Articles Posted in Trust Law

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, 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,…

By Phillip B. Rarick, Esq., Miami Probate Attorney Florida’s 30% elective share law was completely rewritten in 2001 because the old law could be easily circumvented by placing assets in a revocable trust or using non-probate transfers (e.g. life insurance, IRAs etc.) In an effort to curtail such tactics, the legislature overhauled the statute and…

Does A Trust Need to Be Recorded, Filed or Registered in Florida? One of the most common questions I get as a Weston estate planning attorney is, do I need to record my living trust? Some persons believe that a trust needs to be publicly recorded like a corporation or a deed. This is generally…

By: Phil Rarick, Estate Planning Attorney Many persons are tempted to have a “Simple Will” in which they want everything they own at death to go outright first to their spouse, and if the spouse does not survive then to their children in equal shares. Rather than take the time to consult with a Weston…

Three Big Threats To Your Children Over 18 – And How To Protect Them By Phil Rarick, Weston Estate Planning Attorney You have done it. You have guided (or you have survived) your children’s teen years. They are now over 18. They are now “sui juris” in the eyes of the law: this means they…

By Phil Rarick, Miami Trust Attorney Hard to believe we are in mid-Fall and 2016 is coming to a close. Now may be a good time to sit down with a Miami trust attorney and review your estate plan. One of the biggest problems we see with individual estate plans is failure to keep the…

By Phillip B. Rarick, Esq., Miami Trust Attorney State laws provide numerous legal opportunities for protecting your family’s hard earned wealth. See my recent article: Asset Protection for the Small Business Owner: 7 Key Strategies. An important domestic strategy is a Domestic Asset Protection Trust or DAPT. Because of the ever more stringent IRS reporting…

By Phil Rarick, Weston Estate Planning Attorney This report is a reminder that the FBAR or Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Account is due June 30. The FBAR is required for U.S. persons having a financial interest or signature authority over one or more foreign financial accounts, including a bank account, brokerage account, mutual…

By Phillip B. Rarick, J.D, Miami Probate Attorney Note: Special thanks to Illinois attorney John E. Fish for the following question, which is one of the most frequent questions we receive. Executive Summary: A non-resident of Florida can serve as Personal Representative for a Florida probate estate only if related by lineal blood or legal…