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?

Attorney Reed Bloodworth Law Payment Options

Terminally Ill Isolated Family Member Changes a Will

Hi. I’m Reed Bloodworth a business litigation estate and trust litigation attorney in Orlando Florida. Today I wanted to discuss some common scenarios in trust and estate litigation where it may be in your best interest to contact a trust and estate litigation attorney.

Terminally Ill Isolated Family Member Changes a Will 

These scenarios consist of situations where a terminally ill isolated family member changes a will or trust has been changed and the person who was changing the will or trust suffered from potentially some type of health issue or had been isolated from their family.

Dementia or Alzheimer's Some of these common scenarios are the person making the trust or the will had dementia or Alzheimer’s. Another common one is the person was in very poor health or was heavily medicated potentially on their death bed.

Isolated Person Changes Will or Trust

Another common scenario is when the person changing the will or the trust has been completely isolated from the rest of their family by someone else.

These types of situations are situations where wills or trusts are changed under very suspicious circumstances. For example if someone has dementia or they have Alzheimer’s or they are heavily medicated due to a severe medical condition or perhaps they’re in hospice just because they’re very elderly these are all situations where the person making the change to the will or trust may not have had the mental capacity to make those changes.

When Elderly Person is Kept Isolated

The situation where the person changing the will or trust is you know isolated from their family this is a sadly a common scenario where an elderly person is not allowed to speak with potentially their sons or daughters or other family members and they are kept isolated from those people who were beneficiaries under a prior will or trust and are surprised at the time of death or sometime after the person dies to find out that they are no longer beneficiaries that the person who had isolated them is now the sole recipient of all of that person’s estate.

Undue Influence=Control Over Person Making Change

These types of situations give rise to various claims. Some common ones are undue influence. Undue influence is a situation where the person who had the will changed for their benefit had a control over the person that was making the change. They may have had a high degree of difference in their mental abilities which harkens back to the various medical conditions we talked about or they simply could’ve isolated this person they could have berated them harassed them done a number of things to make them change their will or trust to name the new beneficiary the sole beneficiary of the will or trust.

Making Changes with Alzheimer's or Severe Dementia, or Heavy Medication

The other very common cause of action in this situation is lack of capacity. When someone has Alzheimer’s they have severe dementia they are heavily medicated because they’re dying of cancer or they’re very elderly and they’re in hospice care these people typically do not have the mental capacity to understand what it is they’re doing when they change a will or they change a trust.

The law requires a person to have the mental capacity to understand what it is they’re doing at the time they execute a will or trust. If they don’t that will or trust can be challenged in court and can be voided so that the proper beneficiaries receive what they should have to begin with.

These are just some common scenarios and they’re scenarios that if you experience this it would likely be in your interest to contact a trust and estate litigation attorney.

So again my name is Reed Bloodworth an attorney in Orlando Florida. Give me a call. Let’s talk about what happened to you.