It is commonly believed that married couples have automatic rights to handle one another’s financial affairs. That is generally true with regard to joint bank accounts and joint brokerage accounts. But when a spouse becomes incapacitated due to illness or…
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The Florida Durable Property Power of Attorney (also known as the Durable Financial Power of Attorney) is a critically important document that belongs in your life planning toolbox. The DPOA allows you (the “principal”) to give another person (your “agent”)…
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Florida law does not provide unmarried couples with the inheritance protections and automatic decision-making authority it provides to married couples. Even if you are in a longstanding, devoted relationship, from a legal perspective you and your companion might as well…
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You may be surprised to learn that Medicare and Social Security will not automatically honor your Durable Power of Attorney or Health Care Surrogate. These are powerful legal documents that everyone should have in their planning toolkit, but when it…
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Every Florida adult needs a valid Durable Power of Attorney. This essential legal document gives one or more people – your “agents” – the authority to handle financial matters on your behalf. It provides you with important protections, one of…
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Your child’s 18th birthday may seem like just another birthday on the road to adulthood. But legally speaking, it represents a massive change for him, and for you. Those 18 candles on the birthday cake mean you, the parent, are…
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You probably think that the estate plan of one of the nation’s most prominent legal authorities would be absolutely airtight. But you would be wrong. Janet Reno was appointed U.S. Attorney General by President Clinton, the first woman to serve…
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The living trust, also known as the intervivos trust or revocable trust, is a useful and popular estate planning tool in Florida, and rightly so. Here are some of the key advantages of this versatile legal instrument. And also, some…
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In Florida, the average annual cost of a private room at a long-term nursing facility now hovers upwards of $90,000 annually, with a semi-private room around $83,000. With the oldest Baby Boomers turning 70 and the escalating incidence of chronic…
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“Gloria” came to my office, convinced her 82-year-old mother was “losing it” after visiting her the previous week. Her mother had always been a fastidious homemaker, but now dirty dishes were piled up and enough trash was on the floor…
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