Estate Planning & Probate Law Firm serving Miami and South Florida since 1985

Are you wondering whether you need a Florida estate plan now that you have been diagnosed with cancer? In fact, estate planning is critical for everyone. The importance of an estate plan ranges from being able to make the early choice of who will be able to care for you in a crisis to who should have legal authority to make decisions when you are incapacitated to, ultimately, deciding who should inherit from you at a time when you are no longer here. These are each important conversations that will take place when you work with your Florida estate planning attorney. In spite of the fact that less than half of all Americans today have an estate plan, it is very important to have an estate plan in our daily lives.

Even though many of us may choose to ignore the benefits of estate planning and what it can do for us when we are healthy, unfortunately we have seen firsthand this concept change dramatically in light of a negative healthcare diagnosis. When facing a significant health care issue such as cancer, for example, we begin to take into consideration what the next chapter of our lives will look like. We begin to consider looking into answers for questions such as:

• If I cannot pay my bills, who will? 
• Who will be sure I have access to government benefits?
• If I am in a coma, who will make my healthcare decisions? 
• Is a Florida living will necessary?
• Who should inherit from me at the time of my passing?
• Who will care for my pets?
• How can I ensure my business will continue when I am not here?
• Who will make sure my bills are paid on time?
• How can I make sure my family is provided for in my absence?

Know that estate planning answers these questions, and so many more when it comes to caring for those you love, for planning for your legacy, and for providing for yourself.

Your Florida estate plan will allow you to answer all your lifetime questions in advance. Questions that may include, but not be limited to, choosing trusted decision makers to act for you in a crisis when you no longer have capacity to make your own decisions. You can give legal authority through estate planning tools, such as a power of attorney, to those that you trust as well as name back ups in the event they are not able to act for you when needed.

When you are facing a cancer diagnosis, careful estate planning considerations can also work hand-in-hand with your health care plan. For example, what treatments do you want to receive? What treatments do you not want to receive? What do you want to see happen in your business? How do you want your minor children to be cared for? How will you pay for this care? And, if you are unable to act for yourself, who should make these decisions for you?

In addition, your estate planning will enable you to also create your legacy. This is more than just the concept of who should inherit from you at the time you pass away. This is your opportunity to share your dreams for those who will inherit from you and your goals for your legacy. Your experienced Florida estate planning attorney can help you define what your legacy looks like and ensure you have a plan in place to reach it.

We know you may have questions about this, and many other, estate planning issues. At the Law Office of Brian C. Perlin, P.A., our credentials enable us to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to our legal services.  By building relationships with our clients, we are also able to understand each client’s needs and desires, and we support such goals through thoughtful, comprehensive planning techniques. We encourage you to contact us and schedule a meeting.

Have you completed your Florida estate plan? How long has it been since you last looked at it? Do you remember when it was created? Has it ever been updated? Do you know the planning tools included in it? Does your Florida estate plan reflect your current needs, values, family, and the legacy you want to leave at the time of your passing? Are you concerned about whether your existing Florida estate plan will work or not?

Most adults who have created a Florida estate plan understand the importance of it. They are very aware that they needed to proactively decide what should happen in a time of sudden crisis or death, and they did not want to leave their wishes either to chance or the state mandated process. Unfortunately, though, they did not keep in mind the upkeep a comprehensive Florida estate plan requires. Remember, your Florida estate plan is a vital part of not only your estate but your overall health and well being. So, it cannot be put away and never looked at again. Instead, your estate plan should be reviewed at least every three years, if not every year, to make sure it will still work the way you need it to.

Truly the most important part of developing your Florida estate plan is the peace of mind a completed plan can provide you and your family. Your Florida estate plan ensures that you, and what you love most, is protected against uncertainty, potential harm, and confusion. We would like to share a few complications we often see in our practice that occur in both older and unmaintained Florida estate plans.

1. Changes in the laws.  Because laws change over time, even the best drafted Florida estate plans may need to be updated on a regular basis. It is important to meet with your Florida estate planning attorney to review your Florida estate plan periodically to make sure laws governing your plan are still in place. In addition, in your meeting with your estate planning attorney you can learn if there are more advantageous laws or new laws that should be incorporated into your planning as well.

