A recent case of ours in the Florida Third District Court of Appeal reveals the potential shipwreck awaiting estate planning clients — and their attorneys — who must navigate the rocky shoals of Florida’s homestead laws. The long saga of Aronson v. Aronson, No. 3D09-773, demonstrates the danger of expecting an inter vivos trust to dispose of homestead property the way the drafter thought it would.
Hillard Aronson was a Massachusetts resident when he created his revocable trust in 1996. He was the trustee, and he named his two sons, James and Jonathan, as successor co-trustees. He conveyed a Florida condominium he then owned to the trust via deed. The trust contained various provisions effective upon Hillard’s death for the benefit of Hillard’s second wife, Doreen, including the right to demand up to 5 percent of the corpus to be delivered to her annually. The trust, however, did not expressly devise or otherwise direct the disposition of the condominium.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
