Florida Probate Litigation Blog: Taxation & Estate Planning

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Taxation & Estate Planning Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Taxation & Estate Planning

Florida Probate Litigation Blog

Posts probate-related appellate decisions in Florida and links to news stories and blog posts about probate law.
By Juan C. Antúnez

Post Frequency: 1.6/day

Last Entry: July 12, 2010 at 20:48:56

Baucus Bill Includes Estate Tax Section

Posted on March 29, 2009
As reported here, Sen. Max Baucus has introduced a bill in the Senate that would make the 2009 estate tax level permanent and reunify the estate and gift taxes. Nothing surprising here, but it's worth noting that his bill would also would allow portability of the exemption for spouses...

5th DCA: How do you litigate examining committee findings?

Posted on March 26, 2009
Levine v. Levine, --- So.2d ----, 2009 WL 482260 (Fla. 5th DCA Feb 27, 2009) Whether or not an adult is in fact legally "incapacitated" is often the crux of the case in contested guardianship proceedings. The fact finders that are supposed to answer that question are the members of the examining committee appointed by the probate judge pursuant to F...

Persuading a Cold Judge

Posted on March 23, 2009
A defining characteristic of probate litigation is that your cases are decided by judges, no jury trials here. If your judge is prepared and understands the facts and law of your case, all is well. But when your judge is not prepared, or simply doesn't "get" it, he's what Denver, Colorado litigator Peter Bornstein refers to as a "cold" judge in Persuading a Cold Judge, an excellent article just published in the ABA's Litigation magazine...

Florida needs to adopt the Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act

Posted on March 17, 2009
The Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act (UAGPPJA) addresses a problem that needs fixing in Florida: interstate jurisdiction controversies involving adult guardianship proceedings. As I've written before, due to our highly mobile popluation (especially with respect to retiring seniors) inter-state forum shopping in contested guardianship proceedings is a growing problem [click here]...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

2d DCA: How to amend a joint revocable trust

Posted on March 15, 2009
Provost v. Justin, --- So.2d ----, 2009 WL 484633 (Fla. 2d DCA Feb 27, 2009) When Florida adopted its version of the Uniform Trust Code in 2007 [click here], it modernized and sometimes dramatically changed our prior body of trust law. One of the fundamental changes was a reversal of the presumption regarding revocability of trusts: the presumption used to be a trust is NOT revocable; F...

Latest twist in bizarre litigation over Wilson (Chuck) Lucom's $50 million estate

Posted on March 12, 2009
When eccentric millionaire Wilson (Chuck) Lucom died in 2006 at 88, he left as much as $50 million in his will for poor children's charities in Panama. It's reportedly the largest private gift ever made in that country. Unfortunately, Panama's poor may never see a dime of Lucom's estate, which has been locked in litigation in both Panama and Florida since his death...

3d DCA: How to litigate ownership of "bearer" shares in probate

Posted on March 11, 2009
Griem v. Becker, --- So.2d ----, 2009 WL 454517 (Fla. 3d DCA Feb 25, 2009) My assumption regarding "bearer" shares in offshore companies is that they're sold to people who are up to no good (probably trying to cheat on their taxes), and I'm not the only one who feels that way [click here]...

1st DCA: Not all probate orders are appealable

Posted on March 09, 2009
Edelstein v. Beagell, --- So.2d ----, 2009 WL 500913 (Fla. 1st DCA Feb 27, 2009) Not all probate orders are created equal. Some are appealable, and some aren't. The controlling rule is broadly stated in Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.110(a)(2) as follows: (a) Applicability...

5th DCA: What's it mean to be in someone's "presence" when witnessing a will?

Posted on March 09, 2009
Price v. Abate, --- So.2d ----, 2009 WL 559908 (Fla. 5th DCA Mar 06, 2009) In the linked-to case the 5th DCA broke new ground. The parties were litigating what the word "presence" means for purposes of witnessing a will under F.S. 732.502(1)(c): Witnesses' signatures...

4th DCA: How broad is a trustee's privilege waiver when claiming the "advice of counsel defense"?

