Articles from Yergey & Yergey, P.A.
Practical guidance on Florida probate, estate planning, guardianship, and trust law — written by attorneys who practice it every day in Orange County and the surrounding circuits.
Estate Planning
Why Tax Season Is the Right Time to Update Your Estate Planning Documents
Tax season is not just a time to review income, deductions, and account balances. It is also one of the best times to review your estate planning documents. When you are already gathering financial records and looking closely at your assets, it makes sense to make sure your will, trust, power of attorney, and health care documents still reflect your current wishes.
Estate Planning
Estate Planning Checklist for Orlando Residents
Estate planning is not a single document or a one-time event — it is a comprehensive set of legal tools designed to protect you during your lifetime and ensure your assets pass efficiently to the people and causes you care about after you are gone. For Orlando and Central Florida residents, Florida law offers unique planning opportunities and imposes distinct requirements that make working with a local attorney especially valuable.
Estate Planning
5 Estate Planning Mistakes Florida Families Make
Estate planning is one of the most important steps a Florida family can take to protect their assets, honor their wishes, and spare loved ones unnecessary stress. Yet many Orlando and Central Florida residents either have no plan at all or have a plan with critical flaws that will cause problems when it matters most. Here are the five most costly estate planning errors — and how to avoid them.
Trust Administration
What Is Trust Administration? A Trustee's Step-by-Step Guide
If you have been named as a successor trustee of a loved one's revocable living trust, you may be wondering: what exactly does trust administration involve, and what are your legal obligations? Trust administration is not as simple as signing a few documents and writing checks. Understanding the trustee's role is essential to avoiding personal liability and honoring your loved one's wishes.
Estate Planning
Revocable vs. Irrevocable Trusts: Which Is Right for You?
When it comes to estate planning in Florida, one of the most important decisions you will make is whether to use a revocable trust, an irrevocable trust, or both. Each serves a distinct purpose, and the right choice depends on your goals — whether that is avoiding probate, protecting assets from creditors, qualifying for Medicaid, or minimizing estate taxes.
Estate Planning
Why Every Floridian Needs a Living Will
Most people delay preparing a Living Will, assuming it's something they can deal with later. Unfortunately, later often arrives sooner than expected and without a plan, critical medical decisions fall to overwhelmed family members. A Living Will — sometimes called an Advance Directive — is your written statement of medical preferences if you're unable to communicate. Under Chapter 765, Florida Statutes, it gives doctors and loved ones specific instructions about life-prolonging procedures.
Estate Planning
Loving Your Pet Also Means Planning For Them
For many Floridians, dogs, cats, and other companions are closer to family than property. Yet under the law, pets are still treated as personal property when an owner dies or becomes incapacitated. Without a clear plan, their future care can be uncertain. Florida law specifically allows pet trusts — a legal arrangement that sets aside funds and instructions for the care of your animal after you are gone.
Estate Planning
What Is a Designation of Health Care Surrogate in Florida and Why Every Adult Needs One
When people think about estate planning, they usually focus on who inherits the house, the bank accounts, or the family business. Very few ask a far more urgent question: Who will speak for me if I am in a hospital bed and cannot speak for myself? In Florida, the document that answers that question is called a Designation of Health Care Surrogate.
Guardianship
What Is a Guardian?
When someone you care about can no longer safely manage important parts of their life, the court can appoint a guardian to step in and help protect them. In Florida, a guardian is a person appointed by the court to act on behalf of another person, called the ward, for personal, medical, and financial decisions the ward can no longer handle alone. Guardianship is a protective legal relationship designed to keep a vulnerable person safe.
Estate Planning
Personal Representative vs. Agent Under a Durable Power of Attorney: What's the Difference?
Your agent under a durable power of attorney acts while you are alive. Your personal representative acts after you are gone. The same person can hold both roles — but the roles themselves are legally distinct, and confusing them causes real problems.