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Estate Planning

Estate Planning
 
The process by which you make important decisions about what will happen to you, your family, and your property upon your incapacitation or death. A comprehensive estate plan typically includes the following documents:

Last Will & Testament

 

A Last Will and Testament is a legal document that communicates your final wishes, including instructions on how you want your property and assets to be distributed after your death. In your Last Will, you name an executor(s) or personal representative(s) to handle distribution of your estate and disposition of your digital assets. You may also name a person to care for minor children (i.e., guardian of the person and guardian of the property) as well as make final arrangements for the disposition of your body in accordance with your beliefs.

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A special type of Last Will that is sometimes used in conjunction with a Living Trust is called a "Pour Over Will". A Pour Over Will provides that any assets that were not previously transferred to the testator's trust during their lifetime be transferred to the trust upon their death. In this way, the terms of your trust will determine the distribution of those assets.

Living Will / Advance Directive

 

A Living Will declaration, also known as an Advance Health Care Directive or Advance Directive, is a document in which you express your rejection of having your life prolonged by artificial means. In your Living Will, you will appoint a person (and a successor if this person is unavailable) to execute end of life medical decisions on your behalf. A Living Will typically lists the specific actions/treatments that you want to be taken or withheld in the event that you have a terminal illness or a terminal physical condition such as, brain death. You may also explicitly prohibit the use of various types of burdensome medical treatments such as  feeding tubes and other medical devices used to artificially sustain life.

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If you want cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) procedures to be withheld as well, the Advance Directive can be prepared along with a Do Not Resuscitate Order (DNR).

Pre-Need Guardian Designation

 

A guardian is a person or entity appointed to the care and management of the person or the property of another who is incapable of acting for himself. Florida law allows you to designate a person who could be appointed guardian over you should you become incapacitated and/or over your children should you become incapacitated or upon your death. If you fail to designate a guardian, the Court will do so for you if and when it becomes necessary.

Guardianships (sometimes called a conservatorship) are typically supervised by the court, and in many cases guardians required to make accountings to the court on a periodic basis. To avoid the burden of lengthy and costly court proceedings, a Pre-Need Guardian Designation is prepared to automatically appoint the person you wish to be your guardian should one be necessary.​

Living Trust /
Revocable Trust

 

A revocable trust is an agreement created by you to manage your assets during your lifetime and distribute any remaining assets after your death. In this way, a revocable trust may avoid the need for probate administration since there would be no "estate assets", provided your assets were transferred during your lifetime to the trustee. The successor trustee named in the trust has immediate authority to manage the trust assets at your death; appointment by the court is not necessary.

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During your lifetime, you may name yourself as trustee of your living trust and continue to control and make decisions concerning assets owned by the trust. However, in the event of your incapacitation, your successor trustee is able to assume your role and continue to manage the trust assets, pay your bills, and make provision for your care. In this way, trusts can also avoid the need for appointment of a court-appointed guardian.

Power of Attorney

 

A Power of Attorney (POA) is an instrument used to grant authority to another person to act on your behalf in business or private affairs without having to open a guardianship proceeding in court. A Power of Attorney can be created for a specific or limited purpose (such as handling a business or real estate deal while you are out of town), or for a general purpose (such as authority to manage all of your financial affairs, incl. signatory power over all of your bank accounts and real property). Powers of Attorney continue until revoked by you or until they expire upon a specific date/occurrence, or automatically, in the event you are determined incapacitated. 

 

A "Durable" Power of Attorney is a special type of power of attorney that does not expire upon your incapacitation, it continues until your death. A Durable Power of Attorney is a very powerful document and should only be granted to close family members and people you trust.

Healthcare Surrogate Designation /
Medical POA

 

The Health Care Surrogate Designation is an instrument that allows you to appoint a person to make medical decisions for you in the event that your doctors determine that you are unable to do so due to unconsciousness or sedation, or other conditions. In the event the initial surrogate is unable, unavailable, or unwilling to assume the role, the document also provides for a successor surrogate who will make such medical decisions on your behalf.

Services Provided by SUERO LAW:

  • Formal Administration

  • Summary Administration

  • Ancillary Administration

  • Administration of Non U.S. Resident / Foreigner Estate

  • Small Estate Administration

  • Letters of Administration

  • Petition for Administration

  • Petition to Determine Homestead Status of Real Property

  • Notice to Creditors

  • Estate Inventory

  • Personal Representative Deed

  • Final Accounting

  • Trust Administration

  • Last Will & Testament

  • Living Trust / Revocable Trust

  • Special Needs Trust

  • Healthcare Surrogate Designation / Medical POA

  • Living Will / Advanced Directive

  • Pre-need Guardian Designation

  • Durable Power of Attorney

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