I recently spoke on Florida’s statutory authorization of electronic wills and it got me thinking once again about how consequential — or not — this legislation really is. Spoiler alert: as a practical matter, I think it was much ado …
When to “decant” a trust. It’s getting easier to modify irrevocable trusts. Here’s how it works.
If you’re working with the trustee of an irrevocable trust that needs fixing for some reason, your first thought should be to simply re-write the thing by using F.S. 736.04117, Florida’s trust “decanting” statute. Decanting allows you to re-write …
2020 Legislative Updates + Backstories (Part 2)
This is the second and final installment of the 2020 legislative update. Part 1 focused on non-tax changes to our probate and trust codes. This post focuses on CS/HB 1089, a single-purpose bill introducing new F.S. 736.08145, a …
2020 Legislative Updates + Backstories (Part 1)
2020 was another busy year on the legislative front. The vehicles for changes to our probate and trust codes were CH/HB 505, CS/HB 1439 and CS/HB 1089. The last bill is an interesting tax measure involving “grantor trusts” …
2018 Legislative Update: Elder Law and Guardianship (+ Backstories)
Here’s my summary of what happened legislatively in 2018 on the elder law and guardianship front. The legislative focus this year is on preventing and/or responding to instances of elderly and vulnerable adult financial exploitation.
This is part two of …
2018 Legislative Update: Probate & Trust (+ Backstories)
2018 was another interesting legislative year for those of us toiling in the vineyards as trusts and estates lawyers. Here’s my summary of what happened on the probate and trust front. I’ll post a separate summary of 2018’s guardianship legislation.…
Florida Supreme Court says YES to special purpose evidence code provision specifically shielding fiduciary-lawyer communications (finally!)
Our general-purpose attorney-client privilege rule is found in F.S. 90.502. Historically, this rule was subject to the common law “fiduciary exception,” which was bad news for all concerned because it inhibited the free flow of information between personal representatives, …
Marriage, Guardianships . . . and the Power of Framing
Smith v. Smith, — So.3d —-, 2017 WL 3774702 (Fla. August 31, 2017)
How do we protect the elderly from exploitation and abuse, without sacrificing our fundamental rights as we enter old age, like the constitutionally protected right to …
2017 legislative news: Big Changes to Florida’s Elective Share Statutes
If you’re a working probate attorney, elective share claims loom large in your practice. Which means anytime the thicket of interconnected and complicated statutes making up this body of law gets changed, it’s worth paying attention to. And recently there’s …
Breaking news: Governor Rick Scott Vetoes Florida Electronic Wills Act
I previously reported here on the “Florida Electronic Wills Act”. The legislature passed this bill back in May over strong opposition from the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of The Florida Bar. For the public policy arguments for …