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Recent News

06 Feb 2021

Beware the Last Minute Signing of a Prenuptial Agreement [Florida]

Marital attorneys know that upon divorce, spouses who signed a prenuptial agreement will often raise arguments of coercion and duress to void the agreement. Factually, such allegations and arguments may or may not be true, and in either case may be hard to prove or disprove many years after the fact. A good story and sympathetic court can spell doom for the agreement. Therefore, practitioners seeking to enhance the likelihood of an enforceable agreement should manage the objective and verifiable facts that mitigate against coercion and duress so as build defenses against future attack. One of those objective facts that can usually be managed is when the prenuptial agreement is signed – signings the day before or the day of the wedding should be avoided.

A recent Florida case presented various facts that both supported and weakened the agreement. The end result was the voiding. . .

02 Feb 2021

New Rules Coming on Brokers and Other Financial Representatives Being Named as a Fiduciary or a Beneficiary

ecurities brokers and other registered representatives often develop close relationships with their clients. Those clients may make provision for them to become a fiduciary or beneficiary in trusts and wills due to these relationships.

For those representatives who are subject to FINRA, new FINRA Rule 3241. . .

29 Jan 2021

Jenna Rubin presents on Elective Share Issues

On January 29, 2021, Jenna G. Rubin presented at the Miami-Dade County Bar Association’s Probate and Guardianship Seminar on the Elective Share and Transferred Assets.

02 Jan 2021

IRS Is Proposing a User Fee for Estate Tax Closing Letter

Executors and personal representatives of estates of decedents can be held personally liable for distributing or applying estate assets when there are unpaid estate taxes due, if the IRS does not get paid. When an estate tax return is filed, the final amount of estate taxes due is not known until either the statute of limitations expire, or there is an audit (possibly followed by ongoing dispute, resolution through Appeals, and/or litigation). The estate fiduciaries are thus in the dark about whether or when an adjustment to the estate taxes will be forthcoming, or if the IRS has accepted an estate tax return as filed. This is unfair to the fiduciaries, and the beneficiaries, since a prudent fiduciary will need to hold back on distributions until the tax amount is more certainly known.

So as to assist the fiduciaries in determining if tax is or will be due, when an estate tax return is filed the IRS has traditionally issued an estate tax closing letter when an estate tax return has been filed. This is generally issued after the IRS’ review of the return and determination not to audit or after completion of post-audit procedures or litigation. . .

08 Nov 2020

FBAR Penalties Survive Death

The IRS may assess penalties for a person’s failure to file a required FBAR. If the person’s failure to file was willful, the IRS can impose a penalty equal to 50% of the account balance or $100,000, whichever is greater. If an individual dies, can the IRS assess and collect an FBAR penalty for failing to disclose a foreign account?

Absent some specific direction by Congress, whether an action created by federal statutory law survives the death of the plaintiff is a matter of federal common law. Generally . . .

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