About Juan

Trusts-and-estates litigation, probate administration and estate planning is all I do as a lawyer.  My firm's website does a good job of describing my non-litigation practice [click here].  In terms of what I do as a litigator, my practice falls under three broad categories: [1] contested probate matters, [2] contested trust matters, and [3] related real property litigation.

Trusts-and-Estates Litigation:

[1] Contested Probate Proceedings:

I represent personal representatives, beneficiaries, charities and potential heirs in the following areas:

  • Will Contests
  • Breach of Fiduciary Duty
  • Probate Fraud
  • Beneficiary Rights
  • Elective Share Claims
  • Abuse of Power of Attorney
  • Joint Bank Account Litigation
  • Pay on Death Disputes
  • Last Will and Testament Disputes
  • Estate Administration
  • Probate
  • Probate Litigation
  • Undue Influence Claims
  • Lack of Mental Capacity (Testamentary Capacity)
  • Guardianships and Conservatorships
  • Removal of Personal Representative

[2] Contested Trust Proceedings:

I represent trust beneficiaries and trustees in the following areas: 

  • Failure to make proper and timely distributions
  • Improper investments
  • Self dealing
  • Excessive trustee compensation
  • Interpreting ambiguous trust provisions
  • Trust Litigation
  • Trust Administration
  • Trust Reformation/Construction
  • Trust Contests

[3] Real Property Litigation:

In connection with probate and trust disputes, there are certain types of real estate disputes that often arise. As such, I represent parties in connection with the following types of real estate disputes: 

  • Homestead Determinations
  • Joint Owner Disputes
  • Partition Actions
  • Disputes Between a Life Estate Holder & the Remaindermen

Four Questions to Ask Yourself Before Filing Any Lawsuit [click here]:

Professional Background:

Juan C. Antúnez is a partner with Stokes McMillan Maracini & Antúnez P.A., a boutique trusts and estates law firm located in Miami, Florida. Trusts and estates litigation, probate administration and estate planning is all he does as a lawyer. In addition to practicing law and chronicling Florida’s ever evolving trusts-and-estates landscape on the Florida Probate & Trust Litigation Blog, he frequently lectures on trusts and estates related topics. He is a graduate of Florida International University’s business school (B.A. in finance with honors), the New York University School of Law (J.D.), and the University of Miami School of Law (LL.M. in Estate Planning). Mr. Antúnez has been awarded an AV® Peer Review Rating by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell.

Published Author:

I recently co-authored the Florida probate chapter of International Succession, published by Oxford University Press. Click here for more.

Teacher:

I'm an adjunct law professor for the LL.M. in Estate Planning program at the University of Miami School of Law [click here], and I frequently lecture at continuing legal education seminars for the National Business Institute and other professional groups on areas related to trusts and estates.

Veteran - United States Marine Corps:

Prior to law school I volunteered for service in the United States Marine Corps Reserve from 1987 to 1993 (4th ANGLICO, West Palm Beach, Florida), including combat duty during the first Gulf War. In addition to managing not to get myself shot, after "Gulf I" I ended up with the Combat Action Ribbon, Kuwaiti Liberation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and Meritorious Unit Citation.

"And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken."  Ecclesiastes 4:12 (Tattoo worn by 4th ANGLICO Marine Jeremiah McGraw, 22, who died in a training accident.) 

Favorite Quotes:

The virtue of compromise:

“Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker, the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be enough business.”

- Abraham Lincoln

Governing assumptions:

“Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.”

- Napoleon Bonaparte

Solving complex problems:

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

- H. L. Mencken

Style matters:

"What I admire most in any [litigator] is a serene spirit, a steady freedom from moral indignation, an all-embracing tolerance -- in brief, what is commonly called good sportsmanship. Such a man is not to be mistaken for one who shirks the hard knocks of life. On the contrary, he is frequently an eager gladiator, vastly enjoying the opposition. But when he fights he fights in the manner of a gentleman fighting a duel, not in that of a longshoreman cleaning out a waterfront saloon. That is to say, he carefully guards his amour proper by assuming that his opponent is as decent a man as he is, and just as honest -- and perhaps, after all, right. Such an attitude is palpably impossible to [the "Rambo" litigator]. His distinguishing mark is the fact that he always attacks his opponents, not only with all arms, but also with snorts and objurgations -- that he is always filled with moral indignation -- that he is incapable of imagining honor in an antagonist, and hence incapable of honor himself. Such fellows I do not like. I do not share their emotion. I can't understand their indignation, their choler. . . . ."

- H. L. Mencken

Testamentary Capacity:

“Money-giving is a very good criterion . . . of a person’s mental health. Generous people are rarely mentally ill people.”

- Dr. Karl A. Menninger, quoted in NEWSWEEK, November 2, 1959

Last Will & Testament:

"Wills are uncanny and electric documents. They lie dormant for years and then spring to life when their author dies, as if death were rain. Their effect on those they enrich is never negligible, and sometimes unexpectedly charged. They thrust living and dead into a final fierce clasp of love or hatred. But they are not written in stone—for all their granite legal language—and they can be bent to subvert the wishes of the writer."

Strangers in Paradise: How Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas got to Heaven, by Janet Malcolm, The New Yorker, Nov. 13, 2006, at 57.

Fiduciaries:

“But to say that a man is a fiduciary only begins analysis; it gives direction to further inquiry. To whom is he a fiduciary? What obligations does he owe as a fiduciary? In what respects has he failed to discharge these obligations? And what are the consequences of his deviations from duty?”

- Justice Felix Frankfurter, SEC v. Chenery Corp., 318 U.S. 80, 85-86 (1943)

“Many forms of conduct permissible in a workaday world for those acting at arm’s length, are forbidden to those bound by the fiduciary ties. A trustee is held to something stricter than the morals of the market place. Not honesty alone, but the punctilio of an honor the most sensitive, is then the standard of behavior. As to this there has developed a tradition that is unbending and inveterate. Uncompromising rigidity has been the attitude of courts of equity when petitioned to undermine the rule of undivided loyalty by the ‘disintegrating erosion’ of particular exceptions . . . . Only thus has the level of conduct for fiduciaries been kept at a level higher than that trodden by the crowd. It will not consciously be lowered by any judgment of this court.”

- Justice Benjamin Cardozo, Meinhard v. Salmon, 164 N.E. 545, 546 (N.Y. 1928)

Disclaimer:

This blog site is published by and reflects the personal views and legal interpretations of Juan Antunez in his individual capacity. It does not necessarily represent the views of his law firm or his clients, and is not sponsored or endorsed by them. The information contained in this blog site is provided only as general information for education purposes and is not intended to provide specific legal advice. No representation is made about the accuracy of the information posted on this blog site. Blog topics may or may not be updated and entries may be out-of-date at the time you view them.

By using this blog site you understand that there is no attorney-client relationship between Juan Antunez or his law firm and you. The posted information is neither provided in the course of an attorney-client relationship nor intended to constitute legal advice. This blog site should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed attorney in your state. This blog site is not intended to be advertising or to solicit any viewer to retain Juan Antunez as counsel.

Although sample clauses for wills and trusts may be provided and discussed in this blog, no form clause is a substitute for informed legal judgment. Juan Antunez does not guarantee that the sample clauses discussed in this blog effectively accomplish any purpose, and his law firm assumes no responsibility for the text of the sample clauses cited herein or their uses. By using any of the sample will or trust clauses discussed in this blog, the user acknowledges that such person (and not Juan Antunez or his law firm) is responsible for any document that such person prepares based on such language.