2. Changes in your family structure. Often the family structure that our clients originally came to us with to create their Florida estate plan changes over time. Births, deaths, and divorces are just some of the family structure changes that can impact your estate plan. Therefore, you need to develop a relationship with your Florida estate planning attorney to make sure that your attorney knows when there are changes in your family that can impact who inherits from you at the time of your passing, and how.

3. Decision makers change. Just like the changes to your family structure, the person or persons you want to make your decisions for you in the event of your incapacity or death may change as well. As soon as possible, let your Florida estate planning attorney know if one of your decision makers no longer wishes to act on your behalf or cannot act due to his or her own personal needs or death. It is extremely important that you have a decision maker in place to manage either your health or your finances.

4. Your legacy may change or evolve. Knowing that things change over time, this may also hold true for your legacy. What you previously wanted for your legacy may no longer be what you want now. But without updating your Florida estate plan this fact will remain unknown. By developing a strong relationship with your Florida estate planning attorney and keeping your attorney in the know at all times related to goals for your legacy, you can ensure that you are crafting a Florida estate plan that reflects what you want both now and as the future unfolds.

We know this article may raise more questions than it answers. At the Law Office of Brian C. Perlin, P.A., our credentials enable us to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to our legal services.  By building relationships with our clients, we are also able to understand each client’s needs and desires, and we support such goals through thoughtful, comprehensive planning techniques. We encourage you to contact us and schedule a meeting.

Were you aware that as of today less than half of all American adults have an estate plan? Unfortunately, in the event of a crisis, these adults will not have not chosen a trusted person who will have the legal authority to make their decisions. While many of us think of our estate planning in terms of inheritance and planning for our loved ones at the time of our passing, there are also lifetime decisions that your estate plan can protect you with as well. These lifetime decisions could be as simple as paying the mortgage bill or making sure a paycheck is deposited to something much more complicated such as who has the authority to pick up your minor children from school or how to manage your business. Therefore, your estate plan is a vital tool in making sure you are always protected and your loved ones are provided for. That being said, what about elder law and long-term care planning?

In fact, are estate planning, elder law and long-term care planning different?  Yes. As important as your estate planning is in protecting you, your family, and your goals, it may not be enough. While your estate plan will allow you to plan for yourself, your loved ones, your business, and your legacy during both your lifetime and at the time of your passing, it does not address your long-term care needs. In other words, what will happen as you age and you potentially face more challenges?

This is where estate planning, as crucial as it is, is different. It does not encompass elder law planning. Elder law planning is, however, long-term care planning and contemplates a time when you may not be able to care of yourself or live alone. During this National Elder Law Month, we believe it is vital to share this information with you and help you better understand why elder law planning is, in addition to estate planning, so important and critical to your health and well being. Below are a few key examples we want you to be aware of in regard to where estate planning ends and elder law planning begins.

1. Be aware that estate planning does not necessarily plan for long-term care but it can help. With your estate planning documents, specifically your durable power of attorney and health care documents, you can choose the trusted person who can make decisions for you at a time you may be incapacitated. This might be due to a surgery or a car accident, but it also could be the result of a medical condition such as Alzheimer’s Disease or dementia. In these instances, while your estate planning documents may not contemplate long-term care, it can give your trusted agent, who you chose, the authority to both find you the care that you need and work with your Florida elder law attorney to find ways to pay for it. 

2. Be aware that elder law planning addresses the gap in medical coverage for seniors.  Medicare is an acute payor system and does not cover the cost of any long-term care. However, Medicare will pay for your hospital stay and portions of your rehabilitation, but it will not pay for the potential need for assisted living or skilled nursing home facility care. In most cases, families today cannot afford the high cost of long-term care in a facility that can start at $4,000 or more per month. Beginning careful elder law planning with your experienced Florida elder law attorney, you can make a plan for how to find the care you may need in the future and a way to pay for it. Starting long-term care planning now and not waiting for a crisis may mean there will be more options available to choose from.

