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…
Continue reading ›Florida Lawyer Jim Martin Blog
Legal Ways To Preserve Wealth In Florida The word is out on Tampa Bay: sunny skies, white sandy beaches, water all around, and the world’s best airport; the arts, culture and music; state-wide cell phone coverage; high speed cable modem Internet access. What a great place for the High Tech to live! What is not…
Continue reading ›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.…
Continue reading ›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…
Continue reading ›People often create revocable living trusts in Florida to avoid probate. And some of those people actually transfer assets into the trust to fund it. And it’s true that the trust’s assets are not assets of the probate estate when the person dies. But probate is still required for another reason: clearing possible claims of…
Continue reading ›Putting your name on the title to a car, truck or other motor vehicle in Florida makes you personally liable for the negligence of the driver. The dangerous instrumentality doctrine extends liability of the driver to become personal liability of every owner of the vehicle. This should give pause to parents before putting their names…
Continue reading ›The Florida Annual Report (formerly known as the Florida Uniform Business Report) is the annual report that most Florida corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies (LLC) must file with the Florida Division of Corporations of the Florida Department of State in order to remain an active legal entity. The form must be filed no later…
Continue reading ›On June 20, 2014, the Florida Governor approved a new law to allow the formation in Florida of social purpose corporations and benefit corporations. These organizations fall between for-profit corporations and nonprofit corporations by allowing the boards of directors to consider public benefit goals in addition to making profits. There are occasions when real estate…
Continue reading ›Let’s say you are starting a business all by yourself. No partners, no investors, just yourself. Which would you choose: to do business with unlimited personal liability or to do business with limited personal liability? Well, unless you like to be sued, you would choose to limit your personal liability. How do you do that?…
Continue reading ›There are many kinds of entities. Partnerships, corporations and limited liability companies (LLC) are the most common. There are also limited partnerships (LP), limited liability partnerships (LLP, and limited liability limited partnerships (LLLP). Let’s start with the common and work up to more the complex. But before doing that consider this: is an individual engaged…
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