Author Archives: Jay Butchko
The Foreign-Derived Intangibles Income Deduction: Good News for Small Business Owners
During the COVID-19 pandemic, good news is in short supply, especially in Florida and especially for small business owners. The relief efforts aimed at small businesses have tended to be messy in their implementation and to come with many strings attached. The success of small businesses is essential to our economic recovery; small business… Read More »
Your Out-of-State Relative or Your Local Lawyer: Who Is a Better Candidate for Personal Representative of Your Estate?
An important part of your estate plan is designating someone as the personal representative of your estate, also known as the executor of your will. For many married people, their spouse is the obvious choice, but if you are widowed or divorced, or if you have never been married, the choice is not so… Read More »
How to Avoid Family Feuds: Appraise Your Clutter
There are two popular clichés about personal possessions as part of estates, and they both miss something important. The first is that, if you don’t specify in your will which personal items will go to which family member, they will fight bitterly over your possessions. By this logic, two sisters will never speak to… Read More »
Be Sure to Update the Beneficiaries on Your Payable on Death Bank Accounts Regularly
In the field of education, there is a saying that good teaching means always revising your plans. Even if a lesson worked beautifully last year, a good teacher reviews the lesson plan before implementing it during the current year and adds any changes that could make it work better. The importance of constant revision… Read More »
Transfer on Death and Payable on Death Clauses: A Simple Way to Keep Assets Out of Probate
Your will specifies who you want to inherit each of your assets after you are gone, but following the instructions in your will is only one part of the probate process. In fact, your family members, lifelong friends, or favorite charitable causes will only receive their share of your estate after probate is finished,… Read More »
Probate Provides an Opportunity to Resolve Disputes About the Estate of a Deceased Person, but Better Solutions Are Available
When you are the personal representative of the estate of a deceased person, probate can feel like an unnecessary burden. For example, why do you have to wait a minimum of three months before you can collect any of the money that the deceased person left to you in his or her will? Why… Read More »
If You Suspect That a Will Is Forged, Don’t Wait to Voice Your Suspicions
Some of the most famous inheritance disputes from the tabloid press and from works of fiction involve the estate of a wealthy man who had been married more than once, and the conflict is between the wife to whom he was married at the end of his life and her stepchildren, the decedent’s children… Read More »
Introduction to Probate and Estate Law Vocabulary
A big part of what lawyers learn in law school is the terminology related to the various practice areas of law. When you are involved in a legal case, the vocabulary related to it becomes a part of your life. For example, if you are divorced and your ex-spouse disagreed strongly about alimony and… Read More »
Ask an Estate Planning Lawyer: Who Will Inherit Your Airline Miles?
If you have been working with an estate planning lawyer, you might think that all of your assets are accounted for in your estate plan. Maybe you have placed some of your assets in a trust, so that they will not have to go through probate. Perhaps some of your accounts are transferable on… Read More »
You Don’t Need a Will To Transfer These Assets in Florida
While it’s always a good idea to have a basic will, especially if you have dependents, careful estate planning can actually eliminate the need for most of your property to pass through a will upon your demise. This means that your family members or other beneficiaries don’t need to wait for the lengthy court… Read More »
