In Florida, a circuit court judge supervises the process of probating a will. A personal representative is appointed by the judge to administer the deceased individual's estate. Any person, bank or trust company can be appointed personal representative. An individual can be appointed personal representative if he or she is a legal resident of Florida and a close relative of the deceased. Any person under the age of Read More

Older residents of Miami may still love watching Elizabeth Taylor films. She was one of the most glamorous actresses of her time and she still lives in the heart and minds of millions of her fans. Since her death in 2011 her assets have been managed by a trust that takes care of her estate's affairs. Taylor's jewelry collection and other belongings were auctioned by a New York auction house in 2011 and 2012. Now the Read More

The death of a loved one is difficult enough for family and friends; it should not be tainted by unnecessary litigation. However, just that often happens when Floridians fail to establish an estate plan. Our Miami-based law firm has helped numerous Florida residents make sense of this typically challenging and confusing situation through compassionate, but effective, probate litigation. Since 1992, our experienced Read More

When people die, their wills may fail to account for the needs of all their remaining relatives. Those who remarry or start new families, for instance, might not include their old families in new will documents. In such cases, Florida state law mandates that if these survivors were the spouses or children of the deceased, they should receive some assets during the administration of a probate estate. According to the Read More

In Florida, when people die without leaving a will, probate courts decide who gets the deceased's assets and who acts as the estate's personal representative. This could also happen if a will is found to be invalid. The deceased is said to be intestate, and his or her assets will be distributed to heirs, but this only applies to assets that were owned singly by the deceased or that were jointly owned but did not have Read More

Challenging a Florida will is generally fairly challenging. Most estate litigation takes time and significant amount of evidence or documentation. Since the person in question is not available to clarify his or her wishes, the courts generally defer to the estate documents to govern the disposition of assets. However, some changes to estate plans may come about because of nefarious intentions on the part of third Read More

Florida residents who are legally savvy are likely attempting to draft an estate plan that is airtight and allows them to distribute their assets as they intend. That may not always happen, though, because of potential probate litigation from family members and other potential beneficiaries. In fact, the late Mickey Rooney's estate is slated to go to probate after the actor's biological children and widow brought Read More

Many Florida residents know that probate decisions can include some wacky provisions, but few come down to a simple coin toss. A relative of a deceased interior designer is seeking legal redress, however, after he allegedly lost ownership of a valuable painting in a coin toss with his brother. That man is pursuing probate litigation in a bid to regain ownership of the painting. Official reports show that the Read More

A family feud in Florida has left a large estate decimated after a prolonged probate battle. News reports out of the state show that the stepdaughter of prolific heir Ben Novack Jr. has received about $50,000 to pay for her son's heart surgery from the estate, but she faces an uphill battle in attempting to collect the rest of his inheritance. The probate litigation in the case has been fraught with difficulty, as a Read More

The 59-year-old widow of a famous restaurant founder is seeking additional compensation after winning control of the man's estate. The woman was the third wife of the founder of Benihana Japanese restaurants, some of which can be found in Florida. The woman is seeking an extra $3 million that she claims was "looted" from the man's estate as he was on his deathbed. A lawsuit has been filed in the matter, but the man's Read More