Estate Planning

When clients come to our firm, they often have a specific goal in mind. Some individuals want to create a plan that will protect a family member, while others are interested in protecting a minor child or planning for a second marriage. At Law Offices of Laurie E. Ohall P.A., we work with clients to determine the best way to achieve their goals, whatever they may be.

The attorneys at Law Offices of Laurie E. Ohall P.A. draft and review the following estate planning documents with clients:

Power of attorney: A power of attorney allows you to name the person who will step into your shoes when you are unable to make decisions. There are various power of attorney documents, including those pertaining to both finances and healthcare.
Wills: It is important to decide who will receive your assets at the time of your death. Without a will, that decision is left to the court.
Trusts: Trusts are another way to leave your assets to your loved ones. A trust can also help you avoid probate and take care of loved ones who may not be able to handle an outright distribution of money. With a trust, a successor trustee takes over when you die.
Special Needs Trust: A special needs trust ensures that a disabled individual (such as a minor child, an adult child, or a disabled spouse) receives support without losing any government benefits they might be receiving. The trust can then help the disabled individual with paying for things that the government benefits might not cover.
Health care directives: A health care directive names a specific person to carry out your medical wishes. Having a person named can eliminate problems in the event of a medical emergency.

Is your estate planning in order?

Test your knowledge with our Estate Planning Basics Report Card:

Do you have a Last Will and Testament?
Do you have a Trust (if applicable)?
Do you have a Durable Power of Attorney?
Do you have a Living Will and health care surrogate designation?
Inventory of all your assets (so loved ones can identify account numbers, if there is a safe deposit box, identify where the assets are located, etc.)
Are the beneficiary designations on your life insurance up-to-date?
Do you have all of creditor info written out so family members can notify of them your death (mortgage company, credit cards, utilities, etc.)?
Have you pre-paid or pre-arranged funeral expenses?
Are your important papers organized (birth/marriage certificates, immigration/citizenship papers, prenuptial agreements, Veteran discharge papers)?

Serving: Brandon, Valrico, Riverview, Apollo Beach, Plant City, Fish Hawk, Lithia, Gibsonton, Wimauma, etc.

Estate Planning FAQs

What is a Will?

A Last Will and Testament specifies who will receive your assets upon your death. The original will should be kept in a safe place because it must be presented at the time of death (a copy may not be admitted to probate). If the will is not signed pursuant to the requirements of Florida law, it is void. You cannot avoid probate by having just a Will.

What is a Durable Power of Attorney?

While our own incapacity is not a pleasant thought, ignoring the possibility may have far reaching consequences. There are various legal instruments, which when executed prior to the event of physical and/or mental incapacity, can alleviate some of the issues which commonly arise. They can often eliminate the need for expensive guardianship proceedings. For example, a Durable Power of Attorney allows the appointee to handle your general or specific affairs if you become disabled, ill, or leave the country. Even if you are married, if you were to become incapacitated and your spouse needed to sell the house, for instance, to pay for medical bills, he or she would be unable to do so without your signature. If you are incapacitated, obviously, you cannot sign a contract or give your consent. Thus, a guardianship (which can be an expensive legal process) would have to be started. A durable power of attorney avoids the need for a guardianship. Since it takes effect immediately upon execution, you must have absolute faith and trust in those you name for this position.

What is a Health Care Surrogate?

Other “advanced directives” include the Designation of Health Care Surrogate which allows you to designate a person to make medical decisions for you (end life support system if brain dead, select a doctor, select or deny medical procedures, choose which hospital, select your nursing home, etc.).

What is a Living Will?

A Living Will, not to be confused with a Living Trust, states your wishes regarding whether you wish to be kept alive via artificial life support, forced feeding and/or hydration if you are terminally ill or a physician determines there is no medical probability of recovery.

What is a Living Trust?

Not to be confused with a Living Will, a Living Trust is a document which creates a form of ownership in which assets owned by the grantor of the trust are legally re-titled in the name of the trustee (which can be the same person as the grantor) who manages the assets for the benefit of the trust’s beneficiaries named in the document. This is the most effective way to avoid probate and guardianship proceedings. It is safer than owning property jointly (in order to avoid probate) because the trustee, who manages and controls the assets, does not personally own the assets of the trust; the trustee holds the title to the assets “in trust” for the benefit of the beneficiaries. Typically, a living trust names the grantor as the initial trustee and beneficiary, so that the grantor is the person who manages the trust assets. A grantor may instead choose to name a bank, trust company, or another individual as the initial trustee. The trust also dictates who will receive the assets upon the grantor’s death, e.g. the beneficiaries. It is important to note that the assets must be transferred into the trust once the trust is created – otherwise, you just have a document written on nice paper and nothing more.

The assets avoid probate because the trust owns the assets, not the individual. However, assets not transferred into the trust prior to the grantor’s death will not avoid probate (except for life insurance and other assets which have beneficiary designations or avoid probate on their own).

What Should I know About Asset Protection Planning?

Asset protection planning allows you to plan for unexpected events in order to prevent the loss of income to the family and retain sufficient assets to pay for living expenses and medical care.

Examples of asset protection planning include making sure that motor vehicles are titled in the name of the principal driver only. This is due to the fact that anyone whose name appears on the vehicle title is legally responsible for the negligent acts of the driver. Therefore, each spouse should own their own car and children, if they are over the age of eighteen, should own their cars.

Another way to protect your assets, as a married couple, is to own property jointly as tenants by the entirety (and NOT as joint tenants with full rights of survivorship). The reason for this is because creditors of one spouse cannot reach property held as tenants by the entirety. Both real property and personal property can be held as tenants by the entirety. This form of ownership also avoids probate on the death of the first spouse.

Please bear in mind this information is general in nature and you should consult with an attorney familiar with estate planning issues. You should also be sure to keep the originals of your estate planning documents in a safe place, and let others, especially the designees, know where they are located.