Comprehensive Estate Planning Services Tailored To Your Needs And Goals

An estate plan is a series of legal documents that allow you to control how your estate is managed and disposed of during your life, in the event that you become incapacitated, and after your death. Because these documents will speak for you after you are gone, it is critical for them to be thorough, clear and legally sound. The best way to accomplish that is with the help of a seasoned estate planning attorney like ours at Akin Law P.A.

Our elder law attorneys can help you create a will, trust, advance directive and tax strategies to optimize your asset worth and avoid Florida probate. They can also help you safeguard your children’s futures and protect a closely held business. With decades of experience and a staff that is available to answer your questions, our team at Akin Law P.A., is responsive and accessible.

The Five Main Parts Of An Estate Plan

Your estate plan contains your will and trust, beneficiary designations, designation of preneed guardians, nominations of agents under powers of attorney, and distribution of property and gifts. Depending on your needs, the estate plan may also contain a strategy to defer or decrease estate or income taxes. Here are descriptions of each part:

1. Will: The most common element in any estate plan, a will allows you to dictate exactly how you want your estate handled and where your assets should go after your death. It is very important to make sure your will is created in compliance with laws in the state where it was created and that it takes into consideration the laws of the state(s) where your property is located.
2. Trust: A trust can be used to control the distribution of your assets following your death. Different types of trusts can be created to craft a plan that meets the specific needs of your estate and your beneficiaries. A trust can operate for as long or short of a duration as your specific situation dictates.
3. Advance directive: Should you become legally incapacitated, advance directives allow you to make decisions about your health care and personal care. We discuss advance directives in greater detail below.
4. Tax strategies: Your estate plan can help minimize the amount of estate and gift taxes required to be paid on your behalf. Strategies can be put in place to begin distributing your assets prior to your death or utilizing other tax-free or tax-advantaged alternatives.
5. Strategies for avoiding probate: Florida probate can be very time-intensive and expensive. A well-designed estate plan can minimize or eliminate the need for a complicated probate process.

An estate plan has many benefits beyond reducing or eliminating the uncertainties of probate administration. It will also help maximize the value of your estate by reducing taxes and other expenses. You can even use your estate plan to designate guardians for any minor children or dependent beneficiaries. An official estate plan is as simple or complicated as your needs dictate, but ultimately, the goal of an estate plan is to help you execute your specific wishes. This means that both you and your loved ones can rest easy, knowing that a plan is in place.

Take Charge Of Your Medical Care With An Advance Directive

When you write down what you do and do not want to be done to you in the event that you become incapacitated (unable to make or communicate decisions for yourself), you are creating an advance directive. No adult is too healthy or too careful to avoid the need for an advance directive.

This portion of your estate plan can include the following:

• Health care surrogate or proxy: The person who you designate to make decisions on your behalf.
• Living will: The part of the advance directive where you specify which medical treatments, procedures, or medications you do or don’t want to receive
• A durable power of attorney: A trusted individual who can make important decisions on your behalf (such as those related to finances and your estate) if you become incapacitated.

Your health care proxy will ensure that doctors respect the wishes outlined in your living will, but they will also make any decisions not specified in the living will. They may be involved in deciding whether or not to put you on a breathing machine or provide IV feeding, or whether or not to operate. It’s important to discuss this responsibility with your chosen health care proxy. Make sure they accept the role and that they will follow through on your wishes, even if your wishes do not exactly align with their own ideas, wishes or beliefs.

Other Documents That Work In Concert With An Advance Directive

At the time you create an advance directive, you may also want to create other documents that make your wishes clear. This can include:

• A POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) form
• A do not resuscitate (DNR) order
• Whether or not you wish to be an organ and tissue donor

Advance directives and related documents can help relieve some of the burdens from family members that are tasked with making decisions on your behalf and ensure that your wishes are reflected in those decisions. These plans can also prevent your family from having to pursue guardianship.

Business Succession Planning Attorneys Helping You Protect Your Legacy

You likely spent many hours, days, and years growing your business. What will happen to it when you retire or pass away unexpectedly?

We understand what your business means to you and can help you safeguard it for the future. Our attorneys, Sherrille and Dain Akin, have both invested decades of time and sweat equity into the daily operation and success of this business.

As estate planning attorneys, they offer a unique perspective in this process. Our firm can help you understand your options and the best path to meeting your personal aspirations for your company.

You Should Decide What Happens To Your Business When You No Longer Run It

As a smaller firm, we offer both the flexibility and the personal attention most family business owners are looking for. Our attorneys will carefully review your situation – from taxes, personality dynamics, cash flow, assets and mission – and then work with you to create a plan that will lay out what will happen if you are not there to run the company.

