Stuart Probate Attorney

A Stuart probate attorney can help you navigate through the often complex probate process as you try to settle a deceased family member’s estate.

Many people do not know what assets are subject to probate, or what they should do if they become the personal representative (also called an executor) for the estate. Florida probate attorneys often hear questions about assets, settling an estate’s debts, and moving forward with the probate process.

Probate is the official way for an estate to be settled, with the court’s supervision. A personal representative or executor is either nominated by the deceased’s will, or appointed by the court if the deceased did not have a will, or did not name a personal representative. If the court appoints a personal representative, it is frequently a spouse or adult child of the deceased. If the decedent did not have a spouse or any adult children, another relative is usually chosen.

The Role of an Appointed Personal Representative

Once the personal representative has been appointed, he or she has three jobs: (1) To collect and value assets of the estate; (2) to pay any debts of the estate, like bills and taxes; and (3) to distribute the remaining assets to the estate’s beneficiaries.

Finding and valuing assets is often tricky, as most people are not experts at following a financial paper trail or valuing assets like homes, antiques, jewelry, or other expensive items. Other times, the situation can be complicated if the decedent did not organize their financial paperwork well, kept spotty records, or kept no records at all. It can also be difficult to ensure you have found all the estate’s debts, especially if the deceased was not the best record keeper.

Estate taxes are also confusing for many people. If you are the personal representative of an estate, an experienced Florida probate attorney can help you make sure you have covered everything.

Assets That Can Be Automatically Transferred

Some assets transfer automatically upon the owner’s death, and do not need to go through the probate process:

• Joint-tenancy with right of survivorship. When one joint-tenant dies, the surviving joint-tenant becomes the sole owner automatically. For example, if a married couple owns a house together and one of them dies, the surviving spouse becomes the sole owner of the home. However, in joint tenancy, the co-owners do not have to be married to each other, they just have to own the property as joint tenants. Your Florida probate attorney can help explain whether you hold your property properly as joint-tenants with a right of survivorship, as there are different issues involved with the creation of such ownership interests.
• Tenancy by the entirety. These are forms of ownership available only to married couples, in which the survivor owns the entire property, just like in joint-tenancy.
• Beneficiary designations. These are usually retirement accounts, life insurance policies, or even bank accounts with named beneficiaries. When the policy holder passes, the beneficiaries are entitled to the assets without any probate process.
• Payable on death accounts or transfer on death accounts. These operate the same way as beneficiary designations, providing the account holder filled out the appropriate paperwork, designating who should receive the account.

If you have questions or concerns about wills, estates, probate law, or other Florida legal services, please contact Apfelbaum Law for a consultation. We can be reached at 772-236-4009, or contactus@alawfl.com.