Posted on March 04, 2009

3d DCA: What's the right way to litigate an ambiguous will?

Posted on March 02, 2009

Bankr.M.D.Fla: Probate judgment against former PR not dischargeable in bankruptcy

Posted on February 28, 2009

Things That May Surprise You About Florida's Principal and Income Act and Related Accounting Law, Part I

Posted on February 27, 2009

M.D.Fla: What to do when your bank pays out trust funds to the wrong guy?

Posted on February 26, 2009
Fintak v. Wachovia Bank, N.A., Slip Copy, 2009 WL 413599 (M.D.Fla. Feb 18, 2009) Say you have a trust that owns two CDs that together are worth a little over $200,000 and Wachovia pays them out to one of your three co-trustees . . . and he runs off with the loot...

4th DCA: Court says NO to family in contested guardianship proceeding

Posted on February 20, 2009
Morris v. Knight, --- So.2d ----, 2009 WL 321586 (Fla. 4th DCA Feb 11, 2009) Trial Judge's Power in Guardianship Proceedings: Florida probate judges get a huge amount of deference when deciding whom to appoint as guardian. So if your client is on the losing end of an order appointing someone else guardian, an appeal is probably a waste of money...

AARP Research Report: "Power of Attorney Abuse: What States Can Do About It"

Posted on February 17, 2009
Texas probate litigator J. Michael Young wrote here on his Texas Probate Litigation Blog about a recently published AARP research piece entitled Power of Attorney Abuse: What States Can Do About It. Here's an excerpt: The primary goal of this report is to inform state legislators, policymakers, practitioners, and advocates about the [Uniform Power of Attorney Act (UPOAA), click here]...

3d DCA: Getting paid for defending against an assisted-suicide/Slayer Statute claim . . . but hands off the homestead

Posted on February 15, 2009
Estate of Shefner v. Shefner-Holden, --- So.2d ----, 2009 WL 322153 (Fla. 3d DCA Feb 11, 2009) When is probate litigation a compensable "service" to the estate? There were two issues at play in the linked-to opinion. One was whether the PR's were entitled to payment of their attorneys fees after successfully defending against a claim that F...

Tough times making even probate practice riskier

Posted on February 12, 2009
Chicago-area probate lawyer Joel A. Schoenmeyer wrote here on his Death and Taxes Blog about an interesting article out of Canada discussing why even probate lawyers will feel the heat as our economy continues its downward spiral: Tough times making even probate practice riskier...

2d DCA: Does a trust beneficiary have a mandatory right to intervene in litigation involving her trust?

Posted on February 12, 2009
Crescenze v. Bothe, --- So.2d ----, 2009 WL 284858 (Fla. 2d DCA Feb 04, 2009) Trust beneficiaries can avoid being sidelined in litigation involving their trusts by moving to "intervene" in the case under Civ.P. Rule 1.230. Here's what the rule says: Anyone claiming an interest in pending litigation may at any time be permitted to assert a right by intervention, but the intervention shall be in subordination to, and in recognition of, the propriety of the main proceeding, unless otherwise ordered by the court in its discretion...

Congressional white papers examining the U.S. Federal estate and gift tax system

Posted on February 09, 2009
I don't know of a better way to quickly get your arms around the hot-button issues driving today's estate-tax planning world [and current reform proposals, click here] than the three white papers listed below, all of which were prepared and published by the Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan committee of the United States Congress...

5th DCA: It's official, probate litigators now have something new to worry about: the 30-day deadline applicable to motions for attorney-fees under Civ. Pro. Rule 1.525

Posted on February 06, 2009
Hays v. Lawrence, --- So.2d ----, 2009 WL 211048 (Fla. 5th DCA Jan 30, 2009) The probate bar has been mulling over the question of if, when and how Civ. Pro. Rule 1.525, the rule setting a 30-day post-judgment deadline for filing fee motions in civil litigation, applies to contested probate and trust proceedings...

