Estate Planning Notes

Informal Posts for Everyone

Default Takers: Unmarried Decedents

Posted on October 18, 2016 Written by Paul M. Stokes Leave a Comment

In estate planning, “default takers” are the beneficiaries under a Will or Revocable Trust who “take” (that is, who receive the assets controlled by one’s Will or Revocable Trust at his or her death) when all of the named beneficiaries have predeceased the testator or settlor and there are no alternate beneficiaries described in the […]

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Filed Under: General

Step-Dad as Health Care Surrogate for a Minor Child

Posted on May 13, 2016 Written by Paul M. Stokes Leave a Comment

I discussed Florida’s new Designation of Health Care Surrogate for Minor with a younger mother recently.  She told me that she has a daughter by a former marriage and that her daughter is a minor.  Under the marital settlement agreement, she and her former husband “share” responsibility for their daughter.  The mother had remarried, however, […]

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A Health Care Surrogate for Children.

Posted on May 12, 2016 Written by Paul M. Stokes Leave a Comment

Florida has a statute entitled Designation of a Health Care Surrogate for a Minor.  For purposes of the designation statute, the definition of “minor” given under the Florida Guardianship Law is implied.  That is, a minor is a person “under age 18 years of age whose disabilities have not been removed by marriage or otherwise.”  […]

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A Lawyer who’s a Nudge, a Client who’s Committed: An Estate Planning Engagement Made in Heaven

Posted on April 11, 2016 Written by Paul M. Stokes Leave a Comment

There are no deadlines in an estate planning engagement.  (So to speak.)   This is not the case where other kinds of legal services are in play.  In litigation, for example, there is built-in urgency.  Someone is suing your client or you are suing the other lawyer’s client, that’s urgency enough.  But there is more.  […]

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About Paul M. Stokes

Paul M. Stokes works at Stokes McMillan Antunez, P.A., received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, and is Board Certified by the Florida Bar in Wills, Trusts & Estates.

This site focuses on Florida law and is for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for an engagement with a competent attorney. The events in the posts do not identify actual clients. Those events are sufficiently fictional to preserve confidentiality. In telling his stories, however, the author does not compromise the points being made.

  • More About Paul M. Stokes
  • Stokes McMillan Antunez, P.A.

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Recent Articles

  • Default Takers: Unmarried Decedents
  • Acquisition of an Asset by a Maiden-Name Couple: Another Estate Planning Event
  • Step-Dad as Health Care Surrogate for a Minor Child
  • A Health Care Surrogate for Children.
  • The Designation of Health Care Surrogate: Immediate or Springing?

Topics

  • Adoption
  • Assets
  • Disability Documents
  • End of Life
  • Estate Planning
  • Estate Planning and Divorce
  • Famous Last Words
  • General
  • Homestead
  • Joint ownership. Or not.
  • Minor's Guardianships
  • Prenuptial agreements
  • Safe Deposit Boxes
  • Same-sex Marriage
  • Trusts

©2021 Paul M. Stokes, Attorney At Law · All Rights Reserved.

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