Estate Planning

Estate Planning Services

Okay, so what exactly can Lappin Estate Planning do for you? We offer a whole toolbox of services to cover every angle of your estate plan. 

1. Drafting Essential Estate Planning Documents

We create customized, legally sound documents that form the foundation of your estate plan: 

• Revocable Living Trusts: These trusts allow for the management and distribution of assets during your lifetime and after death while avoiding probate. 
• Pour-Over Wills: This works alongside your trust to ensure any assets not transferred to your trust during your lifetime will “pour over” into it upon your death. 
• Last Will and Testament: A Will legally dictates how your assets will be distributed, names guardians for minor children, and appoints your personal representative. In Florida, a valid Will must be in writing and signed in the presence of two witnesses who also sign the document (Florida Statute 732.502). Also, we always include a self-proving affidavit which can remove a complication in Probate. Almost every Will at Lappin Estate Planning is a Pour-Over Will.
• Codicils and Trust Amendments: When life changes, your estate plan should too. We help you properly update existing documents to reflect new circumstances. 

Without these foundational documents, Florida’s intestacy laws may determine who receives your assets and who makes decisions for your minor children – and the state’s “default plan” doesn’t always match what most people would choose for themselves. 

2. Powers of Attorney and Healthcare Directives

Who will speak for you when you can’t speak for yourself? We help you appoint trusted representatives through:

• Durable Power of Attorney: This document designates someone to handle your financial and legal affairs. While this document becomes effective immediately, it is most useful in incapacity situations. Florida Statute 709.2105 requires two witnesses and notarization. 
• Healthcare Surrogate Designation: With this designation, you name someone to make medical decisions on your behalf when you’re unable to do so yourself. 
• Living Will: It documents your wishes regarding life-prolonging procedures if you have a terminal condition or end-stage condition, or are in a persistent vegetative state.

Without these documents, your family may face expensive and stressful court proceedings to gain authority to manage your affairs or make healthcare decisions. 

3. Wealth Preservation and Transfer Strategies

Looking to minimize taxes and maximize what you leave to loved ones? Our services include: 

• Estate and gift tax planning: We help with strategic approaches to reduce federal estate and gift tax exposure through lifetime gifting, exemption planning, and trust structures. 
• Asset protection planning: We offer legal strategies to safeguard assets from potential creditors, lawsuits, or other claims. 
• Charitable giving approaches: Methods to support causes you care about in a tax efficient manner, including charitable trusts and foundations. 
• Generation-skipping tax planning: Techniques to efficiently transfer wealth in a manner that will avoid generation-skipping transfer tax (“GST Tax”) on distributions to grandchildren and more remote descendants. GST Tax planning though frequently occurs with trusts that are set-up with children who are the initial beneficiaries. GST Tax issues are the most common issues we see in existing Irrevocable Trusts.
• Spendthrift trusts: With these, you can protect assets from beneficiaries’ creditors and provides structured distributions for beneficiaries who may need assistance managing money. 

4. Specialized Trust Creation and Management

We design and implement specialized trusts tailored to your unique circumstances, including: 

• Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs): ILITs remove life insurance proceeds from your taxable estate while providing liquidity for heirs. 
• Qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs): These allow you to transfer your home to beneficiaries at a reduced gift tax value while retaining the right to live there. 
• Pet trusts: These trusts ensure continued care for your beloved animals, which Florida law specifically authorizes under Florida Statute 736.0408. 
• Special needs trusts: These preserve government benefit eligibility for loved ones with disabilities while providing supplemental financial support. 

Trusts are powerful tools that go far beyond basic Wills, offering solutions for complex family situations and specific planning objectives. 

5. Business Succession Planning

Built a business you want to preserve? We help with: 

• Buy-sell agreements: These agreements establish a clear plan for business ownership transfer upon specific triggering events like death, disability, or retirement. 
• Family business succession strategies: We can offer plans for transitioning leadership and ownership to the next generation while balancing family dynamics. 
• Business continuity planning: We help ensure your business can continue operating smoothly despite owner absence or transition. 
• Business entity structuring: We can help establish the optimal legal framework for your business that aligns with your succession goals. 

Your business represents years of hard work and sacrifice – yet without proper succession planning, all that effort could be jeopardized by an unexpected illness, disability, or death. 

With proper planning, there are legal ways to protect assets while still accessing needed care. That’s good news. 

6. Probate and Trust Administration

When a loved one passes or when an irrevocable trust is in existence, we guide you through the necessary legal processes: 

• Probate administration: We provide assistance with the court-supervised process of validating Wills, paying creditors, and distributing assets according to Florida’s probate code. 
• Trust administration: We offer guidance for trustees in fulfilling their fiduciary duties, including asset management, accounting, and beneficiary distributions.

Our compassionate attorneys provide clear guidance and hands-on assistance throughout these processes, helping personal representatives and trustees fulfill their duties efficiently. 

7. Ongoing Estate Plan Maintenance

Estate planning isn’t a one-time event. We help you keep your plan current with: 

• Regular estate plan reviews: Periodic reviews help ensure your plan reflects current laws and your personal circumstances. 
• Estate plan updates: We help make modifications to address family changes, asset changes, or legal developments. 
• Beneficiary designation reviews: We help ensure your retirement accounts, life insurance, and other assets with beneficiary designations align with your overall plan. 

No matter where you are in life’s journey, we tailor our services to your specific needs and goals while ensuring compliance with Florida’s unique legal requirements.