3. Be aware that long-term care planning may be overlooked by estate planning attorneys. Elder law is still a fairly young area of law. However, as more and more Americans age there is an increasing need for elder law planning. Your Florida elder law planning attorney will be able to make sure your estate plan is written in a way that allows for long-term care planning in the future. Your advanced directives and power of attorney do need specific language in them to be able to work when you need long-term care planning, which may come at a time when you can no longer make decisions for yourself.

We know this article may raise more questions than it answers. We know you may have questions about this, and many other, issues. At the Law Office of Brian C. Perlin, P.A., our credentials enable us to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to our legal services.  By building relationships with our clients, we are also able to understand each client’s needs and desires, and we support such goals through thoughtful, comprehensive planning techniques. We encourage you to contact us and schedule a meeting.

Do you have a Florida estate plan? When should you start estate planning in Florida?  Be aware that a Florida estate plan is a critical tool for all adult Floridians to have. Estate planning is more than what happens at the end of our lives, it also allows us to plan and make decisions about what we want for ourselves, our loved ones, our business, and our legacy. Estate planning also has us answer the tough questions including, but not limited to, what would we want to have happen if we no longer have the capacity we need to make our own decisions?

The first step in estate planning is to understand your need for a plan for your future. The next step may be to ask, when to begin or at what age should you begin to plan your estate? As estate planning attorneys, this is a question we are frequently asked and we want to share five key ideas with you. 

1. You have reached the age of majority. Believe it or not, your 18th birthday is not too young! You need to realize that once you turn 18, there is no one who has legal authority to make decisions for you in the event you are in a car accident or other crisis unless you have an estate plan in place. What does that mean?  It means that no one will be able to pay your bills, access your bank accounts, or talk to your doctors. Your Florida estate planning attorney will work with you to create an estate plan that will protect you and put the trusted people who you want in charge of you in a crisis in place. Your Florida estate planning attorney will also talk to you about how to create a legacy and plan for a time when you are no longer here.

2. You are married. Getting married is a big event and a life changing situation for you both. It is a time to think about how you want to protect and provide for each other now and in the future. There is no better way to do that than with you both creating a Florida estate plan.  

3. You are now a parent.  A Florida estate plan becomes even more critical when you have children, especially minor children. Who should care for them if something happens to you? When should they inherit? How can you provide for their future if you are no longer here? These are the questions your estate plan can answer when you work with your Florida estate planning attorney. 

4. You have received an inheritance. Be aware that whether you are coming into a small or large inheritance, it is important to protect it. The person who left you this money may have had clear instructions for you that you want to copy or you may have inherited through a messy process that you do not want others to go through. No matter your reason, this is a key time to meet with your Florida estate planning attorney and plan forward. 

5. You start your own business. As part of your start up process you want to consider all the ways to protect yourself, your family, and your business from what comes next.  Your Florida estate planning attorney can help you to not only design your estate plan but he may also be able to advise you on the business too.

We know this blog may raise more questions than it answers.  At the Law Office of Brian C. Perlin, P.A., our credentials enable us to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to our legal services.  By building relationships with our clients, we are also able to understand each client’s needs and desires, and we support such goals through thoughtful, comprehensive planning techniques. We encourage you to contact us and schedule a meeting.

Have you started having discussions with your aging loved one about their health care as they age? Because National Older Americans Month is celebrated in May, this might be a good time to start a health care discussion. There have, in fact, been advances nationwide in the care of our aging adults since  National Older Americans Month was first celebrated in 1963.  At that time, Medicare had not been created and there were very few government programs that provided assistance to seniors in need. Also, more than one-third of all older Americans lived in poverty.  Fortunately, there has been a lot of progress over the past fifty years in the care of our older Americans. 

As adult children, be sure to visit and honor your aging parents this month. In addition, if you have family caregivers in your family be sure to give them credit for the increased awareness of the challenges of aging. Did you know that today family caregivers provide more than 80 percent of the day-to-day support for aging adults? 

