Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

Is there a difference between an Estate will and just a will? My father left each child (7 of us) $1,000 when he passed away. His money was left to him by An Estate, along with my grandmother. Are they seperate documents?


Asked on 8/14/10, 4:36 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Your question is difficult to understand. So I will give you some basics which I hope will answer your question.

1) A Will is a Last Will and Testament, and it controls assets of a probate estate upon the death of the person who wrote it. The assets of the probate estate are those that do not know who the owner is upon the owners death. Joint accounts, ITF, beneficiaries (such as in Life Insurance and IRA's) know who the owner is on death, so no probate and the Will doesn't control (unless the beneficiary is the Estate of the decedent instead of a surviving person). Assets solely in the owners name would go to probate.

2) The Estate Will you refer to I presume to really mean the Estate Assets. Those are the assets of the decedent, which may or may not need to go through probate. See 1) above.

3) If your father left a Will leaving $1000 to each of you, and there is assets to probate, then you would be a beneficiary under his Will.

4) It appears that maybe your father got his money from an inheritance of your grandmother, but it could also mean that maybe your father had a power of appointment from your grandmother's estate (which while legal and possible, it is also rare to see and to exercise this right. I have only seen this a couple of times in 30 years).

The rest I would recommend you go to a probate attorney and show what you have. They could check the court records and other documents you have to figure out what you want to know. Hope this helps.

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Answered on 8/19/10, 4:55 pm


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