Florida Elder Law & Estate Planning Blog


Search By Category
  • Search By Category
  • 401k
  • 529
  • advance directives
  • aging parents
  • aid and attendance
  • Aldrin
  • Alzheimer's Disease
  • assisted living
  • Autism
  • Barbara Bush
  • Blog
  • bourdain
  • capital gains tax
  • caregiving
  • charity
  • children
  • Coronavirus
  • COVID
  • cryptocurrency
  • disability
  • disabled child
  • disclaimer
  • disinheritance
  • divorce
  • Do Not Resuscitate Order
  • downsizing
  • durable power of attorney
  • elder abuse
  • elder law
  • Elder Law/Estate Planning Updates
  • elective share
  • estate
  • estate plan
  • Estate Planning
  • estate tax
  • estate taxes
  • fdic
  • financial fraud
  • financial planning
  • Florida
  • florida estate planning
  • Florida Medicaid
  • fraud
  • gift tax
  • Glen Campbell
  • guardian
  • guardianship
  • guardianship. durable power of attorney
  • health care power of attorney
  • health care surrogate
  • hipaa
  • homestead
  • Homestead Expansion
  • identity theft
  • In the News
  • inheritance
  • insurance
  • IRA
  • ira stretchout
  • joint tenancy
  • lady bird deed
  • Law Firm News
  • life estate
  • life insurance
  • living trust
  • living will
  • long-term care insurance
  • lookback period
  • marriage
  • Medicaid
  • Medicare
  • Medigap
  • miller trust. qualified income trust
  • minor child
  • misc
  • New York
  • nursing home
  • personal services contract
  • pet trust
  • pet trusts
  • pooled trust
  • power of attorney
  • Prince
  • probate
  • retirement
  • reverse mortgage
  • revocable trust
  • RMD
  • same sex marriage
  • seniors
  • social security
  • special needs
  • special needs trust
  • stepped up basis
  • stimulus
  • taxes
  • Trust
  • trustee
  • Trusts
  • Uncategorized
  • veterans
  • veterans benefits
  • Video FAQ's
  • will
  • wills
  • wills. Madoff

Estate Challenges: Learning from Neil Rogers

South Florida radio personality Neil Rogers died Dec. 24 at the age of 68. You either loved him or hated him. He had no close family, but left behind legions of bereaved fans. And he left behind something else: Two contradictory Wills. The battle over his estate has landed in Broward Probate Court.

Rogers had been living in Canada and signed a Will there in October 2010 when he became ill. That will left everything to his companion Christian Hernandez. After suffering a stroke Rogers returned to Florida, where he signed a new Will in November. The new Will divided his estate in thirds among Hernandez and two other longtime friends and declared the Canadian Will “null and void.”

Now, Hernandez is contesting the later Will, claiming Rogers was too ill to know what he was doing at the time.

 

A cautionary tale

Rogers’ estate mess offers some valuable insights into good estate planning:

  • Ambiguity is not your friend when creating an estate plan. You should have an experienced Elder Law – Estate Planning Attorney draft your Will and any other estate planning documents. Your lawyer will be able to make your wishes crystal-clear.
  • While a revocable trust does not automatically prevent estate challenges, the fact that it is a private document means that it need not be filed with the Probate Court, like a Will must be. This provides some extra protection.
  • Procrastination is often a contributing factor in estate challenges. Too many people wait to create an estate plan until they are ill, either physically and/or mentally, and this can open the door to claims that the creator did not have the capacity to know what he was doing!
  • If you are making substantial changes to your Will, and you believe that your competency may be challenged – as is occurring in Rogers’ case – consider getting as much documentation of your competency as possible. You can see your doctor, psychiatrist or psychologist immediately after the signing, to secure his/her professional opinion that you are in fact competent to execute the document. In one instance, our law firm arranged to have a client see a psychiatrist prior to drafting her documents; the pschiatrist was also in our office at the time of the signing. Although it was a costly procedure for the client, it was done with the understanding that it would likely save significant funds after she passed away that would otherwise be lost to defending the estate against challengers, and would help defuse any potential lawsuit.
  • It’s not only the terms of the Will that can trigger estate challenges. It’s also the way Probate or Trust Administration is handled after death. Personal Representatives and Trustees can greatly reduce the likelihood of challenges by making sure the Probate and Administration process are scrupulously executed. An experienced Elder Law – Estate Planning Attorney can also assist with this.