As you discuss with your aging loved ones about a time when they may not be able to make decisions for themselves, we know that this conversation is never easy. However, it is important that you have this conversation so that you will know what your aging loved ones want in the event of a sudden crisis or incapacity. We encourage you to set aside time as soon as possible to have the critical conversations with your aging loved ones about their personal preferences for medical care and their long-term care. We want to share the following questions you can use as you begin your conversation with your aging loved ones.

• Who do you trust to make medical decisions on your behalf? 
• Who do you NOT want to make decisions for you?
• How do you feel about feeding tubes, life support, and other artificial life-saving devices?
• Is there any type of medical care you would NEVER want?
• If you were permanently disabled or incapacitated, what would contribute or take away from your “quality of life?”
• What are your thoughts on skilled nursing home care versus in-home health care if it is an option?
• How would you like your family to pay for the care you may need if co-pays become excessive or insurance does not cover your treatment?

Remember as you make your choices, it is crucial that you document your wishes through the estate plan you create with your Florida estate planning attorney. We know you may have questions about this, and many other, estate planning issues. At the Law Office of Brian C. Perlin, P.A., our credentials enable us to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to our legal services.  By building relationships with our clients, we are also able to understand each client’s needs and desires, and we support such goals through thoughtful, comprehensive planning techniques. We encourage you to contact us and schedule a meeting.

Has your loved one recently received a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease? Are you concerned about obtaining the necessary ongoing daily care that your loved one will need? Be aware that there are ways to pay for skilled nursing care when a loved one has Parkinson’s disease, including Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs available. We highly recommend that you consult a Florida elder law attorney who can be helpful in determining your best options.

Even though Medicare and Medicaid are different programs, each may contribute to paying for nursing home care for your loved one. Medicare is, in fact, the health insurance program for adults over age 65. Medicare has a limited nursing home benefit, paying only for 100 days of care, but it can be the most useful in the pre-nursing home stage. Many Medicare plans will pay up to 80% of the costs of all of the doctor’s visits and diagnostic tests that come prior to a Parkinson’s diagnosis, until the deductible on your loved one’s health insurance plan is met. Medicare may then cover the remaining costs for the pre-diagnosis visits.

What about Medicaid? If your loved one qualifies for Medicaid, it can take over when Medicare benefits are no longer enough. Qualified individuals can have nursing home costs covered by Medicaid in every state when this level of care is needed. If your loved one needs care in his or her own home first, a Florida elder law or Medicaid attorney can help you navigate the process of obtaining a Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) waiver. This waiver can enable Medicaid to cover the cost of caring for your loved one with a Parkinson’s diagnosis in his or her own home.

In addition, Medicaid can also cover the costs of a Personal Care Assistant (PCA) which is particularly helpful for elderly people with Parkinson’s. A PCA is focused on caring for your loved one and can develop a longer term caregiving relationship, which many families find meaningful and rely on.

At the Law Office of Brian C. Perlin, P.A., our credentials enable us to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to our legal services.  By building relationships with our clients, we are also able to understand each client’s needs and desires, and we support such goals through thoughtful, comprehensive planning techniques. We encourage you to contact us and schedule a meeting.

Are you beginning to work on creating a solid Florida estate plan? As you create the lifetime documents that are part of your Florida estate plan, have you given legal authority to a trusted person of your choosing? This trusted person of your choice is very important because he or she will now have the ability to make your decisions should you become incapacitated. This lifetime protection, however, is just one part of your Florida estate plan.

In our law office we find that many of our clients, while creating their estate plan, want to create a legacy as well. We work with our clients on their important decisions in regard to what should be done with their hard earned assets at the time of their passing.  By creating a legacy through their estate plan they will be able to provide for their intended beneficiaries, not just in the present but often for years to come. In working with our clients we know how important a solid future for their loved ones is.

All the above being stated, what happens if the work you and your Florida estate planning attorney thoughtfully created for your legacy comes under attack from third parties? For example, third parties such as creditors, business partners, relatives, and even your own children, who do not agree with what you intended? How do you prevent your careful planning from coming under attack and potentially being undone? 

