When an insurance claim is made against you, it typically means that someone believes you are responsible for causing them harm or damage and wants your insurance company to compensate them. Most often, this occurs if you’ve caused a car accident or if someone is injured on your property. Here’s…
For most people, the most valuable asset they own is their home. Particularly in the last few years, the rising values of real property have led to homeowners having hundreds of thousands of dollars in home equity. If someone sues you, whether they can take your house depends on the…
People facing a civil judgment often try to protect non-exempt cash by investing it in a Florida homestead. Some debtors seek advantage of the unlimited value of Florida’s Constitutional homestead exemption by buying a new, expensive parcel of raw land and immediately converting the new property to a protected homestead….
Suppose a hypothetical client asked a question regarding a judgment creditor’s writ of garnishment of accounts receivable. The client was a medical provider with substantial receivables owed by medical insurance companies. The client has previously arranged a line of credit from a national bank. The bank secured repayment with a…
The Florida Constitution protects a person’s homestead from forced levy or sale by judgment creditors. The protection applies if the home is occupied by either the judgment debtor or the debtor’s family. In other words, a judgment debtor can exempt from forced sale any residence in Florida in which a…
If a business is facing financial difficulty, the business owner is usually concerned about what will happen to the business assets and their personal assets if the business can’t pay its lenders. The inability to service business debts likely will cause a default under the terms of the business debt…
Bank accounts owned by a married couple are protected from the creditors of either spouse if the account is owned as tenants by the entireties. When a married couple opens a new bank account, they can choose (usually on their signature card) how they want to title the account. Some…
In Florida, a spousal limited access trust, or SLAT, is an estate planning device that provides asset protection. This type of trust has advantages over the more common asset protection tool of tenancy by entireties ownership. Florida law exempts assets owned by married couples as tenants by entireties from execution of judgments against either spouse individually….
A Health Care Proxy, also known as a “Health Care Power of Attorney,” is a legal document that allows an individual to appoint a person to make health care decisions on their behalf in the event that they become incapacitated. In Florida, this document is governed by Florida Statutes Chapter…
A small estate affidavit in Florida is a step in a summary administration, which allows for the distribution of a deceased person’s assets without the need for probate court. This process is typically used when the deceased person’s estate is valued at less than $75,000 and they did not have…
