ESTATE PLANNING

Lauer Law provides clients with estate planning strategies that allow the smooth and efficient management of assets during disability and transfer of assets at death. Though our extensive and specialized experience and expertise with federal and state tax law, we will ensure that each client’s taxes are minimized and assets are managed and distributed according to the client’s wishes. Even though we represent some of the wealthiest families in the country, our practice is not limited to “high-net-worth” clients. Instead, we offer estate planning services to all clients who need assistance in managing and distributing assets and planning for incapacity. Our fees are reasonable and our completion time is short. You don’t need to pay thousands of dollars and wait months for a complete and effective estate plan from Lauer Law!

Estate Planning

During the estate planning process, we review each client’s assets, discuss the client’s family dynamics, and discuss the client’s objectives in the event of incapacity and at death. Using our expertise in the areas of trusts, estates, and taxes, we suggest the types of documents and the provisions in those documents that achieve the client’s goals. Further, we discuss strategies for reregistering assets to implement the estate plan.

Documents we frequently draft for our estate planning clients include:

• Will: A Will governs the distribution of any property held in a client’s individual name at death. Property not held in a Trust and property that does not have a beneficiary designation (such as a POD or TOD designation) is subject to probate. The Will provides for the administration of those assets through the probate process, and directs disposition of whatever property remains after the payment of debts, expenses of administration, and estate taxes.

• Revocable Trust: A Revocable Trust is a tool that can be used to avoid subjecting property to probate and guardianship. In order to be effective, property needs to be retitled in the name of the Revocable Trust. In addition, a Revocable Trust is useful to hold property for a beneficiary who may not be able to manage the property on their own and to deal with complex family dynamics. As the name implies, a Revocable Trust may be changed or revoked by the client at any point during a client’s lifetime. A Revocable Trust may also be used to avoid the necessity of a guardianship for a client in the event that the client can no longer manage his or her property by providing for a successor trustee to the client to act in case of the client’s disability.

• Durable Power of Attorney: Through a durable power of attorney, a client appoints someone to hand matters affecting his or her property. An “attorney-in-fact” is given the power to manage a client’s property. Having an attorney-in-fact may prevent or limit the need for a guardianship.

• Health Care Surrogate: Designation of health care surrogate allows a client to designate a person to receive medical information and provide direction to a physician regarding the client’s medical care when a client is unable to do so.

• Living Will: A living will is a statutory form, used to state a client’s wishes regarding the use of life-sustaining measures if the client has no chance of recovery.

Documents we may also suggest for our clients, depending on their situation include:

• Preneed Guardian: While a client has capacity, the client may nominate someone as guardian in case a court-appointed guardian is needed in the future. Although the Declaration is not binding on the court, it creates a “rebuttable presumption” that the person named will be appointed. By suggesting a preference for a guardian to the Court in this manner, a client may avoid legal proceedings among family members who want to be appointed by the Court as the client’s Guardian.

• Authorization and Direction of Legally Authorized Person to Make Funeral Arrangements and Dispose of Bodily Remains (“Authorization”):  A personal representative named under a Will has no direct authority to direct disposition of bodily or cremated remains since the personal representative’s authority is over “property” only. Instead, the authority to dispose of the bodily or cremated remains rests in the “next of kin”. In addition, a Will is not the best place to express burial and cremation preferences since the Will may not be discovered until after the funeral. The Authorization allows clients to express wishes regarding funeral arrangements and disposition of bodily or cremate remains and allows clients to designate someone other than the next of kin to make decisions related to these matters where the client did not specify their intentions. Such an Authorization is useful in avoiding fights among family members, such as the spouse of a second marriage and the children of the first marriage. For more information, please read our Article.

Securing financial health for your family’s future

The estate planning expertise of the attorneys at Lauer Law secures the financial health of our clients and their families by ensuring that our client’s assets are preserved, enhanced, and protected during our client’s lifetime, and distributed according to our client’s intentions after death. We determine the most appropriate methods to register our client’s assets, outline provisions for their disbursement, and provide individual counsel to devise a solution that best suits each client.

Estate Planning for Loved Ones

Family and business matters can be complex and draining for individuals and their families. Lauer Law can provide guidance to the loved ones of Florida residents and create an estate plan to help in complicated situations such as:

• Mom and dad are getting older and they haven’t planned their estate. How do I protect the family’s financial interests?

• My younger sister is unemployed, lives with our parents, and is spending their money. How can I help my parent protect what they’ve worked so hard to earn?

• Since my father’s girlfriend is 30 years younger, I’m afraid she is using him for his money. What can I do to protect his assets?

Wealth Management

Lauer Law also assists families exploring wealth-management options. Our collaborative estate planning process is one that can help clients accomplish the following:

• Develop a financial statement and comprehensive overview of client’s assets;

• Determine estate planning objectives, which may include minimizing taxes, providing trusts for family members, and establishing charitable beneficiaries;

• Recommend the best way to register assets, including the use of:

  • Wills

  • Trusts

  • Powers of Attorney

  • Living Wills

  • Family Foundations

  • Family Partnerships

  • Healthcare Surrogates

• Advise of changes in legislation that could affect a client’s estate plan. (See our "Newsletters", which are mailed to clients periodically when changes in the law could potentially affect a client’s estate plan); and

• Plan for the administration of trust and estate.

Update Your Out-of-State Documents

If your estate planning documents were executed in another state while you were a resident of that state, it is important to have a Lauer Law review your documents to avoid future legal complication or unintended tax consequences. Lauer Law will review your out-of-state documents to make certain that your documents comply with Florida law.

Remote Online Notarization

For clients who wish to update their estate planning documents but are unable to come to our office, we offer remote online notarization of documents. When documents are notarized online, the documents are stored online by “DocVerify” so that clients may access the electronic copy at any time after execution.

If you are a Florida resident currently serving in the military, we can provide our estate planning services to you remotely so you can execute a Will, Designation of a Health Care Surrogate, Military Durable Power of Attorney, Living Will and more without visiting the office at all!

Download estate planning questionnaires here

Estate Planning Questionnaire for MARRIED clients
Estate Planning Questionnaire for Single Clients