We Travel to Florida Clients for Probate Cases and Trust Cases

We Travel to Florida Clients for Probate Cases and Trust Cases

Attorney Reed Bloodworth travels the I-4 corridor to Florida clients for probate cases and trust cases. 

While I’m located in Orlando, Florida, I regularly and willingly work in Broward County courts, Palm Beach County courts.

I have trust litigation, and probate litigation clients from Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Naples and other Southern Florida cities all the way up to the top of Florida, including Duval and Columbia counties. 

When to Talk With an Attorney

We understand that when you’re dealing with a family probate or family trust legal problem, it can be emotional and difficult. Uncomfortable and even sad. 

You might be afraid to ask family questions about a legal document that you believe to be incorrect. Or you may want to ask about a trust or estate without feeling vulnerable.

You may be angry or hurt if you’ve found out that you’re no longer in a trust or an estate. It's difficult to know what to do when you're dealing with financial and personal challenges.

What you do know is that you want it handled by the best possible trust litigator or estate litigator. And to take this problem on, you’re going to look everywhere to find the best possible legal representation.

Here are the counties Bloodworth Law works in:

• Brevard
• Broward
• Citrus
• Clay
• Columbia
• Duval
• Flagler
• Hernando
• Hillsborough
• Indian River
• Lake
• Manatee
• Marion
• Martin
• Orange
• Osceola
• Palm Beach
• Pasco
• Polk
• Sarasota
• Seminole
• St. Johns
• St. Lucie
• Sumter
• Volusia

I like to travel, my team likes to travel and when you need us, we’ll be there.

The Client Communication Process

First, we meet in person to talk about your case. What are the key details and what is it that you would like to achieve?

We work in the courts that are near you and that are in your county. You never leave your city because we come to you. Our relationships and our resources support our clients across Florida.

Then, we make sure we’re accessible and available to you throughout your case. We can communicate via Skype, by Facebook, or face-to-face, whatever your preference. The goal is to keep you informed on your case.

Our Team

In our office you’ll be talking with me, Attorney and Managing Partner, Reed Bloodworth. Our Paralegal, Carlos Acedo, our Associate Attorney, Juliane Brumbaugh, and Of Counsel Attorney, Tonya Walker. We are apprised of your case so that when you need answers, you’ll receive answers.

Who We Work With

I decided to represent plaintiffs, defendants, families, individuals, and businesses. I wanted to offer clients payment options so that they may begin cases right away without the stress of a paying a large retainer upfront.

I also am committed to traveling throughout the state of Florida. I’ll travel from Tampa to Daytona, from Pensacola to Miami. I will go throughout the I-4 corridor, from east to west, north to south. The reason I’ll do this is that sometimes the most interesting cases fall outside of Central Florida and the best clients come from all points of our state.

What If I Don’t Know What I’m Inheriting?

Hi, I’m Reed Bloodworth, founding partner of Bloodworth Law, PLLC. 

I'm located in Orlando, Florida but I travel to clients across the state. 

I often have clients that are beneficiaries of Florida estates but ask, “what if I don’t know what I’m inheriting?”

These are beneficiaries who don’t know exactly what it is they’re inheriting from the estate.

Often times, a personal representative of these estates are siblings or other family members and these family members are not forthcoming with information.

Your Rights as a Beneficiary of an Estate

However, your rights as a beneficiary of an estate are many. You have rights and entitlements to certain information.

Some of the basic rights you have as a beneficiary are included here. Be sure to speak with an experienced probate or estate litigation attorney to get specific answers to your concerns about estates.

Copy of Will

You have the right to get a true and correct copy of the will. The will, will inform you who the beneficiaries are and what those beneficiaries are supposed to receive.

Notice of Administration

The next is the right to receive a notice of administration. The notice of administration is an important document in the probate proceeding. It contains information that’s pertinent to the administration. A Notice of Administration begins the running of the statute of limitations that enable you to challenge the validity of the will. That time period is 90 days.

Receive an Inventory of the Estate

You also have the right to receive an inventory. An inventory is a list of all of the assets that are contained within the estate.

Annual Accounting of Estate 

Additionally, you have basic right to receive at least annually an accounting of the estate. 

The accounting shows where all of the money has been spent or acquired things of that nature. This is required pursuant to Florida statutes. You’ll get that once a year at a minimum.

Challenge the Validity of the Will 

If you believe the will that has been admitted to probate was obtained through improper purposes, then you have the right to challenge the validity of the will. Perhaps you suspect:

• Undue influence
• Fraud
• Lack of Capacity
• Duress
• Tortious interference

Issues With the Personal Representative 

Additionally, as probate proceeds, if you believe the personal representative is not up for the task of performing his or her duties, or you believe that the personal representative is performing those duties improperly, then you have the right to petition the court to remove that personal representative and put someone else in its place.

Unsure of Beneficiaries?

If you are unsure of exactly who the beneficiaries of the estate are, you have the right to petition the court to determine who the beneficiaries are. That can be important in certain situations.

Partial Disbursement of the Assets 

If the probate proceeding is taking a long time or perhaps a certain amount of the assets of the estate are ready to be disbursed but have not yet you have the right to petition the court for a partial disbursement of the assets of the estate.

Dispute Creditor Claims

If a creditor files a claim against the estate and you don’t agree with it, or you believe it’s improper, then you as a beneficiary have the right to object to that claim.

There are many, many other rights that beneficiaries have in an estate probate. 

Remain Calm

Don’t make accusations or instigate arguments with family members or beneficiaries. Probate and estate issues can be very emotional. Instead, speak with an attorney about your concerns and proceed with the right attitude so that issues remain as calm as possible for cooperative resolve.