We are very familiar with the concerns you have and we understand them. We have 3 tips for avoiding a contested will that we want to share with you. some ways to potentially limit the likelihood of a will contest, and ultimately be successful.

1. You need to look for and identify early any potential complications. Do you have any person or persons in your life that you do not want to inherit from you? Do you have business partners or employees who do not want to be included if you are no longer here?  Do you want your business to continue without you? Could your business be sold? Is there anyone in your life, including an adult child, who you absolutely do not want to be making your decisions at the time of your incapacity or death? If you want to avoid any potential contests in the future, take the time to identify potential complications early and share them with your Florida estate planning attorney. However, you should consider letting others know your wishes for your legacy. Communication is invaluable in all situations, especially with the understanding of what you want for your legacy. Letting key decision makers, and even beneficiaries, know your wishes early on may be a critical step in helping them understand why you did or did not make the choices they believed were in their best interest. However, before taking this step, discuss the pros and cons with your Florida estate planning attorney.
2. Talk to your qualified Florida estate planning attorney about whether you should also consider trust planning, not just will planning, as a part of your estate plan. In spite of all the public misinformation, a Florida last will and testament does not avoid the probate process. Instead, the last will and testament ensures that a probate may be needed. Probate is a public proceeding and can give a forum for challenges to your Florida estate plan. With most Florida trust planning, however, the probate process can be avoided, and your trust administration process can be kept private.
3. It is highly recommended that you hire an experienced Florida estate planning attorney because there is absolutely no substitute for experience in this area! Your Florida estate planning attorney, with years of experience and training, will be able to help you navigate all your challenges both while you are creating your Florida estate plan as well as being available for your decision makers in the event of your incapacity or death. Do not risk your Florida estate planning, either in the creation or in the updates or amendments, with a do-it-yourself or internet estate plan. Be aware that there are strict laws to be followed when you want your estate plan to work. While you can read about signing provisions, execution, requirements, notarization requirements, and much more, your best defense to potential legal challenges is the experience of a Florida estate planning attorney who you choose to work with. Your Florida estate planning attorney will understand your goals, your values, what you do and do not want, and will be able to support you both in life as well as at the time of your passing, especially if any challenges arise.

Be sure to discuss any and all concerns you have related to potential conflict at the time of your passing with your Florida estate planning attorney now so you can receive guidance on what the best course of action is. Secrets, uncertainty, or surprises, in this area do not benefit anyone and in fact can damage your planning if they are not disclosed in full when you meet with your Florida estate planning attorney.

We know this article may raise more questions than it answers. We know you may have questions about this, and many other, issues. At the Law Office of Brian C. Perlin, P.A., our credentials enable us to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to our legal services.  By building relationships with our clients, we are also able to understand each client’s needs and desires, and we support such goals through thoughtful, comprehensive planning techniques. We encourage you to contact us and schedule a meeting.

Do you enjoy giving to others? Do you find it rewarding to have the ability to help those around you, especially to your family, your friends, your employees, or charities? Many of our clients want to create a legacy that will allow them to transfer their wealth to their children, grandchildren, and future generations.

When transferring wealth, no matter how large or how small, it can be a complicated process. There is a misunderstanding that the steps to take for the transfer of wealth should be reserved, or taken, only at the very end of your life or time of your death. However, there are steps that may be taken through your Florida estate planning to reach your goals. These are wealth transfer strategies that may be taken earlier in your lifetime, under the guidance of an experienced Florida estate planning attorney, which can benefit both you and those who are the recipients of your gift.

Now when you begin to contemplate this type of wealth transfer it is important to begin discussing these transfers with your intended beneficiaries.  For most of our clients the focus is on their adult children. Below are some important points for you to consider.

