Recent Blog Posts
Two Trustees, One Trust, and No Agreement: What Florida Law Says Happens Next
Picture a parent who names two children as co-trustees. One wants to sell the family property and the other wants to hold it. Emails turn sharp, bills go unpaid, and the beneficiaries wait. Disagreements like this are common, and Florida’s Trust Code has specific answers for how they get handled. Start With the Trust… Read More »
When Doctors Take the Stand: How Medical Experts Shape a Capacity Fight
When a will is attacked because its maker was supposedly too impaired to sign it, the case often becomes a contest between medical opinions. Experienced Pompano Beach estate litigation lawyers know that the strength of those opinions, and how closely they tie to the day of signing, can decide the outcome. The Standard the… Read More »
Decades Together, Zero Inheritance: The Florida Rule Unmarried Partners Overlook
Two people can share a home, a mortgage, and a life for twenty years and still be legal strangers when one of them dies. Many couples assume that enough time together creates the same rights a marriage license would. In Florida, it does not, and the surviving partner can end up watching relatives they… Read More »
The Fine Print That Decides Whether a Premarital Waiver Holds Up
A surviving spouse who signed away inheritance rights before the wedding may assume that piece of paper means nothing now. Relatives on the other side of the family may assume it is untouchable. Florida law lands somewhere in between, and the answer usually comes down to a few technical details that are easy to… Read More »
Caregiving Doesn’t Always Come With Clear Expectations
Often adult children willingly help aging parents without expecting anything in return. Others are relying on some support because they have put careers on hold, reduced work hours, or spent thousands of dollars on travel, home modifications, medications, or household expenses. The challenge is that support arrangements can be informal. Rarely is there a… Read More »
Five Ways a Florida Trust Can Be Thrown Out in Court
Setting up a trust does not automatically make it bulletproof. Florida law sets specific conditions a trust must meet to be valid, and when those conditions are not met, an interested party may be able to have the trust set aside entirely. Anyone questioning whether a family trust holds up under scrutiny should speak… Read More »
The Legal Lifeline for a Spouse Left Out of a Florida Will
Marriage carries certain financial protections that do not disappear just because a spouse was written out of a will. Florida law recognizes that a surviving spouse may be entitled to a share of the estate regardless of what the will actually says, and this right exists independently of whatever provisions a deceased spouse may… Read More »
What Makes a Florida Trust Legally Vulnerable to Challenge?
Trusts are often described as a cleaner alternative to a will, avoiding probate and keeping family affairs private. But a trust is only as strong as the process used to create it, and Florida law allows beneficiaries and heirs to challenge a trust just as they would a will when something about its creation… Read More »
When an Heir Loses Everything Because of How the Decedent Died
Most estate disputes revolve around what a will says or whether it was properly executed. A smaller but far more serious category of cases asks a different question entirely: did the person set to inherit have something to do with the decedent’s death? Florida law has a direct answer, and it does not leave… Read More »
Can a “No Contest” Clause Actually Backfire in Florida?
Some estate plans include a clause designed to scare beneficiaries into silence. The idea is simple on paper: if you challenge the will or trust, you lose whatever you were set to inherit. It sounds like a strong deterrent. In Florida, it is also completely unenforceable. For families who assumed such a clause would… Read More »
Mark R. Manceri, P.A. is a boutique law firm that specializes in Estate, Trust and Guardianship litigation. These matters include Will and Trust contests involving lack of capacity, undue influence, forgery, improper execution and tortious interference...