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Our Probate Attorneys Ensure your assets are protected under Florida law

PROBATE & ESTATE

Planning for your Family & Future

Experienced Guidance

Life takes unexpected paths and our experienced attorneys can guide you in the best possible route to protect your family and assets. Whether you need a court appointment to care for loved ones, or planning for your future through a will or trust. We are here to explain the process and help you through it. 

 

Probate

Probate is the court-supervised process to ultimately transfer the ownership of assets and property from a deceased person to a living person. This process includes identifying the assets, identifying and paying legitimate debts, and lastly to distribute assets to the beneficiaries.

Wills

A last will and testament is a writing that specifies who is to receive the assets of a deceased person (the decedent). Self-proving wills can be admitted to probate after the death of the testator without having the witnesses come to the courthouse.

HCA Directive

HCA is a written or oral statement about how you want medical decisions made should you not be
able to make them yourself and/or it can express your wish to make an anatomical donation after death.  Some people make advance directives when they are diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.  Others put their wishes into writing while they are healthy, often as part of their estate planning.

Living Trust

A revocable living trust is a
writing that creates a form of ownership in which assets originally owned by the grantor of the trust is legally re-titled in the name of a trustee who manages the assets for the benefit of the trust’s beneficiaries named in the writing.

Power of Attorney

A Power of Attorney is a legal document delegating authority from one person to another. In the document, the maker of the Power of Attorney (the “principal”) grants the right to act on the maker’s behalf as their agent. What authority is granted depends on the specific language of the Power of Attorney. A person giving a Power of Attorney may make it very broad or may limit it to certain specific acts.

Guardianship

Guardianship is to the living what probate is to the deceased — a court proceeding to oversee the rights and property of an individual who is unable to manage on his or her own. The court may appoint a guardian for a minor (someone under the age of 18 years). The minor’s parents are often appointed guardians. The court will also appoint a guardian for a person who has been found to be incapacitated.

Life Planning

The longer we live and the older we get, the more vulnerable we are to the aging process. Dementia, Alzheimer’s, broken bones, hip and knee replacements, heart disease – all of these are a part of living longer. One can do only so much to avoid these life-changing events – but aging will still happen, and incapacitating events can neither be predicted nor ultimately, avoided. If these adverse life events should occur to you, wouldn’t it be better if you had already decided before it happens? Who do you want to be able to handle your affairs? Deciding who will take care of your business and make medical and treatment decisions for you will save your family and loved ones the stress of arguing over it later or even going to court to establish legal guardianship.

We call this process LIFE PLANNING. Life planning simply stated, is “Planning for the Rest of Your Life.” Deciding in advance who you want to make financial and business decisions, as well as medical and treatment decisions for you in the event you are incapacitated or unconscious and can no longer make such decisions for yourself or take care of your own business, or even deciding if you artificially prolong your life.

If you need legal assistance then call our Navarre office day or night for a FREE AND NO OBLIGATION CONSULTATION to see how we can help at (850) 939-7722

They have listened and advised us on several occasions and the only charge was a request that we recommend them to others. Which we wholeheartedly do. They are of the highest integrity and they care.

—Georgiana S.

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Kilpatrick & Newlin, P.A. Law Firm offers legal services in Criminal Law, Family Law, Bankruptcy Law, Real Estate Law and Personal Injury to all, If you need our help then we’re always close at hand