Estate Planning

There are five main components of an estate plan- Will or Trust, Power of Attorney, Living Will, Healthcare Surrogate, and Beneficiary Designations. 

Check out my blog post for more information on each.

The process will start with a consultation. After the consultation, if you decide to move forward with our firm, you will receive a digital contract to sign and a payment link. Once the contract is signed and deposit is made, you will meet with our Estate Plan Associate Attorney, Erik De L'Etoile to get all the needed information to draft your documents. After drafting, you will review the documents with Erik. When all the documents are ready, we will meet at our office in Tampa for signing of all the documents.

A will is the most basic estate planning document. It is a set of instructions according to your wishes for how your assets are to be distributed after you die. Upon your passing, a will needs to go through probate court. A trust is also a set of instructions for how to distribute your assets. But with a trust, it does not need to go through probate court.
I almost always advise my clients to consider a trust. While it is more expensive than a will, it will save your family time and money down the road by avoiding probate court.

If you die without an estate plan nothing will happen automatically because your family will be tied up in probate court- a lengthy and extensive process. There are a number of factors that determine how the intestacy laws (the laws that govern how the state will distribute your assets if you die without an estate plan) are applied.

Probate is the legal process of transferring the property from a deceased person's estate to their heirs or beneficiaries. It is overseen by the local probate court.

No. It is crucial to update your will after getting a divorce so that your most recent wishes are reflected in it.
Check out the blog post I wrote about why you need a new estate plan after divorce.