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Special Needs Trust with Babette and Fred (VIDEO)

By Estate Planning

 

Babette: One of the things that an elder law attorney specializes in is estate planning for a disabled beneficiary. Many of our clients have children or grandchildren who are suffering from various disabilities and receive governmental benefits. If they receive medicaid, they need to do a special needs trust in order for that beneficiary to be able to receive an inheritance and have their governmental benefits protected. We often work on a team approach doing the estate planning for a family that’s very concerned about a disabled beneficiary.
Fred: The special needs trust is a very exacting document. You must draft the document so that the beneficiary, that is, the disabled person, gets all the benefits from the trust that the creator of the trust intended but at the same time, does not get kicked off medicaid or another governmental benefit. The way you accomplish that is to give to the trustee, whether it be a family member or perhaps a trust department of a bank, the complete discretion as to whether or not to distribute income or principle benefits to the disabled beneficiary so long as everything is done in the best interests of the beneficiary.

September 29, 2010
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Real Estate with Fred (VIDEO)

By Estate Planning, Real Estate, Tax Law

 

Fred: We can also handle all aspects of real estate transactions for our clients, including transfers to beneficiaries, and in those cases where clients are purchasing homes in Florida, we can represent them in connection with the purchase, including reviewing the agreements of sales, searching the titles and obtaining title insurance on behalf of our clients, so that they can be assured that they own clear, free and marketable title to any properties down here that they are purchasing.
One of the questions that we’re frequently asked is whether a client should become a resident of the state of Florida. We have many clients who own homes in Florida but also still own homes up north, and the issues is, should they remain a resident of their state or establish residency in Flordia. In our view, their really is no downside to establishing residency in the state of Florida. There is no personal income tax and no inheritance tax. Many states up north still do have an inheritance tax that ranges  from 4% to 15% of the value of the assets that are being passed to children, grandchildren and other beneficiaries. In Florida we have no such tax. If you have a home here and spend at least the majority of your time here, there is no downside to establishing residency in the state of Florida.

September 14, 2010
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Living Trust with Fred (VIDEO)

By Estate Planning

Fred: Many times clients express concern about the costs and delays of going through the probate process. One of the ways to avoid that is to establish what’s called a living trust during your lifetime. A living trust involves a document whereby you create a trust. The creator of the trust is both the trustee and the creator. That person puts substantially all of their assets into the name of the trust. Upon the death of that person, their property passes under the terms of the trust document, and those assets are not subject to probate and can be distributed to the beneficiaries in a relatively short period of time in accordance with the terms of the trust document. There is less time involved, and in some cases less expense in winding up the affairs of the trust as opposed to a probate estate. In the case of a probate estate, at every stage along the process you must get the approval of the court to do such things as making distributions, hiring outside consultations, and things of that sort. The revokable living trust is not a panacea. It does not accomplish all things and in some cases may actually be disadvantageous to a person. I personally feel that the probate process is more protective of beneficiaries, particularly in the case of minor beneficiaries such as young children. I think it’s an advantage to go through the probate process where there are young children who absolutely must be protected if both the mother and father are deceased.

 

August 31, 2010
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About Us: Fred (VIDEO)

By Firm News

Fred: Hello. My name is Fred Jacobs. My interests outside the practice of law are biking, rowing and going for long walks on the beach in our beautiful state of Florida. Even though I’m an old guy, I still bike 25 to 50 miles per day. I also get the opportunity to go to work everyday in my boat. In addition to having a slip behind my house here in Florida, I rent a slip downtown and I actually get to work in my Boston Whaler. Sometimes it’s so much fun that I’ll take the long way home and go out into the Gulf of Mexico, which is an unusual way to commute in this day and age. I’m also working on my first novel, which is a mystery in the format of Robert B. Parker who wrote the Spenser novels. One of my favorite things is to row across Sarasota Bay and back in my rowing skull, a distance of approximately eight miles. Not bad for an old guy.

July 29, 2010
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Guardianship with Babette and Fred (VIDEO)

By Guardianship

 

We represent legal guardians in establishing guardianships of person and/or property for minors as well as incompetent adults, pre-need planning for guardians, and complying with annual reporting and accounting requirements.

 

Fred: One of the situations that we frequently become involved in is when a client will come into the office and say, “my dad is elderly, my mother passed away several years ago. Dad is not fully in charge of his faculties, he’s going on the internet every night and meeting unwholesome women and we are concerned that he is going to give away or dispose of a lot of his money to these people. We really think that he ought to be protected against that. Is there anything that you can do for us?”

Babette: If you do advance planning and you’ve got a good power of attorney, then you’ve designated who can handle your affairs for you if you are incapacitated. Very often that completely awards guardianship. But if you haven’t, and you become incapacitated, your family or your loved ones have an obligation to go to court to protect you, both in terms of great access to medical care and the best medical attention you can possibly get, as well as in terms of preserving your assets. One of the fields in which I am an expert as an elder law attorney is in the field of guardianship. We try to avoid litigation at all costs. It’s not always possible but if you do need to litigate, we have the experience.

Fred: Frequently, the financial affairs of such persons are in a total state of disarray. They may not have filed income tax returns for the last five years, they don’t know where their assets are, they don’t know how they are held. One of the things I can do in assisting Babette is to straighten out to the extent possible the financial affairs of the person who is somewhat diminished in capacity.

July 21, 2010
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Litigation with Babette and Fred (VIDEO)

By Elder Law, Probate

 

Babette: Both Fred and I have litigation experience, and unfortunately in elder law, even with good planning, sometimes you end up in court. Fred: The typical case is a gentleman passes away, and leaves substantially all of his assets to a person or persons other than his natural beneficiaries, and by natural beneficiaries we mean typically the children of the decedent. Many times, people, particularly elderly people, come under the influence of persons and are induced to leave portions of their estate to those persons. In many cases the elderly person did not fully realize what he or she was doing. In a typical case, someone will come into the office and say, “my goodness, this is my dad’s will. I hardly know this person! how could he have possibly left so much to so-and-so? Can you do anything about this?” And at that point, Babette takes over.
Babette: On the other hand, there are times when an elderly person knows exactly what they’re doing, and they intentionally disinherit an heir. We can get very involved in preparing that case for litigation, even while the testator is alive and preparing the will, because we anticipate that it might be contested at a later date and so we develop the case right then and there on the spot. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case, but we believe in a person’s right to leave their estate to who they choose. That is one of the liberties we have in the United States and in the Florida Constitution. In protecting the elderly that means protecting their freedom of choice. Not every state is the same.
Fred: In those types of situations, we will frequently videotape the person who is making the will. We will record the signing of the will, we will ask that person questions like, “who you are? Do you understand what you’re doing? Who are your beneficiaries? What is the nature and extent of your financial assets? How come you’re not leaving so much to so-and-so and how come you’re making a bequest to so-and-so?”
In other words, we have it all on tape, and when the person dies and if there is litigation, the judge and the jury and everyone else can see the person who prepared the will while they were alive, and can make a determination of whether they feel that person was competent, and they also hear right out of the person’s own mouth why they are or are not doing a certain thing with regard to the disposition of their assets. We have found that that videotaping can be very persuasive in a court of law.

August 8, 2009
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