Probate In Florida
I have a question regarding probate in Florida.
Recently a friend’s mother passed away without a will while living in Florida. He retained a lawyer to administer the estate and the lawyer advised that under Florida law, the attorney is granted 30% of the estate for his fees?
Is this correct?
Secondly, my mother also lives in Florida and while we have a will outlining her estate, should I consider a quit claim on her property for her to sign over the property to my brother and myself. We are the only two siblings alive. What are the advantages, disadvantages of this instrument?
What is/are the best way’s to alleviate probate in the state of Florida?
And yes, I plan on hiring an attorney to work all this out, I just would like some direction before I do so.
TIA, Paul
Thanks bgrossnickle!
I did some further research and came acroos this info.
Florida’s estate tax system is commonly referred to as a “pick up” tax. Florida picks up all or a portion of the credit for state death taxes allowed by the federal government. Under this system, Florida estate tax is not due unless an estate is required to file a federal estate tax return. The federal filing thresholds are:
Federal Filing Requirements Date of Death Minimum Filing Requirement
2000 and 2001 $675,000
2002 and 2003 $1,000,000
2004 and 2005 $1,500,000
2006 $2,000,000
See § 2010 and 6018(a), Internal Revenue Code.
Since my Moms estate will not exceed 2mill, I can only assume there will be no tax levied against her or her siblings.
The Will is pretty straight forward regarding disposition of assets between my bro and I, so I guess I can let it be and hope she lives long enough to spend all her money on herself!
Regards, Paul[ Edited by flyboy on Date 03/13/2006 ]
In my opinion, your strategy makes you a dealer to real estate. Your profits will be ordinary self-employment income if done from within a single member LLC.
Probably would be better to use an S-corp for your strategy. That way you can take a reasonable salary from the corporation and limit the amount subject to self-employment income taxes.
In all other respects, the tax treatment for the LLC and the S-Corp would be the same for your investment strategy.