Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

Re: Dying Parents, No will, Now What

Probate or administration is costly and time-consuming, especially in FL. Most Floridians establish living trusts, thereby avoiding probate.

Re: Dying Parents, No will, Now What

My suggestion is to promptly have them create a living trust and transfer all their assets to it. This will avoid probate, which in Florida can be expensive and cause time delays (especially where there is no Will). Plus, Florida probate is a windfall for Florida attorneys who are needed for every little thing that would be required for probate of an estate. Your parents can be the original trustees and handle everything just as they do now, just in the name of the trust, not individually. A trust by-passes probate. The children can be named as successor trustees and assume this position upon the demise or incapacity of your parents, without any court involvement. The trust can act as a Will, stating what happens to the assets when your parents pass on. I can assist you in creating the trust, if you can get your parents to consider it. Your pitch is that the costs of probate in Florida are high, require an attorney at every step (with fees paid) and can take alot of time. The use of a trust avoids all of this and will allow the children to do everything on their own and without the need for an attorney.

Re: Dying Parents, No will, Now What

I don't have much ammunition for you. Your parents probably own everything jointly, or have the other as beneficiary, and if so, everything will automatically pass to the survivor at the first death. At the second death, it will not happen automatically, but in Florida, whether without a will or with a will leaving everything equally to all the children of the second to die, it will pass in equal shares to all of the children of the second to die. They might, however, want to be concerned about avoiding probate at that second death. That would take more than a will, however, as what keeps an asset out of probate is some type of joint ownership, having a named beneficiary, or being in a living trust.