Our Estate Planning and Probate attorneys representing Pinellas County strongly believe that your assets should be protected against lenders, predators, separation, and even the poor decisions of your beneficiaries themselves. We feel that you, not the government, should determine how your possessions are distributed when you decease. Your estate should not be disected by burdensome death duty, and your nest egg should not be exhausted in order to get long-term healthcare. Our estate planning attorneys can help you protect your legacy and your loved ones.
We provide Administration, Litigation and Estate Planning services to Pinellas County Families.
Administration in Pinellas County
The administration of an estate after a member of the family or someone dear to you dies can be tremendously stressful. At a time when you are more focused on grieving, you may quickly find that getting the affairs of a loved one in order are far more complicated than just funeral preparation. You may be challenged with legal terms and requests for information that are unfamiliar to you, adding a little confusion to your suffering. An knowledgeable administration attorney at Battaglia, Ross, Dicus and McQuaid, P.A., is here to help dissect and explain the process to ensure you can smoothly fulfill your obligations and distribute possessions of the departed according to the laws of the state of Florida.
Executor of a Will
The executor of a will is the individual you name to perform your desires after you pass. When you die with a legally-valid will, a court will approve the executor you’ve named in it to act on it. This could include paying outstanding debts with the money left from your estate, dispersing your money and property to your heirs, and more.
It’s essential to select a reliable, organized individual you trust to be your executor. They’ll have an important role in ensuring everything goes smoothly with your estate after your death.
Probate Administration
When a loved one passes away, their assets and liabilities don’t pass with them. These assets and liabilities will need to be distributed according to the laws of the state of Florida, under a process called probate administration. In other words, probate is a procedure in which a court supervises the distribution of a departed person’s assets and the paying of their personal debts. Unfortunately, this procedure could be rather complicated. It can even be challenging to know if it is necessary, but the experienced Estate Planning and Probate attorneys serving Pinellas County are here to help.
Trust Administration
Trust administration in Florida pertains to the duties and procedures by which a successor trustee a living trust performs the terms of the trust document. A successor trustee of a living trust has a wide variety of capabilities and obligations which become successful upon our death or incapacity of the trustmaker or grantor. The trustee has a legal responsibility to the trust beneficiaries that include proper administration of trust assets. The trustee could be liable for damages caused by incorrect handling of trust assets or inappropriate trust administration.
Litigation in Pinellas County
If you believe your rights have been disregarded as a beneficiary in a Will or Trust in Florida, then you should contact an Estate, Trust & Trustee Litigation attorney asap. Doing this will provide you with the legal abilities to file a petition that could protect your family’s assets, rights and future.
Alternatively, if you are facing accusations and claims as a Trustee, it is critical that you get in touch with a lawyer to help prove that your decisions were justified.
Beneficiary Rights
If you’re a beneficiary of a Florida estate or trust and think your rights have been violated, then you should reach out to a Beneficiary Rights attorney as soon as possible.
Elder Abuse in Pinellas County
If you speculate or recognize that somebody in your life has been the target of Elder Abuse, then you should contact an Elder Abuse attorney to protect them and their finances as soon as possible.
Trust Accounting Disputes in Pinellas County
If a Trustee has neglected to supply you with accounting information or you suspect malpractice, then you should get in touch with a Trust Accounting Disputes attorney as soon as possible.
Trust Contest
If you suspect a trust has been poorly created or managed, you will need a Trust contest attorney to prove its invalidity. Doing this will allow you to file a lawsuit and fight for your legacy.
Pinellas County Trustee Defense
If you’re a Trustee experiencing accusations of mishandling, fraud, breaches of fiduciary obligation, self-dealing or any other misconduct, then you may want to get in touch with a Trustee Defense attorney.
Trustee Removal
If a Trustee has violated their fiduciary duties or performed irresponsibly, then a Trustee removal attorney can file an action to eradicate the Trustee to protect your rights as a beneficiary.
Will Contest
If you think your inheritance rights have been violated, you will require the expert assistance of a Florida Will contest attorney. Doing so will allow you to file a petition that may change the way the estate is distributed.
