Jacksonville Estate Planning Lawyer, Florida

The document given to an executor by the probate court, authorizing the executor to settle the estate according to either a will or the state's intestate succession laws.

A seldom-used type of deed that contains express assurances about the legal validity of the title being transferred.

A trust used to postpone estate tax when more than the amount of the personal federal estate tax exemption is left to a non-U.S. citizen spouse by the other (more...)

A trust used to postpone estate tax when more than the amount of the personal federal estate tax exemption is left to a non-U.S. citizen spouse by the other spouse. QDOT stands for qualified domestic trust.

Latin for 'the body' of the trust. This term refers to all the property transferred to a trust. For example, if a trust is established (funded) with $250,000, (more...)

Latin for 'the body' of the trust. This term refers to all the property transferred to a trust. For example, if a trust is established (funded) with $250,000, that money is the corpus. Sometimes the trust corpus is known as the 'res,' a Latin word meaning 'thing.'

1) An alternate beneficiary named in a will, trust or other document. 2) Any person entitled to property under a will if one or more prior conditions are (more...)

1) An alternate beneficiary named in a will, trust or other document. 2) Any person entitled to property under a will if one or more prior conditions are satisfied. For example, if Fred is entitled to take property under a will only if he's married at the time of the will maker's death, Fred is a contingent beneficiary. Similarly, if Ellen is named to receive a house only in the event her mother, who has been named to live in the house, moves out of it, Ellen is a contingent beneficiary.

The legal authority to decide who will receive someone else's property, usually property held in a trust. Most trustees can distribute the income from a trust (more...)

The legal authority to decide who will receive someone else's property, usually property held in a trust. Most trustees can distribute the income from a trust only according to the terms of the trust, but a trustee with a power of appointment can choose the beneficiaries, sometimes from a list of candidates specified by the grantor. For example, Karin creates a trust with power of appointment to benefit either the local art museum, symphony, library or park, depending on the trustee's assessment of need.

The Latin name, favored by some lawyers, for a living trust. 'Inter vivos' is Latin for 'between the living.'

A will that 'pours over' property into a trust when the will maker dies. Property left through the will must go through probate before it goes into the trust.

In the law of wills, a spouse who dies before the will maker while still married to him or her.