Estate Planning Law FAQs

Estate Planning is preparing detailed, legally binding instructions to care for you and your family in the event of mental incapacity or upon death. No one wants a court to intervene in their personal affairs if you have a mental disability or die - almost everyone wants to avoid guardianship (in event of disability) or probate upon death. In short, you need an estate plan to keep legal control within the family - and not with a court system that is costly and bureaucratic. See: What Is Estate Planning?

An estate plan designed to avoid guardianship and probate usually includes:
- A revocable living trust: Your master instructions to care for you and your family. See Understanding Living Trusts.
- A Florida specific Durable Power of Attorney: This is like a legal Swiss Army Knife that is critical to help avoid Guardianship in event of mental incapacity.
- Living Will: Instructions to your doctor that you would not want to be maintained in a persistent vegetative state if there is no possibility of recovery.
- Health Care Surrogate: Strong powers you give to your spouse or trusted family member or friend to make medical decisions on your behalf if you lack the mental clarity to make such decisions.
- Assignment to Trust: This is an important but often overlooked legal instrument to transfer tangible and intangible property to your Trust.
- Pour-Over Will: This is a simple Will that acts like a safety net to make sure that all your assets are controlled by the terms of your Trust.

A Will is a legally binding instrument - if executed properly - that expresses your wishes on how the assets you own are to be divided and distributed upon death. A Will must go through a bureaucratic legal process called Probate to be effective. A Trust, if properly funded, avoids Probate. It provides a plan to care for you for your lifetime; upon death it acts as a Will to help make sure that your wealth is distributed in a prudent way to your family members or persons or charities that you select - and not to unintended persons, such as the spouse of your child.

We send our clients an annual Checklist of items to check to keep their estate plan up-to-date. In addition, we send a frequent newsletter with practical legal tips and key updates in the law.

Over 76% of adults in the United States die without a will in the United States. In these cases the state has a plan for you: it is called intestate succession and it is costly, stressful and can last over 1 year. If you do not take time to plan now, the state of Florida will dictate how your hard earned funds and property is divided and distributed.

Yes - that is one of the central objectives of good estate planning. But do not try to do this yourself or you may end up in a contested and costly probate. A fundamental legal tool to avoid probate is a revocable trust. The reason revocable trusts have become the preferred foundation for estate planning for most people (not all) is that a trust will avoid probate if properly funded. But Note: Your Trust needs to be periodically reviewed to make sure it is properly funded so that all assets flow into the trust by virtue of how they are titled or named as beneficiary.

A living trust can help you keep legal control within your family - and avoid court intervention in event of mental disability or death. Here are the some important benefits:
- Helps avoid costly Guardianship
- Helps avoid costly, and time consuming Probate
- Includes guardrails to help ensure that your funds and property go to your children - not their spouses
- Includes protections to protect your children from wasteful spending or creditor claims
- Appoints persons you Trust to manage your affairs for you in event of mental disability
- Gives you peace of mind that you and your family are protected from the ups and downs of life

A Durable Power of Attorney is an essential legal tool to help avoid court intervention - known as Guardianship - in the the event of mental incapacity. Everyone over the age of 18 should have a Durable Power Attorney which is a legal instrument that appoints a trusted family member or friend to make financial decisions for you if you cannot. Your DPA should be Florida specific and not more than 4 years old: it should take full advantage of Florida law to help make sure you have a plan B in event of incapacity.

Unlike many other estate planning attorneys, our Firm has pioneered the application of "integrated estate and assets protection planning". Most people want to be able to sleep peacefully at night knowing that their investments and real estate holdings are protected from aggressive law firms such as Morgan & Morgan. This means that assets exposed to creditors - such as non-homestead Florida real estate - are protected by such entities as a LLC (limited liability company) or FLLLP (family limited liability limited partnership).

Regarding estate taxes, the current Federal Estate Tax Exemption for 2026 is $15 million; if your total net worth is under $15 million upon death then there is no federal estate tax; if over $15 million the rate quickly reaches 40%. The good news is that we have multiple, legal strategies to minimize or avoid estate taxes for those persons over $15 million. The state of Florida has no estate tax. Note: Many Democrats favor lowering the exemption to $7 million.

Absolutely not. In fact, persons with modest funds and properties may need estate planning the most because few can afford the cost of not planning where the person ends up in a court supervised guardianship or upon death in probate. The costs for either guardianship or probate often start at about $5,000 - and can go on for years.

If you have minor children it is very important that you have an estate plan that provides instructions for the care of your children and protection of their lifestyle. A good estate plan can help minors secure a high quality education. I have not met a single parent who believes it is a good idea to give an 18 year old a lump sum of money when they turn 18. Most parents want to put strong guardrails in place to help ensure a quality education and to make sure their funds go to the child, not to their creditors or their spouse when they marry.

You do not need Warren Buffet or person sophisticated in financial management; you simply need a person you trust who will follow your instructions. An experienced estate planning attorney can help you decide if the decision is close. The key is putting in place an order of succession of persons you trust. Where these persons are located is of little significance as just about everyone has a smart phone these days.

Our office will send you a short Confidential Information form that should not take more than 10 minutes to complete. You only need to bring this form.

After we meet and you approve the outline of your estate plan it takes about 10 days.

Mr. Rarick has been practicing estate planning (trusts and wills) and asset protection law for 32 years. He is rated "Preeminent" by his peers which is the the highest peer rating awarded by Martindale-Hubbell. He has been entrusted by over 1,000 lawyers and law firms in Florida and outside of the state for estate planning, trust litigation, asset protection, and all aspects of Florida Trust law.

Our primary focus is integrated estate and asset protection planning and areas of law related to this, such as trust litigation, trust administration, probate, and business law designed to structure your real estate, investment and other holdings to provide maximum protection under Florida law.

Mr. Rarick has been practicing law for over 30 years; his clients represent a slice of families and small businesses in Southeast Florida. He states, "I enjoy my work because I have the opportunity to work with a broad and diverse segment of businesses in South Florida. Every client has a unique business and a compelling personal story."

Over a period of 30 years, we have handled every type of complex estate plan, including blended families, special needs trusts, and high net-worth individuals who require complex estate tax planning.

Yes, we assist with Trust Administration upon disability or death of the grantor and all types of probate administration.

Mr. Rarick follows the thinking of the best estate and asset protection planning attorneys in Florida and United States through daily review of updates from Leimberg & Associates and attendance at premier seminars such as the Heckerling Institute for Estate Planning sponsored each year by the University of Miami. Heckerling is the largest gathering of estate planning attorneys and experts in the United States.

It is often a three step process. First, we meet in person or via Zoom with the Client for a solid hour or more so we understand your objectives and concerns and you know your legal options to resolve those concerns. Second, after this meeting we send an outline of the proposed estate plan and a Scope of Work with a flat fee and description of work covered by the fee. Third, we schedule the review of the estate plan, signing, and review of Funding Notes, which is a checklist of how your assets should be titled or listed as beneficiary.

We send to all present and past clients a free, periodic newsletter called Report From Counsel with practical legal tips and significant updates in the law. We also send an Annual Letter with a checklist of items to review to help keep your estate plan and businesses up to date.