Estate planning is useful for everyone in Melbourne, no matter your age or financial situation. By creating a comprehensive estate plan through the use of wills and trusts, you make your wishes legally valid for your surviving families and other heirs. Our lawyers can make sure your wishes are known and carried out, or we can represent you in probate court.
Since 1979, our Melbourne lawyers have been assisting and advising people like you as you go through the process of making these critical decisions. Call Bogin, Munns & Munns today to learn more about how we provide respectful, innovative, and comprehensive representation.
Who Needs an Estate Plan in Melbourne?
Although there are some specific situations that make it more critical to have an estate plan in place, everyone can benefit from engaging in the estate planning process in some way. You might wish to consider making an estate plan if you are in any of the following situations:
- You recently became an adult, married, divorced, had a child, adopted a child, or experienced a similar life change.
- You have been diagnosed with a chronic or terminal illness.
- Your parents or your spouse may need care and support in the near future, and you are unsure how you will pay for it.
How Our Brevard County Law Firm Can Help With Your Estate Plan
Our legal team can help you create the estate plan that is right for you and tailored to your individual needs. In drafting your estate plan, our Melbourne wills, trusts, and probate lawyers can:
- Listen to and get a clear understanding of your estate plan goals and needs
- Help you decide what estate planning tools are best for your situation
- Draft legal documents that address your property, like wills and trusts
- Discuss your healthcare wishes and incorporate them into the necessary legal documents so that those wishes are clear to your family
- Address the guardianship of minor children or incapacitated adults
- Assist you in choosing an executor to handle your estate
- Help you designate beneficiaries for non-probate assets, such as retirement accounts and life insurance policies
- Represent you to the Probate Division of the Brevard County Clerk of the Court and other legal bodies
- Review your loved one’s last will and testament to make sure it is valid and help you enact your loved one’s final wishes
- Stay in frequent contact with you throughout your case
To learn more about how Bogin, Munns & Munns can help you with a will, trust, or probate issue, call us today. The sooner we start, the sooner we can provide you with peace of mind.
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What Issues Can You Address With Our Wills, Trusts, and Probate Attorneys?
Everyone has different needs in terms of an estate plan, but there are some common issues that you may wish to address as you create your individualized estate plan. Through the estate planning process, you can determine how to handle your property following death and who you want to receive and manage that property.
You also can make healthcare provisions in advance in case you are unable to make those decisions at some point in the future, whether due to illness, injury, or incapacity. Bogin, Munns & Munns can assist you by:
Making a Legal Will
A will is a legal document that sets forth statements about how you wish your surviving family members or other heirs to handle your financial and personal affairs following your death. Our Brevard County estate planning law firm can help you:
- Choose an executor (or a person to handle your estate)
- Decide who you want to inherit any property that you own at the time of your death
- Choose a guardian for your minor children
- Choose a person to handle your property for the benefit of your children if you were to pass away
- Make all legal documents watertight so no one can dispute them
Choosing a Trust
A trust is an estate planning tool that can help your heirs avoid going to probate court and enables the court to disburse your property more quickly.
There are several kinds of trusts to choose from, including revocable and irrevocable trusts. Our wills, trusts, and probate attorneys in Melbourne can help you decide which trust is right for you.
Making Healthcare or Legal Decisions
A common way to ensure that medical providers and others follow your wishes is to designate another person to make those decisions for you, if necessary. Powers of attorney are legal documents that allow you to give someone else the power to make decisions for you, if you later become unable to voice your healthcare and legal preferences.
With our law firm’s help, you can designate legal or healthcare power of attorney. We can even help you shift power of attorney from one person to another.
Drafting a Living Will
Another common legal document concerning healthcare decisions is a living will. In this document, you can make important decisions about what kind of end-of-life care you want. For example, if you want to have a “do not resuscitate” order in place if something should happen to you, our estate planning attorneys in Melbourne can put that order in place.
Understanding the Probate Court Process in Melbourne
When your loved one passes away, you likely must deal with property and other issues that can arise after the death of a family member. If your loved one left a will, or sometimes even if they did not have a will, you may need to open an estate or start legal proceedings in probate court to pay debts and distribute property belonging to the deceased person.
The probate process often can last months or even years, depending on the complexity of the estate. The probate process has several different steps. First, any interested person may file a petition to probate the will in court under Florida Statutes § 733.202.
Along with this petition, you must notify anyone listed in the will and any other legal heirs that an estate has been opened. Our probate lawyers in Melbourne can assist you with this.
The Role of a Personal Representative in the Probate Process
When you have lost a loved one, you want time to process and mourn your loss, but you also want to make sure the deceased person’s wishes are respected and that no one tries to undermine their will (if they have one).
The legal team at Bogin, Munns & Munns can help you throughout the estate administration process by performing the tasks necessary to close the estate. These tasks include:
- Ensuring that valid claims filed by creditors get paid
- Liquidating personal property
- Distributing estate assets to the heirs
- Representing you in disputes with other heirs
- Speaking on your behalf in probate court
Melbourne Wills, Trusts and Probate Lawyer Near Me
855-780-9986
Our Melbourne Lawyers Can Tell You How Estate Planning and Probate Matters Work
Dealing with financial and legal matters following the death of a loved one is never easy, but our Melbourne wills, trusts & probate lawyers can answer your questions and assist you in handling these issues.
We also can review your individual situation and give you recommendations about estate planning. Contact Bogin, Munns & Munns today by calling our Melbourne office. We are eager to tell you more about how we can help you and your family.
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