Our Florida planning lawyers will help you create a business succession plan for different scenarios, including:

• Who will run and what will happen to the business if you are incapacitated or die
• Your planned retirement from the business
• The transference of your business to a new owner, either within or outside the company

We understand what it means to invest in, personally own, and operate a business. Our firm can help you create a tailored business succession plan that protects your assets and preserves your legacy. We will also work with you to ensure that all estate planning documents align with any changes you make to your business operations.

Safeguard Your Children’s Futures By Creating And Updating Your Estate Plan

If you have kids, you understand that parenting comes with the profound responsibility of ensuring their future well-being. You want to be certain that they will be taken care of regardless of what the future holds.

Life is full of changes, expected and otherwise. Estate planning helps you prepare for the many twists and turns. Here are three vital reasons parents should establish an estate plan and review it regularly:

• Protecting young children: A Will is not just a document determining who gets our belongings when you die. You can also use it to designate a guardian for your minor children – someone you trust to raise your kids according to your wishes, providing peace of mind that their future is secure.
• Responding to family milestones: Everyone faces transitions in life, such as divorce, remarriage, weddings, deaths and other events that can significantly impact an estate plan. Our attorneys are here to assist you through these complex issues, updating your documents to reflect your current circumstances.
• Reassessing financial goals: As your life changes, so should your estate plan. Due to your growing family, maybe you’ve moved to a larger home or taken a new job with a big pay increase, making trust beneficial. Whatever the situation, we have the knowledge to offer solutions that fit your family’s objectives.

Whatever turns your life takes, estate planning is crucial to protecting your family. Our dedicated and compassionate attorneys will be there for you at every turn to help you navigate the important decisions and milestones that define your legacy and protect your children.

Answers To Common Questions About Florida Estate Planning

Estate planning can seem complicated, but the guidance of an experienced attorney can provide much-needed clarity and simplicity. Below, we have provided answers to questions you may be asking about estate planning in Florida.

Who should have a will?

Remarkably, any adult can benefit from making a last will and testament. A will lays out “who gets what” as well as who should raise your children if you and the other parent are unable to. A will can also communicate which charities and other organizations you would like to receive assets. A will is an essential part of any estate plan. Having an attorney work with you can ensure your will is valid and filed. An attorney will also go through your bank, retirement and other accounts with you to ensure you have designated beneficiaries.

What is the purpose of a trust?

Trusts work to protect your assets from taxes, creditors and potentially probate. A trust can be revocable and have you or someone else as the trustee, or it can be irrevocable and not able to be accessed until after your death. Assets that are held in a trust are not included as part of your estate and, therefore, are not part of Florida probate. A trust can also be a viable way to avoid or reduce inheritance taxes or estate taxes.

What is the best way to avoid probate?

The best way to avoid Florida probate is to ensure that all of your accounts have named beneficiaries and that any property valued collectively over $75,000 in 2021 is held in a trust. Your bank accounts, retirement accounts, annuities, and life insurance policies should all have named beneficiaries.

Certificates of deposit need to be transferable on death (TOD or POD). You may wish to put your brokerage accounts in a trust as well as your home or motor vehicle in order to stay below the $75,000 probate threshold. Working with an established estate planning attorney can ensure that all relevant assets are appropriately designated or allocated.

Who Needs An Advance Directive And Why?

Many people, and you may be one of them, think that there is time later to create an advance directive. It seems logical that you should only create the documents you need when you need them.

However, none of us knows when and if we will be in a car accident, sustain a head injury or suffer a stroke. The time to create an advance directive is right now for anyone who is over 18, but especially for those who are living independently and want to make their own decisions.

What Happens If You Don’t Have An Advance Directive?

Without officially documenting what you want and don’t want, someone else will make decisions for you, based on what they want. In this scenario, it is very possible to receive treatments and undergo procedures that you would not have chosen for yourself. This relatively simple document can save your family the crushing grief and turmoil of having to decide for you and possibly disagreeing as to what you “would have wanted.”

How can business succession planning prevent messy family or business conflicts?

It’s been said that when you fail to plan, you plan to fail. We know you do not want to leave your family and your employees in the lurch should the unexpected suddenly happen. Business succession planning is one of the best things you can do today to ensure a successful tomorrow.

Our seasoned and accomplished business and tax law and estate planning attorneys offer in-depth knowledge of these areas and where they overlap. They can also create a detailed exit strategy that moves at a pace that makes economic sense and that you are comfortable with.

You may want to keep things in the family or seek outside ownership. The goal is to be clear in your intention and have a detailed plan so that you can avoid family infighting or a messy legal fallout.

Talk To Our Attorneys About Your Estate Planning Needs

Every person, family and estate plan is different. It’s important to sit down with an established estate planning attorney and have a frank discussion about what you want, what you’d like to avoid, and who you want to make decisions for you if you can’t. Call and arrange a consultation at 386-271-4740, or connect with our team using the website contact email form. Located in DeLand, we serve clients throughout Volusia County.