If you have any questions pertaining to your rights as a beneficiary, let’s talk about what happened to you.

Great Chili for an Incredible Charity

Fun and Food at 7th Annual Chili for Charity 

Attorneys Reed Bloodworth and Juliane Brumbaugh.

Bloodworth Law, PLLC, sponsored the 7th Annual Chili for Charity created by the Rotary Club of Winter Park. 

This is the premier Central Florida chili cook-off event featuring creative chili dishes by local restaurants and other chili-making experts.

We sampled many designer chili recipes and made it home without spilling any on our shirts.

Participants compete for a Peoples’ Choice Award and dishes are evaluated by a judge’s panel. Foodies tasted chili from about 30 local vendors, and there was live entertainment, desserts and bourbon tasting.

The highlight was the chili of course. There was also a silent auction and a Porsche raffle to help raise money on a beautiful evening at the Winter Park Farmers’ Market.

Chili for Charity was created by the Rotary Club of WinterPark to raise funds for the Rotary Club’s Charitable Foundation. The Foundation gives grants to more than 30 local charities annually.

Since 1998, The Winter Park Rotary Club has donated over $800,000 to Winter Park community non-profits including Alzheimer’s & Dementia ResourceCenter, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Florida, Foundation for Foster Children, Easter Seals Florida, Habitat for Humanity Maitland/Winter Park, Grace Medical Home, United Way and many others.

What Makes a Verbal Contract Legitimate?

Hi I’m Reed Bloodworth founding partner of Bloodworth Law. Today I’m going to talk about what makes a verbal contract legitimate?

What Makes a Verbal Contract Legitimate?

First, what’s makes a verbal contract legitimate? Well, a verbal contract is just like a written contract; it has the same basic elements.

• There has to be an offer.
• There has to be an acceptance.
• There has to be something that you’re actually negotiating over of value.
• AND the parties must have the capacity to enter into that contract.

If you have those basic elements if you want to enter into a verbal contract.

Verbal Contracts vs. Written Contracts

There are certain things you may not be able to enter into a certain contract on verbally. Those things are governed by the Florida statute of frauds and very common ones are real estate transactions. You’ve got to have it in writing. Verbal contracts aren’t legal for real estate in Florida.

Some other things might be agreements that are going to last longer than one year: those include12-months or more contracts which are needed in writing.

However, if you and I entered into a verbal agreement for me to sell you some books for $300, we can negotiate that and enter into that contract and that would be a binding agreement.

Verbal Contracts Are Enforceable

Now these are the types of things that make a verbal agreement enforceable. So there are circumstances which when people enter into verbal agreements disputes arise. This is a lot of times because you don’t have the writing to go back and say exactly what the agreement was. 

Verbal Contract Example

An example might be a client verbally allows someone else to use their license for a particular project. They agree on it. The client says all right I’m going to take 10 percent of the profit from this project and you will be allowed to use my license. They shake hands. The project goes forward.

The person who’s using the license perhaps they pay the 10 percent out of one project. However some time down the road the client discovers that person used my license for many other projects for which I was unaware and as a result of our agreement I should get paid on all these other agreements all these other projects.

That’s a situation where a dispute has arisen and you have a verbal agreement you might want to bring a lawsuit to enforce that.

So in summary verbal contract are enforceable in certain situations and in certain situations they’re not. They have the same basic requirements as a written agreement.

You’ve got to have an offer. You’ve got to have acceptance. You’ve got to have something of value negotiated over. You need capacity.

When I say capacity you need to be of age so over 18 and have your full mental faculties about you.

 Plaintiff? Defendant? We Represent Both

At Bloodworth Law we represent both plaintiffs and defendants relating to disputes arising from verbal agreements.

For plaintiffs we offer multiple payment options. We have contingency options pay by the hour options and hybrid options.

For defendants we have pay by the hour fee options and flat fee options.

So if you have any questions of if you’re involved in a dispute pertaining to verbal agreements verbal contracts give me a call. Let’s talk about what happened to you.

Probate and Estate Litigation Mean the Same Thing

Hi, I'm Reed Bloodworth the Founding Partner of Bloodworth Law, PLLC, located at 224 East Marks Street, Orlando, Florida.

Probate Litigation = Estate Litigation

Today I wanted to try and clarify that Probate and EstateLitigation Mean the Same Thing. I know there’s some confusion some of my clients have. I represent clients in probate and estate litigation, and trust litigation.

Probate or Estate Litigation?

Clients sometimes are confused as to the use of the terms probate litigation and estate litigation. I want to let you know these words are interchangeable. They're the same thing.

Probate or estate litigation is litigation that takes place inside the formal probate of someone's will.

What Happens in Probate? 

What happens in Probate? So what that means is when someone passes away their will is submitted to the court for authentication and then the court oversees the personal representative as they administer the estate. 

What is Probate Estate? 

So oftentimes you hear the term probate estate. That means that's the official name for when a personal representative is appointed over the estate of someone who has passed away.

Litigation takes place within the formal probate. So litigation in probate can have many types of causes of action relate to different things.

Some of the more common probate or estate litigation I see relate to undue influence claims, lack of capacity claims, or tortious interference with a testamentary expectancy claims.

You will also often see claims for breach of fiduciary duty against a personal representatives.

I Represent Beneficiaries & Personal Representatives

Regarding these types of claims, I represent both personal representatives and I represent beneficiaries who believe they're owed more under this person's will.

So that is probate litigation and estate litigation. Interchangeable terms all involving the probate of someone's will and disputes that arise therein.

So again my name is Reed Bloodworth, Founding Partner of Bloodworth Law, PLLC. Give me a call. Let’s talk about what happened to you.

What is Florida Trust & Estate Litigation?