Palm Beach Estate Planning Blog

When Palm Beach residents talk to anyone about estate planning, one of the first things they probably hear is that they need a will. While that is good advice, other circumstances involved could require more than just a last will and testament. Trusts have certain benefits that wills cannot provide, and whether to use them depends on the goals and wishes of the individual considering them.

One of the most popular trusts is the revocable living trust. It is formed during an individual's lifetime and can be changed, modified or even cancelled as long as the maker (also called the trustor) is alive and not incapacitated. Wills can also be changed, but they do not provide an incapacitated person with any benefits. A revocable living trust can provide financial stability during such a time since the successor trustee can simply step in and take over the management of the assets in the trust.

Palm Beach parents do what they can to protect and provide for their children. For those who want to make sure they continue to do so in the event of their death, they may decide to take out a life insurance policy that benefits the children. The way that the beneficiary designation for a policy is done has a profound effect on estate administration if the children are minors when the policyholder passes away.

Some people make the mistake of listing their child as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy. While this may make a Palm Beach parent feel good, it could cause significant issues if the parent passes away while the child is still a minor. This is because minors cannot directly inherit property, which means that arrangements will need to be made to hold the proceeds from the life insurance policy for the child.

One of the primary duties of a Palm Beach executor is gathering all of the decedent's property. In most cases, he or she can look to the estate-planning documents for clues as to what property there is and where it may be located. However, if a plan fails to include the digital assets, then matters could get more complicated.

Most people have at least some small online presence, but they may not think it is important to account for that presence in estate planning documents. Many Palm Beach residents are tech savvy, but still consider only physical assets as those that need to be dealt with upon death. Believe it or not, even a Facebook or Twitter account will require some sort of disposition after death.

If you have agreed to become the executor of someone’s Florida estate or the trustee of his or her trust, you have assumed a fiduciary role whether or not you realize it. While you may have many fiduciary duties depending on the specific provisions of the will or trust in question, your most important duty is to always manage and disburse the estate or trust assets for the benefit of the beneficiaries or heirs. They are the people for whom you serve as fiduciary.

As a fiduciary, you are not required to perform your duties perfectly at all times. Fiduciaries are human beings, and humans make occasional mistakes. No one will blame you or sue you if you make an inadvertent arithmetic error or if one of your investments of estate or trust assets fails to live up to its expectations. The beneficiaries or heirs can only sue you if you deliberately do or fail to do something that is not in their best interests. That is the classic definition of breach of fiduciary duty.