A Florida probate administration beneficiary rights attorney can help you if you believe that a trustee or personal representative has overstepped the line and has violated your rights. You have numerous different rights under the Florida probate rules and if you need to take legal action to pursue a breach of fiduciary duty claim against the trustee or personal representative, you should have the insight of an experienced probate administration beneficiary rights lawyer in Florida. A Florida probate administration beneficiary rights lawyer is a powerful resource.
The most important of the rights are for a beneficiary to be given notice about all of the relevant details of the estate administration, to have the estate be administered in an efficient manner and to be treated fairly. The notice and due process rights of Florida probate administration affect all beneficiaries. If there is a problem with probate administration, it can add a lot of time to the process. For those already coping with grief, this is often too much to bear. Knowledge of this is what leads so many people to do everything they can to avoid probate in the first place.
As soon as the probate estate is open, the beneficiary has the right to receive adequate notice and information about estate administration. In the event that there is a will and the individual named as the personal representative in the will seeks appointment by the probate court, there is no advance notice required associated with the appointment of the personal representative. In the event that a beneficiary intends to stop the appointment of the named personal representative, that person has to file a caveat.
After the personal representative is appointed by the court, he or she must send every interested person a notice of administration under Florida probate statute section 733.212. This lays out all of the various rights and responsibilities for any person who wishes to challenge the validity of the will or the qualification to the personal representative. The personal representative also has a responsibility to all beneficiaries who administer the probate estate fairly. These issues can be hard to understand if you don’t have a lawyer already.
Requests should be made as soon as possible with due respect for other beneficiaries and creditors. Every probate situation will have individual concerns which is why it makes it so important to hire an attorney experienced in this field. If there is a residuary clause in the will that divides the remaining assets amongst several people, then this might be easy to manage. However, if the estate includes investment real estate, a business, or stock market portfolio, dividing into separate or equal shares can be challenging. If the personal representative in any way violates the rights of the beneficiaries by administering the estate too slowly or unfairly, the beneficiaries have a number of different ways that they can protect the estate. First of all, they can petition the probate court to instruct the personal representative that he or she must administer the estate properly. The probate court could order a personal representative who is deemed to be taking too long, to file interim accounting, set a deadline and make interim distributions. In more serious situations, beneficiaries are allowed to ask the probate court to surcharge the personal representative or to move the personal representative from the case. What applies in your individual situation shall always be discussed directly with an attorney who can help advise you as far as what makes sense based on your circumstances and the alleged agreements.