Broward Injury Lawyer Blog
Not every estate of every decedent in Florida is going to wind up in probate court. As Fort Lauderdale probate attorneys can explain, it’s only when an estate gets somehow “stuck” in the process that administration through probate becomes necessary. One of the most common reasons an estate ends up in probate? The decedent never paid bothered to designate a beneficiary on basic banking and retirement accounts. If a person dies and no beneficiary is named or the form wasn’t updated to reflect new beneficiaries, that estate will likely need to go through probate if the contents are going to be appropriately released to heirs. 
Most people assume that any kind of estate planning solely involves the creation of wills and trusts and that probate litigation involves parties warring over who-gets-what. However, a fair amount of cases that wind up in probate involve some type of bank account or retirement account that didn’t list any designated beneficiary. Determining who has access to those accounts can be dicey.
A designated beneficiary on one of these forms is critical because not a will or even a court order will trump it. The accounts will be distributed according to the decedent’s designated beneficiary form. Continue reading
