When avoiding probate helps your family
By Spiro Verras
Avoiding probate can be a worthwhile goal when it makes the eventual administration more private or gives your chosen successor easier continuity in managing property. The value depends on your family and your assets. A good plan also recognizes the protection that a court-supervised probate...
Common Causes of Probate Delays
By Spiro Verras
Probate has important work to accomplish: identifying property, addressing claims and expenses, and distributing the estate according to the law and any valid will. The time required varies. Understanding the likely tasks can help a family plan realistically and distinguish necessary procedures from avoidable delays.
Complex...Contesting a Will
By Spiro Verras
A will gives a family and its fiduciaries a written account of a person’s wishes. When questions arise about its validity, Florida law provides specific grounds and procedures for a contest action. Understanding those rules can also help when preparing a clear estate...
Funding your trust
By Spiro Verras
Funding your trust means connecting the estate plan with the property it is meant to govern. For some assets, that involves a change of ownership. For others, it means choosing a beneficiary designation that works with the trust. Careful funding turns a well-written document into...
Who Should I Name As Trustee?
By Spiro Verras
Choosing a trustee is a decision about people as much as property. The right person or institution should be able to follow your instructions, exercise sound judgment, keep clear records, and communicate thoughtfully with the people your trust is meant to help.
What does a trustee...Understanding Florida probate costs
By Spiro Verras
The cost of Florida probate depends on the property, the work required, and the procedure that fits the estate. Understanding those pieces helps a family plan sensibly and helps a personal representative ask useful questions before work begins.
Probate also provides something...
How trusts and wills work together
By Spiro Verras
Estate planning works best when its parts work together. A living trust can manage property during life and guide a private administration after death. A will can supply a useful safeguard, nominate the people who will act, and direct property that passes through the estate....
Advanced Class: Navigating Florida’s Intestacy Laws
By Spiro Verras
A person dies intestate when property passes without an effective will directing its distribution. Florida law identifies the heirs to that intestate property, generally by family relationship. Establishing the family tree can require careful work, particularly when records are incomplete or relatives disagree.
A simple example...
Simple Tips for Personal Representatives
By Spiro Verras
Serving as the personal representative of a friend's or family member's estate is a meaningful responsibility. It often begins while you are grieving. A clear plan, practical support, and timely legal guidance can make the work more manageable.
Start with the urgent stepsBeing nominated in a...
Reducing the risk of a will contest
By Spiro Verras
A thoughtful estate plan can do more than identify who inherits. It can make your intentions easier to understand and give your family a reliable path to follow. Careful preparation, private conversations with counsel, and clear records can reduce uncertainty that might otherwise lead to...