Probate & Trust Administration

Overview

PROBATE & TRUST ADMINISTRATION:

- Streamlined administration of Probate Estates to limit cost & time delays
- Orderly distribution of trust & estate assets into asset-protected trusts for children and grandchildren
- Preservation of capital gains step-up-in-basis to eliminate capital gains taxes on sale of assets by inheriting beneficiaries
- Weekly Update Letter Reports to Trustees and Beneficiaries to keep everyone continuously informed as to the progress of the estate administration
- Monthly Private Live Webinars for all Trustees and Beneficiaries to review progress, outline next steps, and answer questions
- Private Client Family Listserves - these are email "groups" to which we post periodic email messages as to documents filed, case progression, etc. It is also a means for a trustee, a personal representative or a beneficiary to ask questions of the attorney and to share those questions with the group members of the Listserve.
- Private Client Administration Portals to login and review progress of estate administration, view pleadings, orders & other court filings, view timelines and upcoming filings and distribution schedule
- Private Beneficiary Portals to login and review progress of estate administration, view timelines and distribution schedule

What is Probate?

What is Probate & Does it Affect Me?

Probate is a court-supervised process of the administration of the assets of the estate of a deceased person only those assets need administration. Assets need probate court administration if and only if they are titled in the name of the decedent at the date of death AND are not jointly owned or are not beneficiary-designated.

What this means, very simply, is that if you don't die owning anything in your name alone, then you won't have any probate. That is how living trusts avoid probate - because "trust assets" are titled in the names of the trustees of the trust, not in the sole name of the person.

Is there a Dollar Cut-Off for Probate?

No. All assets titled in your name alone at your death that are not beneficiary-designated will be subject to the administration of the Probate Court in Florida - regardless of the amount of the asset.

For assets that do not exceed $75,000, those assets may be administered through Summary Administration. For assets that do exceed $75,000, those assets must be administered through Formal Administration - unless the decedent has been deceased for more than 2 years, in which case those assets may be administered through Summary Administration.

What is Trust Administration?

Trust Administration is very similar to Probate Administration. The main difference is the assets titled in a trust do not need to be administered by the Probate Court. Rather, trust assets are administered by a Successor Trustee of the trust.

Rather than having to go to Court and have a Judge administer the assets, the Successor Trustee simply administers and distributes the assets in the attorney's office. There is no "court case" that is filed with the Probate Court.

Although the legal obligations and duties of the Successor Trustee are in many ways identical to the obligations and duties of an Executor or Personal Representative in the Probate Court, administration of the assets by the Successor Trustee is usually quicker and less expensive.

Our Process

What We Do

We try to streamline the administration process. What does that mean?

The administration of an estate through the Probate Court is a series of steps that proceed in a certain order. That order is determined largely by the Florida statutes that govern the administration of probate estates. There are certain time frames that are "built-in" to this order that the administration process must follow.

"Streamlining" this process does not mean shortening the time periods - it simply means when one time frame ends, you should be ready to begin the next step immediately. That's what we strive to do.

And so you know what those time frames are, we have different Client "Portals" for you to log into and watch as those time frames are met and then when the next time frame begins. You can observe the progression of the process.

Client Portals, Reports, Webinars & Listserves

And so you know what those time frames are, we have different Client "Portals" for you to log into and watch as those time frames are met and then when the next time frame begins. You can observe the progression of the process.

• Private Client Administration Portals
  This is a private portal for trustees and personal representatives to log in and review the progress of the estate administration, view pleading, orders & other court filings, view timelines and upcoming court filings and projected distribution schedules.
• Private Beneficiary Portals
  This is a private portal for beneficiaries to log in and review the progress of the estate administration, view timelines, and projected distribution schedules.
• Weekly Update Letter Reports These are weekly letter reports generated to both trustees and beneficiaries to apprise them, in writing, of what was done the prior week and what is anticipated to be accomplished in the next week.
• Private Client Family Listserve
  This is a private email "group" to which we post periodic email messages as to documents filed, case progression, etc. It is also a means for a trustee, a personal representative or a beneficiary to ask questions of the attorney and to share those questions with the group members of the Listserve.
• Monthly Private Webinars
  This is a regularly scheduled Private Webinar where trustees, personal representatives, beneficiaries, financial advisors, CPAs - as well as other professionals involved with the estate to attend, via computer and interact with each other so that everyone is apprised of the current status of the estate administration.