If you make your living writing wills and trusts, or administering them, or litigating them, you live in a world dominated by words; be they contained in a client’s personal estate planning documents or the public statutes and court opinions
In Florida a couple’s marital property rights are based on the common law’s “separate property” regime. According to the IRS, the “theory underlying common law is that each spouse is a separate individual with separate legal and property rights.”
There are all sorts of reasons for why you may want to litigate your case in federal court. As explained in an excellent blog post by NY commercial litigator Will Newman:
Litigants often prefer federal court for several reasons.
If you’re going to sue a decedent’s probate estate, the first question you’ll need to ask yourself is if your lawsuit is going to be subject to Florida’s ultra-short limitations periods for probate creditor claims. And to answer that
Florida’s new Community Property Trust Act is the subject of two excellent Florida Bar Journal articles by Orlando attorney Joseph Percopo (see here and here). But nothing quite beats an insider’s view on new legislation from the person primarily
As reported in A jury rules a handwritten will found under Aretha Franklin’s couch cushion is valid:
A jury in Michigan has ruled that a [2014] note handwritten by the late soul singer Aretha Franklin is valid as her
Heirs property generally refers to family-owned property inherited by multiple generations without formal legal proceedings, resulting in a lack of clear title proving ownership. As explained in a 2018 Florida Bar Journal article entitled The Disproportionate Impact of Heirs Property
F.S. 46.021 tells us that “[n]o cause of action dies with the person. All causes of action survive and may be commenced, prosecuted, and defended [against the decedent’s estate].” However, how you go about prosecuting a case — and the length
The same evidence that authorizes a probate judge to remove a personal representative nominated in your will could get her reversed on appeal for refusing to appoint this same person as personal representative at the outset. Same facts, same players,
If you’re a Florida probate attorney, sooner or later you’re going to have to figure out if a will or trust that was perfectly valid and legal in some other state or country, works in Florida. It’s not a matter