1. It is extremely important to find out if there are any barriers or risks involved in giving money to your adult children. With the guidance of your qualified Florida estate planning attorney, have a candid discussion about whether or not the money you transfer to your adult children in life or at your death may be at risk. Do this before you make any concrete plans to transfer wealth to your children. Divorces, marriages, child support, adoptions, births, creditor issues, business failure, massive debt…this is just a start to the list of the challenges your adult children could be facing, and you may not know the full scope. This does not mean you cannot transfer to them but your Florida estate planning attorney can work with you on your options for a structured transfer, as opposed to an outright gift, which may not be appropriate.
2. You need to understand the tax brackets for you and your children and discuss their financial situation. Often our children are not in the same financial situation we are. There may be achievable, positive steps you can take to avoid taxation on your assets. This can be especially advantageous when it comes to assets that have massively appreciated over time. If you are going to make a gift to your child, with the guidance of your Florida estate planning attorney, determine if this could be advantageous to you both.
3. You should discuss your short-term and long-term financial planning goals with your adult children. If you are considering making a transfer of wealth, it is important to talk to your adult children about their financial goals. Ask them if they need short term access to capital, which they could repay, to accomplish a specific goal? Or, find out if they have long range plans such as a grandchild’s tuition for college? Or do your adult children want to purchase a specific insurance to protect them against uncertainty? Find out how the money you would transfer to them could be used and work together with your Florida estate planning attorney to create a plan.
4. Finally, before you start to discuss the transfer of wealth with your children, we highly recommend that you work with your Florida estate planning attorney to determine the correct structure for any wealth transfer. Even though writing a check to your adult child may seem the most simple option, it is probably not. There are better ways to use for the transfer of wealth than just writing a check. Your experienced Florida estate planning attorney will be able to give you guidance on the pros and cons of each strategy you could use to make any wealth transfers, before they are made.

We know this article may raise more questions than it answers. At the Law Office of Brian C. Perlin, P.A., our credentials enable us to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to our legal services.  By building relationships with our clients, we are also able to understand each client’s needs and desires, and we support such goals through thoughtful, comprehensive planning techniques. We encourage you to contact us and schedule a meeting.

Is there a diagnosis of autism for your loved one? Are you now considering creating an estate plan with your autistic loved one in mind?  We have 3 important planning tips in our blog for you to consider. We realize that the specific needs of  autistic individuals can vary greatly depending on the severity of their autism, however, many people with autism need assistance throughout their entire lives. 

Planning early for your loved one with autism is crucial. Whether you are the parent, grandparent, or sibling of your loved one, part of your role is to make sure there is a solid legal, financial and medical foundation in place. 

Each day in our office we work with families and the challenges they face. We understand that it can be hard to start this type of estate planning, let alone to think about a time when you may not be able to provide care yourself. Below are 3 planning tips to help you start the estate planning and special needs planning process.

1. If your autistic loved one is still a minor, be aware that you will not always have the authority to make decisions for him or her unless you begin planning now. In Florida, when a minor with autism reaches the age of majority, he or she becomes a legal adult. Even if his or her developmental, cognitive or mental disabilities are severe, in the eyes of the law your child will be deemed an adult. Without planning, you will lose your legal authority.  In fact, right now we encourage you to start making a list of what your autistic loved one can and cannot do.  Also include any information regarding medical, educational, financial, legal and vocational decisions. Work with your Florida estate planning attorney and share with him the abilities of your loved one to make rational decisions, choices related to self-care and to be able to communicate for him or herself.  
2. Know that if there is a need for a guardianship that the court may consider a less restrictive guardianship since your autistic loved one may be able to make some decisions. However, the most important element to guardianship is ensuring that your loved one is safe. Although you may not want to proceed to obtain guardianship over your autistic loved one, we would encourage you to talk to your Florida estate planning attorney first. You do not want to be in the situation in the future where a decision needs to be made that requires legal authority, and you do not have it. In fact, you should definitely discuss with your Florida attorney who can take over your guardianship role when/if you can no longer handle the responsibility. With your Florida estate planning attorney, you can create the legal documents you need together with a letter of intent. This letter is a document that will act as a roadmap for guardians and trustees to navigate medical, financial and legal decisions once you are no longer able to act.
3. You should ask your Florida estate planning attorney about a special needs trust. He will make you aware of the different types of special needs trusts you can create for your autistic loved one. A key benefit of special needs trust planning is it allows the disabled person to not lose access to key government benefits, such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).  If your autistic loved one inherited directly, without a special needs trust in place, your loved one could be at risk of losing his or her benefits until the money received is spent down on his or her care.

