State Specific Question About: FLORIDA (FL)

Hi ,Everyone i have a question not related to common landlord business .If some one can let me help which to choose .

Me and hubby want to create {will or Living Trust ] but can't deside which way to go .wills are least expensive way but i learned if you have properties then its going to be expensive in the long run and probate and taxes .And there are so many trust out there not sure which one to choose .

my husband created a will 20 years back when we did not had many properties and then got busy did not pay any attention to that .

Going to consult with attorney tomorrow but he told me $1500 to create living trust and may $300 for will .

have two kids and many properties and once i was thinking about the land trust too .

help please

There are a ton of different issues to consider. (Hence, the confusion). To start, I recommend taking a look at a book called The Busy Families Guide to Estate Planning by Liza Hanks. It answers some of the questions pretty well and best, imho, it gives you a look at the why's and so on to do certain things. It is a good starting point that can clear up a lot of those questions.

Simply, a trust is for the big items and a will is for the little ones.

There has to be a trustee who is in charge. It is sometimes very difficult if the trustee is a lawyer. The lawyer may have a real b word as an assistant. The only person who can sign checks is the lawyer.

So if some child is trying to run the business and has to get checks signed all the time and can't get passed the b word to get checks signed, that child might decide to pull all the properties out of the trust after you pass.

It's OK if it's done after the estate is settled because the property is not subject to estate taxes at that point.

The trustee issue is really a hard one. Be very careful. Pay attention to what I said because you know how complicated it is to run a few properties. Imagine some pompous axx with a b word secretary in the middle.

Basically, a trust is a legal entity which is not a person, and it is therefore not subject to laws that affect a natural person (such as the requirement to have an estate probated).

The trust is administered by the trustee (who may be yourself, or your spouse or both of you) while the trustee is alive), and a survivor trustee may be named in advance, who will automatically become the trustee in case of the death of the previous trustee. At any stage, the trustee can manage the property in the trust, sell it, receive moneys due or pay out moneys owed, and even distribute the proceeds of the trust during lifetime or after death, as directed by the trust. So it would seem that there is very little difference between the trust (administered by the trustee) and yourself administering your own property, except that that the trust is not a person whose state needs to be probated. Upon death of the original trustee(s), the successor trustee can dissolve the trust, dispose of trust assets and distribute the proceeds according to a will (which is referenced within the trust). So a trust can do everything that a will can do, and more (namely avoid probate).

If you just have one or two children and one or two pieces of property, you might be able to have your property titled to transfer on death without going through probate.

Lisa, A land trust will not help you at this point! If you bought your properties using your name as the purchaser, your name (and probably your initial home address) has already been connected to the properties when they deed was recorded at purchase. Useless to put anything in a land trust after the fact.

A Land trust must be utilized at the time of purchase--and it operates like this: You have the title company put the NAME of the land trust as the purchaser (instead of your name) on all the closing documents. You make up a name (simply the street name will do, e.g. Main St Land Trust, 12th St Land Trust, Harris Rd Land Trust) and that trust becomes the OWNER of the property. You appoint yourself as the beneficiary of the land trust. The name of the beneficiary is never put on the recorded documentation. The beneficiary is allowed to manage the property to his/her BENEFIT. You are now officially the property MANAGER. (But you would be anyway, so there is no difference.)

Ally, why would anyone deal with a trustee like that? Keep records and then go to the judge and have them removed.

Met with an attorney last week and he suggests, for us, a family partnership rather than wills or trusts.

MANY things should be going into your equation prior to selecting what type entity you need. An attorney can guide you regarding YOUR circumstances, not what some guru on the internet tries to sell you ... because they sell the same basic programs to everyone and have no idea what individual circumstances each family has. In CA people always mention probate. In PA, probate is very cheap, quick and easy.

Ugh, Florida probate! I had to deal with them last year - what a pain! I think that a living trust is the way to go based one my experience (parents did NOT have one). But - try putting this question to AVVO - you'll get several state-specific answers to help you to make a decision.

Most lawyers that peddle these things are horrible. They'll sell you a trust and not explain how to use it properly because that will lead to more business for them when you pass. The best course of action is to learn what you need and then without telling a lawyer what you know, ask them what you need. Go with the one that gives the right answers.