Can a will be changed or revoked?

A will can absolutely be changed or revoked by the person who created the will as long as that person has capacity. The easiest way to change or revoke a will is to simply tear it up.

You can also change a will by adding to it amendments which are called codicils. You can add to or take away from your will thereby revoking prior portions of your will by simply amending it. It can be revoked or amended or completely sorted anytime as long as the person has capacity.

How can I leave specific items to particular people?

Generally there are two ways that you can specifically leave items in your will to persons that are going to inherit from you. The first is by a specific bequeath. You include the name in the will of the person who’s going to receive this specific item, for instance, a specific piece of property.

There’s a second way and it’s enforceable out of courts and that's have a personal property memorandum. This is an item that is kept with your will and overtime, as you develop ownership of things that may not be important enough to change your will, you simply add them to your will. For instance, if you have a special bracelet or a watch or a ring that you want to leave to a family member, you will write it on your memorandum, leave it with your will and the personal representative is duty-bound to carry out your instructions and to make sure that property, after you pass, is given to the person named in the memorandum.

What if I already have a will and now I want to make changes?

A will can be changed at any time by you as long as you have capacity to do so. To change a will, you have to have the same capacity you had when you made the will. You can change the will by adding a moment to it which is called a codicil. It can be a single item type codicil where you want to add someone to a will or write a specific request in a will. You can also use it to change the name of your personal representative or who you don't want to inherit from you.

What is a living will?

A living will is often referred to as a healthcare directive. It is a legal document that directs healthcare providers, doctors, hospitals, and your family as to what decisions you want to be made for your care under certain situations. It is binding in the state of Florida, and provides direction to your healthcare providers as well as to your family, as to how you want your healthcare provided when you're no longer able to talk to them or make a decision for them.

Why have health directives?

Health directives often referred to as your living wills, are important for people to consider and to keep current. The biggest and foremost reason you should have a health directive or a living will is so that your loved ones, your family members know what your will and your decisions in a certain situation would be when you’re not able to answer them.

It gives them comfort and guidance to know what you have already decided so they can carry out your decisions at crucial and critical times when they’re faced with a lot of stress or pressure. A second important reason is a health directive or a living will provides immunity for a doctor or a hospital or a healthcare provider. If they follow your directions and they carry out your provisions, then it gives them immunity from a lawsuit if they do follow your written and documented directives.

What powers can I give through a durable power of attorney?

A durable power of attorney is an incredibly legal document. It basically allows you to do anything to the power of attorney that you could do without the power of attorney. So you can now allow anyone who accepts your appointment to buy and sell property, sign contracts, sign legal documents, manage healthcare decisions, pretty much anything you can do, they can do for you under a durable power of attorney.

I have signed a durable power of attorney can I change my mind?

Once you've signed a durable power of attorney, it's still your power of attorney. You have the right to revoke it, resend it, change it, destroy it any time. There is one legal requirement, you still have to have capacity to do so. You can't destroy it if you no longer have legal capacity. Since it's your power of attorney and perhaps one of most important planning tools you can use, it can absolutely be modified by you at any time after you've issued it

If a parent is unable to handle their financial matters, what can I do?

Unfortunately, there comes a time when we are often faced with helping our parents with their financial decisions as they get older. It's important that we recognize these times so that we can avoid mistakes or worse, being subject to a scam. One of the things you can do is have a Durable Power of Attorney appointed by your parent which gives you all the authority that they would have to operate for them. They have to have the capacity to do this. It's important it be written and signed, and procedures properly followed.

A second avenue is having a trust formed. In fact, that can be done where the parent is actually the trustee for a period of time, but as they lose control or the ability to handle their affairs, the trustee has a legal and fiduciary obligation to take care of their affairs them.

The final and the most drastic method is a conservatorship, which actually sometimes referred to as a guardianship, requires a court order determining that the parent is no longer able to take care of their affairs and the court appoints someone to do so.

What is a pet trust?

Legally, in Florida, pets are considered property. A pet trust is a legal document which allows pet owners to set up a trust to take care of their pets, to provide for their pets, in the event the owner becomes incapacitated or passes. Unlike a will directive, which is not enforceable, a pet trust is enforceable, and it carries out the wishes of the owner of the pet to make sure the pet is provided for throughout the life of the pet.

I already have another trust -- can I have a gun trust too?

Absolutely. In fact, I recommend that you have another trust if you have another trust, that you have a gun trust, separate on part and distinct from any other trust you have, no matter how many trusts you may have. It is important to keep NFA-restricted and prohibited items separately and apart from any other item.

What is a homeowner’s association?

Unfortunately, an HOA board member can be sued. Florida Statutes and Florida law recognizes that an HOA board member has a fiduciary duty to his association. As long as he’s carrying out those duties in a proper accord with the statute, then he will be relieved of liability. Unfortunately, he can be sued.

Florida courts have also adopted the business judgment rule which basically says, “The Courts will not go behind the association and second guess their business judgments as long as they were issued or made and allowed in course of their doing their duty to protect the association.”

What are the advantages of having a limited liability corporation, or LLC?

There are so many advantages to having a limited liability corporation or an LLC. First of all, they're more flexible than any other entities. They're much more flexible than a subchapter C, there's not much paperwork required and because you have the pass-through advantages of the sole proprietorship or partnership type situation for the taxes, you decide how you want to be taxed.

Finally, there's less paperwork involved than there is for a subchapter C. In addition and perhaps more important characteristic of a limited liability company is the fact that you can hire a member, or hire a manager, or you can be as involved or as uninvolved in the management, as you want.

Are there alternatives to going to court to resolve business disputes?

There are alternatives instead of going into court for business disputes. The first is what Florida recognizes arbitration or has its own arbitration act. In that situation, the parties select an arbitrator, trained and certified by the state, who acts if you will as a private judge who receives evidence, takes testimony and makes a decision that's binding on the parties. The second and perhaps more popular method is for the use of mediation. In that situation, the parties all agree on a mediator and the mediator receives information from all the sides and helps the parties themselves by facilitating it out loud working back and forth. Going to the parties and helping them work out their own resolution. Most lawsuits in Florida result in mediation and most meditations are successful, 85 to 90% of the time.

What is a covenant not to compete?

A covenant not to compete is only a clause in an employment agreement. It allows the employer to protect his business by restricting the employee's ability to leave the company under certain situations. It allows the protection of the company, and also a good covenant not to compete will balance the covenant not to compete with the interest of the employee, so the employee still has a right to earn a living.

Is a covenant not to compete enforceable?

The code to not to compete is absolutely enforced while in the state of Florida. A code to not compete has certain requirements that must be met. It must be in writing, it must be signed, it must be reasonable in time, scope, duration, and line of business. There are recent restrictions Florida courts have determined but they can be enforced while through a court.

What are church by-laws?

Church by-laws are written guidelines or documents that govern how the church operates on a day-to-day basis. Because they are the documents that govern the church, they should include things such as the day to day operational requirements, things on how to operate in terms of elections, if there are elections, how to set a budget and anything that affects the operations of the church.

Further, because the church enjoys wide autonomy, and its relationship with the government and the protection is provided by the constitution, a church should set out in its by-laws certain specific scriptural, induction decisions the church has made so that if there is a conflict between the secular position and the church position, the bylaws clearly articulate the church’s beliefs, doctrines, and values.