Estate Planning

While you work hard to build your business, we work hard to protect your personal and business assets. We engage in planning for both your personal life, and your business life, and will design business interests and structures with retirement in mind. We help with wills, set up trusts and other retirement planning tools and take advantage of the laws that assure that funds set aside for retirement remain beyond the reach of creditors, as intended, and available for ones’ later years. Using appropriate retirement planning to secure assets in selected states and jurisdictions, we provide avenues for our clients to safely and legally protect their assets. Smart planning can also help to avoid taxes and unnecessary probate litigation and expense.

  • Wills and Trusts
  • Probate Administration
  • Probate Litigation
  • Estate Planning

Florida Estate Planning & Probate FAQ’s

Can I use a will to distribute my assets over time?

Your will can only devise assets on death and cannot be used to control the disposition of your assets farther down the road. If you wish your assets to go to heirs over time, or under certain conditions, you need a trust to go along with your will.

How can I avoid probate?

There are several methods that can be employed to avoid, or minimize probate. For example, changing the title to real estate, or placing it in trust, allows the property to change hands outside of probate.

How much does it cost to create a trust?

Trust complexity, and therefore cost, varies from case to case based on the goals of the settlor (creator) of the trust. Simple trusts can often be done for as little as $1500.

If my trust is irrevocable, does that mean I can’t get my money?

Absolutely not. It can be set up to give your trustee the discretion to understand and take care of your needs as they arise and as they change from time to time, as well as to make distributions to you under any reasonable formula or under any criteria you establish. You cannot, however, draft the trust to give you unfettered discretion to dictate how the trust monies are distributed.

Should I use a revocable or irrevocable trust?

Revocable trusts can serve as good estate planning devices, but are useless as a creditor avoidance (asset protection) device. Irrevocable trusts can serve both purposes.