Posted in Asset Protection,Probate & Trust Administration,Real Estate Law,Wills, Trusts & Estate Planning
Many married couples jointly own their home or other Florida real property. It is easy to overlook the legal transfer of such jointly held property when faced with the death of a husband or wife. However, clearing title to real estate following the death of a loved one is an important consideration and should be promptly addressed by the surviving family and a licensed Florida attorney where possible.
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Whether filling out your new hire paperwork or preparing your tax returns, the IRS has guidelines for who may be claimed as a dependent for income tax purposes.
There are typically two types of dependents for federal income tax purposes:
In a previous blog, (click for link), we posted about the importance of asset titling in estate planning and briefly described how beneficiary designation forms may implicate your personal plan. Beneficiary designations are intended to be a straightforward method for heirs to circumvent the probate process and receive funds in a timely manner. Beneficiary designations are found in many of your accounts, including retirement accounts, life insurance policies, bank accounts, stocks, certificates of deposits, bonds, mutual funds, and annuity contracts.
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Posted in Business & Corporate Law
Eleven states, including Florida, have laws that prohibit businesses from imposing consumers with surcharges on credit card transactions. But what type of businesses are subject to this prohibition? All businesses? Only merchants and retailers? Currently, the concept of charging surcharge or convenience fees for credit card usage by service business is not clearly addressed in the applicable statute. Florida Statute Section 501.0117(1) states that a “seller or lessor in a sales or lease transaction may not impose a surcharge on the buyer or lessee for electing to use a credit card in lieu of payment of cash, check, or similar means, if the seller or lessor accepts payment by credit card.” Moreover, a surcharge is defined as any additional amount imposed at the time of a sale or lease transaction by the seller or lessor that increases the charge to the buyer or lessee for the privilege of using a credit card to make payment. Id.
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The FDCPA was developed in part to help prevent abusive practices in debt collection and to allow consumers the opportunity to dispute the validity of a debt. The FDCPA applies when a debt collector attempts to communicate with a consumer debtor. While the initial communications may not violate the Act, generally, the Act prohibits further communication when the debtor notifies the debt collector that he or she is requesting more information on the debt or disputes the debt. The Act will typically apply to communications the collector may have regarding the location of the debtor and communications between third parties or the debtor regarding the debt collection. The debts subject to this Act are generally those incurred by a consumer primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, whether or not such obligation has been reduced to judgment. Florida adopted the Consumer Collection Practices Act (“FCCPA”) which acts to supplement the FDCPA. The FCCPA also protects debtors from a debt collector’s abusive collection practices but, unlike the FDCPA, the FCCPA also applies to the original creditor. As always, you should consult with a Florida licensed attorney who may be able to help protect you from improper collection efforts.
See 15 U.S.C. §1692 (a)-(p); see also, §§559.55-559.785, Fla. Stat.
Posted in Asset Protection,Business & Corporate Law
In order to discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy, a debtor must show that repaying the student loan debt will cause undue hardship.
Florida Bankruptcy Courts will typically apply the Brunner test when attempting to determine undue hardship. In order for a debtor to meet the Brunner standard for undue hardship, the debtor must show “(1) that the debtor cannot maintain, based on current income and expenses, a ‘minimal’ standard of living for herself and her dependents if forced to repay the student loans; (2) that additional circumstances exist indicating that this state of affairs is likely to persist for a significant portion of the repayment period of the student loans; and (3) that the debtor has made good faith efforts to repay the loans.” In re Cox, 338 F.3d 1238, 1241 (11th Cir. 2003), quoting Brunner v. New York State Higher Education Services Corp., 831 F.2d 395 (2d Cir. 1987).
If you are having financial difficulty due to student loans or other debts, you should consult with a licensed Florida bankruptcy attorney.
Posted in Real Estate Law
Section 558.004, Florida Statutes, provides Florida contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and design professionals (collectively “Contractors”) the opportunity to inspect and cure construction defects prior to the filing of a legal action. A Florida property owner must serve a notice of claim on the Contractor at least 60 days prior to the filing of a lawsuit. Fla. Stat. § 558.004(1). The owner’s notice must refer to the statute and describe (i) the claim in reasonable detail sufficient to determine the general nature of each alleged construction defect and (ii) the damages or loss resulting from the defect. The property owner should strive to serve the notice within 15 days after discovery of the defect.
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The Internal Revenue Service’s (“IRS”) First Time Abate (“FTA”) policy provides for an abatement of certain financial penalties for taxpayers with a record of tax compliance who are current with filing and payment requirements. It is essentially a streamlined IRS process to abate or remove a first-time tax penalty as a one-time consideration based on a taxpayers’ compliance history.
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