Florida Trust & Probate Attorneys Blog

By Phil Rarick & Jacqueline Bowden Gold, Weston Estate Planning Attorneys In 1992 estate planning attorneys Robert Esperti and Renno Peterson wrote the best selling book, The Living Trust Revolution that captured the major shift in estate planning arising from the $6.8 trillion worth of wealth transfer beginning to take place in the United States.…

One Thing Every Parent Should Have For Their Children – Instructions! By Phil Rarick, Weston Estate Planning Attorney You and your spouse are finally going out for the evening. The babysitter, a high school student, has arrived and you are loading the young woman with last-minute instructions: time for bed, make sure the kids brush…

By Phillip B. Rarick, Weston Estate Planning Attorney Irrevocable minors trusts should always be an important tool in the Family Law Attorneys bag of tools because a well designed trust can address multiple issues that cannot be fully resolved through a Marital Settlement Agreement. It may be a good idea to brainstorm possible trust solutions…

By Phillip B. Rarick, Esq. and Jay R. Beskin, Esq. Last year the Federal annual gift tax exclusion was $15,000 and the amount remains the same for 2019. This means you can walk down the street and give out $15,000 to every person you meet and not have to file a gift tax return. If…

By: Phil Rarick, Esq. A Short Story With a Big Lesson Everyone admired the Anderson family. Walter and Joan had 5 children and had worked hard all their lives to give their children the best of American life: each child received a car when they were a junior in high school – provided they had…

By: Phillip B. Rarick, Weston Estate Planning Attorney In 2008 Florida passed an amendment to our Trust Code designed to allow a Trustee to use trust funds to pay legal fees incurred in defending a breach of trust litigation without prior court approval, so long as the Trustee gave notice to qualified beneficiaries of its…

By: Phil Rarick Here is a scenario we see more and more with persons who try to do estate planning themselves, specifically Florida Wills, without consulting with an experienced estate planning attorney. Louise has three adult daughters, Erma, Madeline, and Roseanne. The daughters are all close and speak to each other at least once a…

By: Jacqueline R. Bowden Gold Our office handles probate estates for many out of state residents through our Florida Counsel services. In handling the estates there are three common problems we see with Non-Florida Wills that can easily be avoided by consulting with a Miami Estate Planning attorney. If you have a non-Florida resident who…

By Phil Rarick All modern passenger jet planes have at least two engines. Similar reasoning applies to prenuptial agreements. Many will argue that a good prenuptial agreement should fly safely on its own without the need for a “second engine.” However, a second engine could be a Nevada Asset Protection Trust (“APT”) that could only…

By Phil Rarick, Esq. May the odds be with you – but frankly they are not: Our firm concentrates on estate and asset protection planning – helping small business owners protect their business and savings in good times and bad. Although most of our high risk clients inquiring about an asset protection trust are doctors,…