Month: June 2014

When it comes to estate planning, one should always be aware of the possibility of losing control with joint ownership. At Reinfeld & Cabrera, P.A. we want you to understand that while joint ownership may have some important benefits, there are some aspects that can cause a lot of problems later on.

Joint ownership, also known as joint tenancy, with right of survivorship is the most common form of joint ownership. For example, in most marriages most assets are owned jointly. Joint ownership with the right of survivorship is different to other types of joint ownership with one important defining feature – if one partner in the joint ownership dies, ownership is automatically transferred to the other partner(s). This can be seen as both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing because property shared through joint ownership does not undergo the probate process, thus eliminating some major expenses. The only exception is if there is no other partner for the property to go to (if, for example, both die at the same time or if the last owner does not declare another joint owner before their death) in which case the property will be subject to the probate process.

The real problem comes in with the fact that property transferred through joint ownership to any remaining partners is not controlled by any wills because transfer of property takes place immediately upon death. The asset is now completely under the control of the surviving owner/s and they can do whatever they please with it. This could result in you unintentionally disinheriting your own family. This happens most often when siblings are in joint ownership. If one dies the property will not be inherited by his family regardless of what his will may say, exceptions may apply. But when the second/last owner dies the property will then be inherited by her family. Scenarios like this can happen to any family (even blended families with children from separate marriages for example) and are becoming an ever-increasing problem.

Some other problems that may occur with joint ownership include gift and income tax, the increased risk of being named in a lawsuit and of losing the asset to a creditor, limiting your tax planning options, the difficulty of removing unwanted co-owners, the court becoming a “new” co-owner if your partner becomes incapacitated etc.

While the benefit of avoiding probate may be a big draw card to many people, an experienced attorney will always make your aware of any potential dangers and how you can avoid them with proper estate planning. Call Reinfeld & Cabrera, P.A. today for a free estate planning consultation to see how you can avoid losing control of your assets.

At Reinfeld & Cabrera P.A. we understand that many of our clients may have concerns when it comes to estate planning and incapacity. There are many things one needs to take into consideration when drawing up a will – the effects of incapacity should definitely be one of those considerations.

Incapacity is when a person reaches the point where they can no longer take care of themselves or handle their financial affairs. This can happen at any time to any person and causes may include things such as heart attacks, strokes, dementia or injuries from an accident. Incapacity becomes a big problem especially when your signature is needed – like to sell/refinance assets to pay for expenses or to withdraw savings. In some cases you may still be able to sign your name but other people might think that you are unable to make sound decisions.

While going through the estate planning process, many people may think that a will is all they need, but a will does not deal with incapacity. A will only goes into effect after a person has died. It is a common mistake to think that the executor of your will can automatically step in to take care of your affairs in the case of incapacity. This means that many people will lose control of their assets and end up under the court’s supervision even before they die because they have no legal document that covers them in case of incapacity. Family, friends or your executor cannot sign for anything for you and, regardless of you having a will or not, they will have to petition the court to declare incompetence and to appoint someone to act on your behalf.

So what actually happens when the court gets involved? Firstly, there will be a public hearing to determine your competency. This will mean that any records used in court and all proceedings will be open to the public. The proceeding can become very expensive as court costs, lawyers fees, examinations and testimonies from qualified physicians, bonds and auditor fees can add up quickly. Then if the court declares you incompetent you will lose most of your rights as a citizen and you and your family will lose control of your assets and finances. The court will appoint someone to handle your affairs for you – this person is not necessarily someone you know or even like and will most likely be a professional guardian who is a complete stranger. This process can be very time consuming because the court appointee has to keep detailed records, report all expenses to the court (who oversees all your financial affairs) and post bond.

It is important to keep all of this in mind when seeing a lawyer regarding estate planning. At Reinfeld & Cabrera, P.A. we do our best to make sure that our clients are covered for every possibility and that you always remain in control of your affairs.

We at Reinfeld & Cabrera P.A. believe that planning ahead for minors during your estate planning process should be one of your top priorities. When it comes to estate planning there is a misconception that by simply naming a guardian for your minor children/grandchildren in your will, the named guardian will automatically be able to use the inheritance to look after your minor children/grandchildren. However, owing to poor estate planning, often this is not actually the case. Proper estate planning is crucial when it comes to planning ahead for minor children and grandchildren.

In order to ensure that you have properly planned ahead for your minor children and grandchildren during your estate planning process, you need to understand what happens after your death when your will is probated. When a will is probated the court will set up a guardianship for minors and appoint a guardian to care for and raise them. While a court will generally appoint the person named in your will as guardian, it could appoint someone else. In the case of divorced or separated parents courts tend to prefer to appoint a natural parent as guardian despite someone else being named in the will. This becomes incredibly important when you take into account the fact that many courts often do not have the resources to monitor all guardianships, leaving it up to a potentially unsupervised guardian to access your child or grandchild’s inheritance.

In order to avoid this there is the option of setting up a children’s trust however you must remember that your assets will only fund this type of trust after your will has been through the probate process. This could become an issue should the assets be depleted after the probate process and once expenses have been paid as there may be too little left to provide for your minors as you had planned. Furthermore, if you become incapacitated owing to illness or injury, your children’s trust cannot go into effect while you are still alive. Because you will still be alive your will cannot be probated and instead your children will probably be placed under the control of the courts.

Something else to bear in mind is that if you out rightly leave titled assets to a minor, make a minor joint owner, or give a titled asset to a minor you could be unintentionally be creating a court guardianship. This is owing to the fact that cannot conduct business in their names even though they can be on a title. Another way of unintentionally creating a court guardianship is by listing a minor as a beneficiary on something like a life insurance policy, retirement benefits or IRA. Institutions that pay beneficiary proceeds will not knowingly pay large sums to a minor, as they do not want the legal responsibility attached to this.

Please keep in mind this article does not address homestead concepts which might involve parents with minor children. This is discussed on a case by case basis.

As you can see there are a number of things that you need to take into account when planning ahead for minors during your estate planning process. For these reasons, we recommend contacting an experienced estate planning attorney – such as Reinfeld & Cabrera P.A.

It’s that time of year again where you get to vote for your favorite businesses in Coral Springs! The Coral Springs City News Reader’s Choice Awards honours outstanding local businesses by allowing the readers to choose their favorite businesses in a number of categories. This year we are happy to announce that we have been voted by you, the readers of City News, as the favorite estate planning and probate attorneys in Coral Springs for the second consecutive year.

There is nothing more important when preparing for your future than having a carefully developed estate plan. If you are looking for a real estate attorney in Coral Springs to help you with your estate planning or any possible probate issues you may have, you will be thoroughly satisfied with attorney Alan J. Reinfeld. With his seasoned knowledge of elder law, estate planning, probate and trust administration he has the ability to council you through the entire legal process and litigate matters on your behalf should the need ever arise. We serve a diverse client base and can help you whether you are starting a family, looking to retire or if you are a business owner yourself. We can help you by writing your will, trust, health care proxy, or by protecting you and your loved ones by avoiding probate.

At the Law Office of Reinfeld & Cabrera, P.A. we pride ourselves for offering some of the finest attorneys in Coral Springs. There are many reasons why choosing an estate planning and probate attorney in Coral Springs from Reinfeld & Cabrera would be a good option. However, the best reason to choose us is that our hard work and professionalism in representing other residents of Coral Springs is rewarded with you having voted us as the favorite estate planning and probate attorneys in Coral Springs by Readers Choice 2014. So make sure that when you are planning for your future you have a Readers Choice recommended estate planning and probate attorney in Coral Springs to give you the peace of mind you deserve.