Tax Liability and Minority Interest Transfers for Family-Controlled Business Owners Valuation discounts are a way for owners of family-controlled business to reduce the tax burden of their estates by transferring minority interests in the business to family members. These minority interests carry certain restrictions, such as non-liquidation…
Elements of a Basic Will in Florida
DISCLAIMER: The following is legal information and NOT legal advice. Nothing in the article below should be construed to create an attorney-client relationship, and I strongly recommend that you see an attorney to at least have him or her look over your estate documents. Give us a call at (407) 706-3967 if we can help.…
TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROBATE PROPERTY- The Car, the Kitsch, the Couch, and the Cat
If you are the personal representative of a loved-one’s estate, there are generally three types of property that you’ll encounter during estate administration: real property (homes and land), intellectual (intangible) property, and tangible personal property. This post deals with the last category, tangible personal property, which I will shorten to “TPP” from here on out.…