An estate planning attorney serving Sarasota helps individuals and families create legally enforceable documents that determine what happens to their assets, their healthcare, and their loved ones when they are no longer able to make those decisions themselves. This includes drafting wills, revocable living trusts, durable powers of attorney, health care surrogate designations, living wills, and pre-need guardian designations, and making sure all of those documents work together as a coordinated plan. A Sarasota estate planning attorney also reviews beneficiary designations, advises on how assets are titled, and helps business owners coordinate their personal estate plan with their business succession documents. The goal is a plan that reflects your actual wishes and holds up when your family needs it most.

You need a Florida probate attorney when a person dies owning assets held in their individual name that must pass through the court system before they can be transferred to beneficiaries or heirs. In most Florida estates, Florida Probate Rule 5.030 requires the personal representative to be represented by a Florida-licensed attorney throughout the administration. You should contact a probate attorney as soon as possible after a death, before accessing accounts, paying bills from estate funds, or taking any action on behalf of the estate, because actions taken without proper authority can create personal liability for the person acting. Bart Scovill, PLC handles formal administration, summary administration, and ancillary probate for out-of-state families with Florida property.

A last will and testament directs how your assets are distributed after death, but it must go through the Florida probate court before taking effect. A revocable living trust holds your assets during your lifetime and transfers them to your beneficiaries at death privately, without court involvement, and often more quickly and at lower cost than probate. A trust also provides a mechanism for managing your assets during a period of incapacity, which a will cannot do since it only takes effect at death. For many Florida residents, the right plan includes both documents, the trust handles most assets, and a pour-over will captures anything that was not transferred to the trust during your lifetime.

Florida probate costs include attorney fees, personal representative compensation, court filing fees, publication costs for the Notice to Creditors, and in some cases appraisal fees and bond premiums. Attorney fees for Florida probate are addressed in Florida Statute Section 733.6171, which sets out a percentage-based fee that is presumed reasonable based on the compensable value of the estate. The statute is a presumption, not a mandatory schedule; the attorney, the personal representative, and the persons bearing the cost may agree to compensation determined in a different manner. Total costs vary significantly depending on the size and complexity of the estate, whether the administration is contested, and whether real property or business interests are involved. A properly funded revocable living trust avoids probate entirely, which is why many Sarasota families find that the upfront investment in trust planning reduces the overall cost of transferring their estate at death.

Beneficiary designations control only the specific accounts or policies on which they appear, they do not cover real estate, vehicles, business interests, or other assets held in your name alone. They also provide no protection during a period of incapacity, do not name a guardian for minor children, and do not address what happens if your named beneficiary predeceases you or cannot accept the inheritance. A complete Florida estate plan coordinates your beneficiary designations with a will or trust, adds durable powers of attorney and healthcare documents for incapacity planning, and ensures that every category of asset is accounted for, not just the ones that have a designated beneficiary field.

Summary administration, available for qualifying smaller estates, can often be completed in a matter of weeks to a few months. Formal administration in Sarasota County typically takes eight to twelve months for an uncontested estate from the time the petition is filed to the final distribution of assets. The three-month creditor claim period that follows publication of the Notice to Creditors is a mandatory waiting period that cannot be shortened regardless of how straightforward the estate otherwise appears. Contested estates, title disputes, business interests, or complex creditor situations can extend the timeline considerably. Estates that pass through a properly funded revocable trust avoid the probate court entirely and are typically resolved in a fraction of the time.

A health care surrogate designation is a legal document under Florida Statute Chapter 765 that authorizes a person you choose to make medical decisions on your behalf when you are unable to communicate your own wishes. It is a separate document from a durable power of attorney, which covers financial matters only. Without a health care surrogate designation, healthcare providers in Florida may default to a statutory order of family members to make decisions on your behalf,  regardless of whether those individuals know your wishes or are the people you would have chosen. Most Florida adults need one, and it works best when paired with a living will that records your own written instructions about life-sustaining treatment.