Florida Wills, Trusts and Probate Attorney James W. Martin Blog

Every business needs a name. To tell customers what it is. To differentiate it from competition. And to identify it legally. Just like every person needs a name.

And, just like naming a person, naming a business takes time, thought, effort, and communication. You can’t just go register a domain name on Go Daddy and be done with it. Well, you can, but be ready to suffer the consequences.

Everyone who deals with real estate in Florida needs a survey. Whether buying, selling, leasing, constructing, lending, or just plain owning real estate, you need a survey. Here’s why: Buyer: You’re buying real estate in Florida and the broker says you don’t need a survey unless the lender requires it. Is that true? Probably not.…

Whether selling a home or an office building, the seller of Florida real estate needs a lawyer. Why? Because the seller has two goals: get paid and avoid litigation. The lawyer’s job is to help the seller get paid by preparing and negotiating the listing and sale contracts, helping the seller through the due diligence…

When buying real estate in Florida, the buyer needs a lawyer. Why? Because real estate is complicated. There are many pitfalls. And there is usually no one else to watch out for the buyer’s legal interest. Brokers and closing agents usually aren’t lawyers. They are usually transaction agents who don’t represent either side. Only lawyers represent one side…

Everyone knows you need a license to practice law. Everyone knows it’s a crime to practice law without a license. But what most people don’t know is that services performed by an unlicensed person don’t incur a fee. So even if you agreed to pay a fee for services, you don’t have to pay the…

Sad stories make good lessons. Don’t text and drive. Don’t share your passwords. And don’t spit in the wind. To those I’ll add this one: don’t buy real estate without title insurance. A story in today’s paper tells the sad story: man buys beachfront condo at foreclosure sale; condo has two mortgages, not one; foreclosure…

When a Florida resident dies without a will, the decedent is said to have died intestate, and the Florida Probate Code states who will inherit the estate. If there is a surviving spouse and no descendants, then all goes to the surviving spouse. If there are descendants and no surviving spouse, then all goes to…

Everyone knows that it’s the “last” will that someone makes before they die that counts. But it’s really the last “valid” will that counts. So who’s to say what’s the last valid will? The probate court gets to decide that. And for the probate court to decide, it needs to have all the wills that…

One of the reasons people try to avoid probate, besides the obvious one, is to avoid percentage probate fees. Florida, like many states, expressly allows attorneys to charge attorneys fees based on a percentage of the value of the probate estate. But there is an alternative: hourly fees. An hourly fee more directly compensates the…

Formal notice of a Florida probate proceeding must be served by a means of delivery requiring proof of delivery. Formal notices are sent along with copies of various probate documents in order to legally bind the person being served. The formal notice in a probate proceeding is similar to a summons in a civil proceeding.…