11th Cir: Salvation Army wins its POD case

Posted on February 04, 2009
Belanger v. Salvation Army, 2009 WL 223884 (11th Cir.(Fla.) Feb 02, 2009) The Salvation Army has been enmeshed in litigation since 2007 over approximately $105,000 it received from a pay-on-death account [click here]. At issue was whether a corporation, such as the Salvation Army, could be the beneficiary of a pay-on-death bank account under Florida law...

1st DCA: How specific does a premarital agreement have to be to defeat a surviving spouse's claims?

Posted on February 01, 2009
Taylor v. Taylor, --- So.2d ----, 2009 WL 186155 (Fla. 1st DCA Jan 28, 2009) I wrote here in 2006 about an "ambiguous" premarital agreement that the 3d DCA held was a valid waiver of a widow's marital rights under F.S. § 732.702. Here's the clause at the center of the 3d DCA case: "It is [husband's] intent that, in the event of his death, all of his separate property be given to his children, STEVEN M...

The Cutler En Banc Opinion: Is the Third DCA Eroding the Protection Afforded to Heirs Who Are to Receive Devises of Florida Homestead?

Posted on January 29, 2009
The Winter 2009 edition of ActionLine contains a short article entitled The Cutler En Banc Opinion: Is the Third DCA Eroding the Protection Afforded to Heirs Who Are to Receive Devises of Florida Homestead? by Melbourne probate attorney Charlie Nash...

Tax Results of Settling Disputes Involving Marital-Deduction (QTIP) Trusts

Posted on January 26, 2009
A "QTIP trust" allows a person's estate to receive a 100% estate-tax marital deduction for assets left in trust for a surviving spouse for life, with the remainder of the trust assets going to the settlor's children (or other heirs) once the surviving spouse passes away [click here]...

1st DCA: power of attorney authorized execution of binding arbitration agreement

Posted on January 18, 2009
Five Points Health Care, Ltd. v. Mallory, --- So.2d ----, 2008 WL 5411834 (Fla. 1st DCA Dec 31, 2008) Under Florida law an attorney-in-fact's authority is limited solely to actions "specifically enumerated in the durable power of attorney." F...

L'Affaire Madoff: what trustees and other fiduciaries need to be thinking about

Posted on January 15, 2009
At this year's Heckerling conference in Florida one of the speakers asked a conference room of (I'd guess) over a thousand trusts-and-estates attorneys/CPAs from across the country how many of them had clients affected by the Madoff scandal: easily 9 out of 10 raised their hands...

WSJ: Obama Plans to Keep Estate Tax

Posted on January 12, 2009
Win, lose or draw, I think all sides can agree that finality on the estate-tax front would be a welcomed development. And the wait may be coming to an end. The WSJ reported today in Obama Plans to Keep Estate Tax that the new administration has concluded "that if they don't act now, it will be politically harder to go ahead with their plan to resurrect the estate tax once it has disappeared [in 2010]...

3d DCA: Post-mediation litigation triggered by settlement agreement's fuzzy release clause

Posted on January 03, 2009
Sandra O'Neill v. Scher, --- So.2d ----, 2008 WL 5352183 (Fla. 3d DCA Dec 24, 2008) In the linked-to opinion the parties executed a settlement agreement supposedly putting an end to their litigation involving contested probate claims. The settlement agreement contained the following release language: 3...

2d DCA: Trust-litigation venue statute wont get you to Canada

Posted on December 20, 2008
Hunt v. Hooper, --- So.2d ----, 2008 WL 5191505 (Fla. 2d DCA Dec 12, 2008) As I've written before, Florida is the largest recipient of state-to-state migration in the U.S. [click here]. This fact has all sorts of implications for trusts-and-estates matters...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

Update on AILF's Legal Action Center Visa Bulletin Litigation (Updated 7/10/07)
The following is the latest update from AILF regarding its pening ...

Litigation Relating To ICE Raids At Swift Meat Packing Plants
This information regarding litigation relating to ICE raids at Swi...

Litigation Strains Virginia Episcopal Docese
Virtue Online reported on Friday that the Episcopal Diocese of Vir...

New Baptist Covenant Blog
Last week, I pointed to the New Baptist Convenant website, now onl...

The Mexico Trucker Blog
I've written before about the perceived problems with relaxed rest...