Broward County Probate - Probate in Florida
Christopher Q. Wintter Florida Probate Lawyer of Wintter & Associates, P.A.
Contact information: 2239 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, FL 33020 - Hollywood: 954-920-7014
Miami-Dade: 305-948-6788 - Boca Raton: 561-470-3448 - Fax: 954-920-7080
Wintter & Associates, P.A. is a Florida trust and estate law firm focusing its practice in the areas of probate administration, trust administration, guardianship administration, probate litigation, trust litigation, guardianship litigation, and estate planning. The firm's professionals are devoted to the representation of clients in estate, trust, probate, and guardianship proceedings. The firm is well known and is well respected by its colleagues, competitors, adversaries, and judges.
Christopher Q. Wintter has over 23 years of experience as a practicing attorney and is a recognized expert in Trust and Estate matters by the Florida Bar. Mr. Wintter earned his Juris Doctor from Duke University School of Law (1987) and earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting with High Honors from the University of Florida (1982).
Our attorneys have a thorough understanding of the legal, tax and financial issues that come into play with complex Trusts and Estates. Mr. Wintter holds the prestigious Board Certification by the Florida Bar in Wills, Trusts, and Estates, a credential held by fewer than 350 attorneys out of the more than 90,000 attorneys licensed to practice law in Florida. Mr. Wintter has been Board Certified since 1999. Prior to becoming an attorney, Mr. Wintter was a CPA and maintained his license as a Certified Public Accountant from 1984-2002.
To learn more about Wintter and Associates, P.A., please visit our web-site www.WintterLaw.com.
Losing a loved one can be very difficult to deal with and considering that you may need to hire a probate lawyer is not the easiest task. A probate lawyer will be able to help you settle the estate of your loved one. It is best to hire a probate lawyer as soon as possible.
Florida probate law requires that all estates that require administration be dealt with by a Florida probate lawyer. However, if you can do your estate with disposition without administration, then you do not require a probate lawyer to help you. Usually very small estates and estates where the sole beneficiary is also the executor are when disposition without administration can be used. All other estates require that you hire a probate lawyer to handle the administration. The administration of an estate is a very complicated process that can be quite difficult for someone who is not a probate lawyer to handle. Even if your probate seems simple, you will still need to hire a probate lawyer to handle the administration. You may not require a probate lawyer if you and your spouse owned everything jointly, because in Florida, all shared assets immediately get transferred to the surviving spouse.
You do not need to use any specific area's probate lawyer to handle an estate. You can choose any Florida probate lawyer of your choosing. Because probates are handled primarily by phone, fax, postal mail and email, you do not need to choose a probate lawyer that is in any specific area. It is recommended that you hire a Broward County probate lawyer if there is contested litigation that needs to be held in the Broward County courthouse because you will have an attorney familiar with the local rules, judges, etc.
Your probate lawyer will charge you for the probate administration as set forth in Florida Statutes Section 733.6171, which states:
733.6171 Compensation of attorney for the personal representative -
(1) Attorneys for personal representatives shall be entitled to reasonable compensation payable from the estate assets without court order.
(2) The attorney, the personal representative, and persona bearing the impact of the compensation may agree to compensation determined in a different manner than provided in this section if the manner is disclosed to the parties bearing the impact of the compensation and if no objection is made as provided for in the Florida Probate Rules.
(3) Compensation for ordinary services of attorneys in formal estate administration is presumed to be reasonable if based on the compensable value of the estate, which is the inventory value of the probate estate assets and the income earned by the estate during the administration as provided in the following schedule:
(a) One thousand five hundred dollars for estates having a value of $40,000 or less
(b) An additional $750 for estates having a value of more than $40,000, but not exceeding $70,000.
(c) An additional $750 for estates having a value of more than $70,000 and not exceeding $100,000.
(d) For estates having a value in excess of $100,000, at the rate of 3 percent on the next $900,000.
(e) At the rate of 2.5 percent for all above $1 million and not exceeding $3 million.
(f) At the rate of 2 percent for all above $3 million and not exceeding $5 million.
(g) At the rate of 1.5 percent for all above $5 million and not exceeding $10 million
(h) At a rate of 1 percent for all above $10 million.
Another factor that is hard to determine is the time that it will take for your probate to be completed. As a generalization, taxable estates take two years because you must wait for the IRS to sign off on the estate tax return before the administration on the probate can be finished. For non-taxable estates that require formal and full administration, you can expect that the probate will be completed in six to twelve months. For non-taxable estates that only require a summary administration, these can be completed in four to five weeks.
In this difficult time, and attorney will be helpful to you and can help you avoid paying any unnecessary taxes or penalties for not properly handling your loved ones' estate. Speak to a Broward County Probate Lawyer today!