The most important factor to follow in planning for a loved one with autism is to ensure he or she has enough support throughout the remainder of his or her life. Ensuring your loved one is taken care of, even when you can no longer be there to assist, is critical. Do not wait for a crisis to plan forward with your Florida estate planning attorney.

We know you may have questions about this, and many other, estate planning issues. At the Law Office of Brian C. Perlin, P.A., our credentials enable us to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to our legal services.  By building relationships with our clients, we are also able to understand each client’s needs and desires, and we support such goals through thoughtful, comprehensive planning techniques. We encourage you to contact us and schedule a meeting.

Are you aware of how important it is to create a Florida estate plan for yourself and your family? You want to protect yourself, what you love most, your business, and ensure the legacy you are creating will survive your passing. In our firm, we understand the importance of your goals and will work with you to create a plan that will work with you for your unique situation. 

But what do you plan for when preparing your taxes and planning your estate? With our planning process, part of it is to not only look at who our clients want to inherit from them and who should make their decisions in a moment of crisis, but what implications their planning can have or not have. This involves a very candid look at their financial picture, including their tax structure.  

Does the phrase “there is nothing certain in life but death and taxes” sound familiar?  It is one of the idioms everyone hears over and over again. In fact, what most people do not realize is that taxes play an important role in their Florida estate plan. Any decisions they make now can have both a lifetime and deathtime impact on their estate, which is critical to plan for.  We would like to share a few of the important points we share with our clients.

1. Importance of planning to avoid federal estate taxation. Did you know that one of the benefits of living in Florida is that there are no state death taxes? However, this is not the case on the federal level. All Americans, with a taxable estate high enough in value, may face estate taxation. Through your comprehensive Florida estate planning, our goal is to minimize the risk that your estate will be taxed at your death. This is completed by a careful consideration of factors including, but not limited to, your family structure, what assets comprise your taxable estate, the structure and nature of those assets, and the strategies available to you.
2. Importance of carefully making lifetime gifts. Did you realize that your estate planning and donative intent can impact your annual taxes as well? It can. This occurs through the gift tax. While you can give your loved ones the annual exclusion amount each year, which is $17,000 per person this year according to the IRS, you can make larger gifts each year and still avoid lifetime taxation. To engage in an advanced strategy like this, we highly recommend you meet with your experienced Florida estate planning attorney to learn more about the pros and cons of this type of strategy as well as how it may benefit your estate down the line.
3. Importance of utilizing an estate planning strategy that incorporates the Generation Skipping Tax (GST). Did you know that there are careful rules to plan around when it comes to using the GST as a part of your estate planning? This comes into play when you leave to a family member where there is a thirty-seven and a half year age difference or more. While there can be significant benefits to this type of planning and reasons to complete it, this should not be undertaken without the advice of an experienced Florida estate planning attorney.
4. Importance of the impact of unprotected property and the probate estate. It is critical that you plan to not leave your assets unprotected. Be aware that anything you own at the time of your death that does not have a co-owner or beneficiary, could be subject to the probate process. The probate process is the legal court process that allows solely owner property to pass to the intended beneficiaries. Unfortunately, as a result of the probate process, this is after creditors have the opportunity to file their claims against your estate. Therefore, when you are planning for your estate and your taxes, it is crucial that you work with your estate planning attorney to create the right trust agreement for you. It is a trust agreement, and not a last will and testament, that can help you avoid the probate process.

At the Law Office of Brian C. Perlin, P.A., our credentials enable us to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to our legal services.  By building relationships with our clients, we are also able to understand each client’s needs and desires, and we support such goals through thoughtful, comprehensive planning techniques. We encourage you to contact us and schedule a meeting.