Applicable Exclusion Amount: $1,000,000
Gift Tax Annual Exclusion Amount: $11,000
GST Exemption Amount: $1,120,000
Florida Elective Share Planning expanded to include contingent trusts
New Elective Share Trust (long form, short form, and savings clause) added in response to Fla. Stat. §732.2025 et seq. New questions 290, 291, 292, 293, 294.
New Florida unitrust conversion provisions
New options to confirm or opt out of Florida’s new income adjustment and unitrust provisions under new Principal and Income Act. Fla. Stat. §§738.104 and 738.1041. New Question 871.
New Language for revocable trusts and trust amendments alerting trustee to seek legal advice
The language required by Fla. Stat. §737.115 to be included in any revocable trust or trust amendment taking effect after 1/1/2003 is automatically inserted in the Fiduciary Powers article. Although there is no penalty for failing to include this language, each Florida trust now complies with the statute.
Updated Product Features
New Language to avoid overfunding the Credit Shelter gift because of the increasing exemption
You may now specify a minimum marital gift to override the traditional marital deduction formula. This avoids having too much of a smaller estate locked away in a Credit Shelter Trust as the unified credit grows to $3.5 million. New Questions 285, 286, 287, 288.
New Medical Power of Attorney for minor child
This is a power of attorney given from a parent to another adult to deal with medical issues of a child; most often used when mother and father go out of town and leave child with grandparent(s). It gives emergency authority in case child requires medical treatment. It is not statutorily authorized, but should be generally accepted by medical personnel. Question 5, New Questions 1088, 1089, 1091, 1092 and 1093.
New Language to convert regular Durable Power of Attorney to a springing Power of Attorney
You may now create a springing durable power of attorney and, optionally, require the consent of your then living children to a determination of disability. New Questions 1053 and 1054.
New Option to administer Qualified Tuition Plans in DPOA.
You can now authorize an attorney-in-fact to apply for, fund, modify or terminate a qualified tuition plan authorized under Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code. New Questions 1056, 1057 and 1058.
New Affidavit re continuing validity of DPOA
This affidavit by the attorney-in-fact establishes the continuing validity of a durable power of attorney under Fla. Stat. §709.08(4)(c). Question 6, New Questions 1080, 1081, 1083, 1084 and 1085.
New Affidavit by Physician re Incapacity of Principal
This affidavit attests to the incapacity of the principal of a springing durable power of attorney under Fla. Stat. 709.08(4)(d). Question 6, New Questions 1088, 1089, 1091, 1092 and 1093.
New Self-Proof for wills, codicils, and express trusts under Fla. Stat. §737.111 (effective 1/1/02)
A new self-proof is automatically produced at the end of wills, codicils and express trusts. The Checklists for Will and Trust Execution have been revised to give instructions for executing the new self-proof. Question 9.
New Separate Worksheet for health care documents
A separate worksheet for health care documents is now available in the DOCS directory in both Word ("health.doc") and WordPerfect ("health.wpd") format.
New Clause Bank
Clauses from the Clause Bank are intended to be copied into various locations as you customize your document in your word processor. They will be added at the end of your document. We anticipate adding more useful but not overly common clauses in the future. New Question 1285. The first two entries are:
CPI Adjustment Clause: This clause can be used wherever you wish to adjust a distribution for inflation. You may optionally specify that no adjustments are to be made which would cause a reduction in a distribution. New Questions 1286, 1287 and 1288.
Oral Trust Confirmation Clause: This clause (and associated Article) can be used whenever your document is memorializing a previously established oral trust. New Questions 1289, 1290, 1291, 1292 and 1293.
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To view those questions that are new in this update, or whose Law & Strategy, choices, or default answers have changed, use the "Up_Apr03" flag file. From inside Lawgic, open any existing answer file; on the Flags menu, click Open Flags, select the appropriate Title (click OK), and next select the "Up_Apr03" flag file (and click OK). To view all flagged questions, click Expand All on the Answers menu and scroll the Navigator. Flagged questions will be indicated with bold text.
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