What Is Your Experience In Handling Probate Matters?
My immediate experience in handling probate matters has primarily been with non-contentious probate matters. Probate is a very process-driven legal need in people’s lives that can be made fairly painless as long as all of the family members and beneficiaries are on the same page. I try to make it as easy as possible for the personal representative who I would be working with.
I mostly handle probate estates valued at one million dollars and below but can handle larger estates. Most commonly, I see probate estates consisting of a primary residence and accounts that may be between $100,000 and $300,000 in total value. A probate is definitely not an event for people with significant sums of money, and it can affect most middle-class families. It’s a systematic process that can be handled much like a real estate transaction, but with many more people involved.
Who Do You Specifically Represent In Probate Cases?
I represent the personal representative of an estate. Personal representative is a term used in Florida for what most people know as the executor of the estate.
I usually try to work with personal representatives of good family situations because my skill set does not lend itself to contentious and litigious family situations. All of my advice is going to be directed towards the personal representative to pay only the bills that need to be paid, to pay the lowest amount of taxes possible, and to promptly and properly distribute all of the deceased person’s assets to beneficiaries.
What Actually Is Probate? What Does The Term Probate Mean?
Probate is a legal proceeding to transfer money that is in a deceased person’s name to the proper parties, meaning the creditors of the deceased person first and then the beneficiaries. Legal and court authority is required in order for this process to be accomplished. The term “probate” in the Old English common law meant to prove something. The probate proceeding proves someone’s wishes regarding the allocation of their money after their death and proves the claims that a creditor may have against a person at death.
Is There More Than One Type Of Probate?
There are a few different types of probate proceedings in Florida. The two most common probate proceedings that you will encounter are formal administration and summary administration. Formal administration is the more comprehensive, longer probate proceeding that most people will be familiar with in terms of horror stories. The summary administration is a much quicker, more abbreviated process that involves simply asking for a court order to tell a financial institution or a title company who is entitled to receive the money.
Outside of Florida, the term “summary administration” is commonly referred to as the process of obtaining a small state affidavit or small state proceeding, but it may not be as simple of a process compared to other states. Most people in Florida who require probate help will be prompted to seek Florida probate when they receive letters from financial companies asking for a “small estate affidavit” – but such a legal tool does not exist in Florida. Other probate proceedings in Florida can include dispositions of property without probate proceedings and admissions of sworn wills to a probate. Those are done in smaller circumstances. In Florida, probate courts also hear guardianship proceedings, which is a topic that will be discussed further on this website.
What Are Some Options People Have Besides A Full Probate?
Aside from a full probate, you have three main options in Florida. First, there is summary administration, which is for estates with exempt assets that do not exceed $75,000. Exempt assets that are not included in that $75,000 figure are the primary residence, the personal property inside the primary residence, and an automobile. Depending on the number of assets, type of assets, and the number of beneficiaries, summary administration could be a costly path to recover assets compared to a formal administration. Stylistically, some attorneys will not file summary administration because it can be clunky to deal with when there are multiple accounts and family members.
The next option is for disposition without administration. This proceeding is done when there are far fewer assets and usually one account with an extremely low balance (under $5000 or $10,000). This can usually be done by going to the clerk of court’s office with a paid funeral bill, a death certificate, the original will of the deceased person and the most recent bank statement of an account that you can obtain.
A less common option is to ask the court to admit a sworn will to probate. This typically occurs when someone owned real estate in Florida but then lived in another state and has been deceased for more than two years. This proceeding is a simple proceeding to quickly transfer ownership of the Florida real estate of a deceased non-Floridian to the beneficiaries.
For more information on Handling Probate Matters In Florida, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you’re seeking by calling (904) 398-6100 today.
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