Happy August Reader,

Can You Plan for an Unexpected Tragedy?

If you live in South Florida, you probably heard about the tragic accident that happened at Champlain Towers in Surfside, Florida at the end of June that killed 98 people.

I have taken over the administration of the estate of two people who died in the tragic collapse. The administration process brought to light a number of specific estate planning issues that are compounding the pain of the families of the deceased.

Since such accidents are rare, many people may be unfamiliar with these particular estate planning concerns. The problem isn’t the building collapse per se, but rather that the individuals died simultaneously. Therefore, I strongly urge you to review your estate planning documents in light of the issues that have arisen in this case:

1. Do you have language in your estate planning documents that specifies the presumed order of death in the case of simultaneous death? Florida law determines the order unless you state otherwise, and that may not be the best course for you.
2. Have you named primary and contingent beneficiaries? Unfortunately, in this instance the life insurance and IRAs did not name contingent beneficiaries. As such, these assets are now part of the probate estate, although typically they would transfer outside of probate.
3. Do you own real estate or property outside of Florida and are those properties titled correctly? The couple in question were Florida residents, but they owned property in New York and New Jersey also, which will require additional administration in these jurisdictions. This duplicative process could have easily been avoided with the titling of the properties into a Revocable Trust.

There are many more aspects in which this tragedy or a similar one could impact your estate plans. I’ve put together a fuller explanation of these issues, their potential consequences, and how to avoid them.

Reminder: Digital Asset Catalog

Don’t forget to download your free Digital Asset Catalog now so you can start tracking and protecting the future of your various digital assets.

Thank You for Reading!

I hope you take seriously the issues laid out above and in the longer blog post. Estate planning is all about planning for the future and anticipating as many potentialities as possible.

If you or anyone you know needs to discuss their estate plans, I am happy to help. Again, I'm offering free estate plan reviews through August 31. After that point, we may not have time to fully implement the necessary changes by the end of the year.

Until next month!

Sincerely,

Paul S. Labiner, Esq.

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