Pinellas County Estate Planning
If estate planning is something you would rather not deal with, try thinking of the laws of the state of Florida determining what occurs to your property, who administers your estate, even who becomes the legal guardian of your children. An entity with no direct affiliation to your family or everything you’ve worked for could become the ultimate decision maker without the proper execution of a Last Will and Testament. This very real likelihood can manifest in ways you would never have planned, leaving your final desires unfulfilled and your family members possibly uncared for. Effective estate planning provides you the chance to prepare for these contingencies as well as the opportunity to cement your legacy. Our Pinellas County Estate Planning & Probate Attorneys cover every aspect of Estate Planning, consisting of but not limited to:
Advance Directives
An Advance Directive is an oral or written statement. This statement will explain how you want your medical decisions to be made when you become unable of arriving at these resolutions yourself.
Asset Protection
Asset Protection Planning is an ethical and legal process that entails reviewing your financial holdings and reorganizing them to ensure that you can get legal exemptions.
Business Succession Planning
Business succession planning is a strategy for handing down leadership tasks to an employee or group of employees.
Charitable Lead Trust
A charitable lead trust is an irrevocable trust designed to ensure financial support to one or more charities for a period of time, with the remaining assets ultimately going to family members or other beneficiaries.
Charitable Remainder Trust
A charitable remainder trust is a tax-exempt irrevocable trust constructed to minimize the taxable earnings of people by first dispersing income to the beneficiaries of the trust for a specified period of time and then giving away the remainder of the trust to the designated charity.
Dynasty Trusts
You might have heard that “dynasty trust” is a term used for denoting trusts that last for more than a generation. In reality, this term is used for denoting trusts that are developed to stay for generations.
Generation-Skipping Trust
A generation-skipping trust is a type of trust that specifies somebody who is at least 37 1/2 years younger than the settlor as the beneficiary of the trust.
Grantor Retained Annuity Trust
A grantor retained annuity trust (GRAT) is a financial instrument used in estate planning to minimize taxes on large financial gifts to family members.
Health Care Directives
Health care directives are written or oral instructions that give instructions regarding the future medical care that a individual ought to get when he/she is not in a place to decide.
Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust
An intentionally defective grantor (IDGT) permits a trustor to separate particular trust assets in order to segregate income tax from estate tax treatment on them.
Irrevocable Trust
An Irrevocable Trust is an agreement between a settlor, trustee and specified named beneficiaries that can not be altered or negated unless there is a mutual agreement between all impacted parties.
Last Will and Testament
A last will and testament is a legal document detailing your desires regarding assets and dependents after your passing.
Living Trusts
A living trust is a legal document, or trust, produced during an individual’s lifetime where a designated individual, the trustee, is given responsibility for managing that individual’s assets for the benefit of the eventual beneficiary.
LLC Formation
An LLC can help you pass assets down to your heirs while staying clear of taxes. Our Estate Planning & Probate Attorneys can help you with LLC Formation.
Pet Trust
A pet trust is a legally sanctioned plan providing for the care and maintenance of one or more companion animals in the occasion of a grantor’s impairment or fatality.
Power of Attorney
A power of attorney can be a useful resource that allows you to be involved in monetary transactions. This tool is essential when you can not attend to sign legal documents.
Qualified Personal Residence Trust
A Qualified Personal Residence Trust or QPRT is a unique kind of irreversible trust that has been manufactured to remove the value of your prime residence or a secondary property from your taxable estate.
Transfer Tax Planning
Transfer tax planning includes using various tax-favored strategies to move wealth to your intended beneficiaries during your lifetime and at demise.
Our Estate Planning & Probate Attorneys Serve Pinellas County Residents
For you to guarantee that your rights and the wishes of your loved ones are fully upheld, it is important to have the representation of a skilled lawyer. Our Estate Planning & Probate attorneys recognize how much these difficulties matter for you and your family, and we have the legal experience you need to prepare and protect your legacy.
Call us today at (727) 381-2300 or schedule a consultation online and speak with one of our top rated Estate Planning & Probate Attorneys.
