Coral Springs Estate Planning

Coral Springs Estate Planning and Probate Attorney

The document most Coral Springs parents are missing.

Coral Springs was built for families, and most of the people who call us from here are parents in the middle of raising them. Work, school pickup, travel soccer, dinner. Estate planning sits somewhere below cleaning the garage on the list, because it feels like something you deal with later.

Well, here is the part that changes minds. If both parents are gone and no guardian has been legally named, a judge decides who raises your children. Not your sister who you always assumed would step in. A judge, choosing from whoever comes forward, using a standard called the best interest of the child.

That judge never met you. They do not know that your mother is wonderful but in no shape to raise a seven year old, or that your brother in law is the one your kids adore. They only know what is in front of them.

Naming a guardian takes about ten minutes

It is a short section in your Last Will and Testament, the “Will.” You name the person you want, and you name a backup in case that person cannot serve. That is the whole thing. It is genuinely one of the easiest, highest impact pieces of legal work a parent can do.

Money for minors needs a plan too

Here is a wrinkle people do not expect. In Florida, a minor cannot inherit money directly. If you leave life insurance or savings to a child outright, the court may need to appoint someone to manage it, with annual reporting, until that child turns eighteen. Then, on their eighteenth birthday, they get all of it at once.

Think about that for a moment. A high school senior with a life insurance policy in their checking account.

A trust solves it cleanly. You decide the ages, you decide the purposes, you decide who holds the reins. College and a first house instead of a very memorable summer.

Where a Coral Springs probate case goes

Coral Springs is in Broward County, so probate is filed with the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in Fort Lauderdale. We handle the filing and the court communication, and in most cases you never need to appear.