Florida Elder Law & Estate Planning Blog


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Florida Homestead Exemption Reduces Property Tax: Deadline For First-Time Filers
January 16, 2025

The Florida homestead exemption deducts a certain amount of assessed value from your primary residence, thereby reducing the property tax you owe on your home. The basic exemption can be up to $50,000. To be eligible for this year’s exemption,…

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Florida Widow/Widower Homestead Exemption Can Cut Tax Bill
November 24, 2024

Florida homeowners are entitled to a variety of homestead exemptions on their primary property. The exemptions are deducted from the assessed value of the home, thus reducing the homeowners’s annual property tax bill. The basic exemption can go as high…

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Homestead’s Property Tax Benefits Can Be Transferred To New Home
September 22, 2023

Most Florida residents know about the homestead exemption, the state’s property tax benefit that reduces the assessed value of a primary residence. Fewer know about homestead portability. When you sell your current home and purchase a new primary residence in…

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Estate Planning Documents Every Florida Snowbird Needs
November 27, 2021

Welcome back, Snowbirds! We are writing this blog at the tail end of November. Today’s midday temperature in New York is 38 degrees; in Chicago, 34; in Boston, 35. At our Palm Beach Gardens office, it’s a glorious, balmy 70…

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homeowners
Check Homeowner’s Insurance Policy After Putting Your House In Trust
April 21, 2021

If you are a Florida resident, having a living trust as the cornerstone of your estate plan can offer many benefits. Among them are probate avoidance, privacy, possible tax advantages, and the ability to set conditions on your heirs’ inheritances….

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larry king
Larry King’s Widow Challenges Handwritten Will, Alleges Undo Influence
February 19, 2021

Multiple marriages, divorces, blended families:  These are circumstances that can make it challenging to devise an estate plan that withstands potential claims from disgruntled relatives. And when it comes to marriages, divorces and blended families, few were more familiar with…

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florida medicaid benefits
Florida Medicaid Eligibility For Nursing Home Care: Three Rule Changes You Should Know About
January 25, 2021

Many Florida seniors who require nursing home care incorrectly assume they will not qualify for Florida Medicaid benefits because they do not initially appear to meet all the financial criteria. This post tells you about recent changes in those criteria,…

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Veterans homestead exemption
Florida Amendment Would Pass Homestead Exemption to Widows of Some Veterans
September 25, 2020

Veterans and their families have access to several Florida tax exemptions for homestead property.  One more is on the ballot this November: Florida Amendment 6 –  Ad Valorem Tax Discount for Spouses of Certain Deceased Veterans Who Had Permanent, Combat-Related…

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Roger Ailes
Roger Ailes’ Florida homestead protected from lawsuit liabilities
May 28, 2017

Roger Ailes, the media mastermind behind Fox News, died May 17 after falling at his Palm Beach home. The medical examiner attributed his death to bleeding on the brain, exacerbated by the fact that Ailes suffered from hemophilia. He leaves…

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Unmarried Couple
Is there common law marriage in Florida?
November 6, 2015

In my estate planning practice, I advise many clients who have been living together for a long time, sometimes for decades. They are committed to one another, take care of one another, and often refer to each other as spouses….

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