Frequently Asked Questions

As is the case for many legal questions, the answer is that it depends. In larger counties, like Palm Beach County, Brevard County, and Miami-Dade County, the probate courts are very busy and even a simple probate can take a year or longer. In smaller counties with probate courts that are less busy, the process will take at least 6 to 7 months to complete a simple formal probate administration.

Any checking accounts, savings account, money market accounts, brokerage accounts, and any interest in real estate that do not have beneficiaries designated or that do not have joint-owners with rights of survivorship must go through probate in order for your Beneficiaries to gain possession of the assets.

Any account with beneficiaries designated, like Life Insurance policies, IRAs, 401(k)s or other retirement accounts, any normal accounts with beneficiaries designated or with a Transfer on Death (“TOD”) or Payable on Death (“POD”) designation, and any jointly-held accounts or real estate with rights of survivorship are not required to be probate if (a) the named beneficiary or joint-owner is alive at the time of your death or (b) the named beneficiary is your estate.

Establishing a Trust can help you avoid Probate and protect your assets if you become incapacitated. After establishing a Trust, you can “fund” the trust while you’re alive by transferring your accounts and real estate into the name of your Trust. When you pass away, the assets are still owned by the trust, and the successor Trustee distributes the assets to your beneficiaries without the need for Probate.

There is no simple answer, however it could be a range of anywhere from five or six months to a couple of years. The first question that has to be answered is “When does the foreclosure process being?” Is it when you miss a mortgage payment, or is it when you are served with a foreclosure lawsuit?” For our purposes we will consider the beginning of the foreclosure process to be when you are served with the complaint. Please note that you can miss a mortgage payment and not be served for several months, or on the other hand you can be served as soon as 1-2 months after missing a payment. There is no rhyme or reason as to why there is such a difference in the amount of time it takes, it’s strictly up to your lender and when they decide to file the lawsuit.

There are several factors that will determine how long you may stay in your property once you receive a foreclosure law suit. Those factors include:

• If you chose to contest the foreclosure, and you or your attorneys ability to defend it.
• The bank and their attorney’s timeliness and ability to ensure they have met all the condition precedents required before filing a complaint, and the documents the bank has, or doesn’t have in support of their foreclosure.
• The jurisdiction your case is being processed. The larger the county, such as Broward County or Orange County, the more time it usually takes to push a foreclosure case through. Smaller counties such as Indian River or St. Lucie County move a bit quicker.
• Who purchases the property at the foreclosure auction can also go a long way in determining how long you can stay in the property.
• Settlement negotiations, bankruptcy filings, title issues, and many other miscellaneous issues that can come up in a foreclosure case and significantly slow the process or even force the bank to dismiss your case and possibly start over.

Another important factor to consider is whether it is a foreclosure by your lender or a foreclosure by your homeowners or condominium association. Condo and Homeowner Association foreclosures tend to move much faster than lender foreclosures. This is because they do not have as many laws and federal regulations they have to comply with, and depending on the amount of arrears, they can foreclose in county court as opposed to circuit court, which moves faster.

The good news is that the State of Florida has a statute that specifically addresses security deposits. The bad news is that despite the statute clearly spelling out what your rights are as a tenant or landlord, many landlords are not familiar with the statute or don’t care about following it. The statute specifically requires landlords to send you your deposit back, in full, within 15 days of the tenant vacating the property, or send the tenant a written claim, that identifies how much of your deposit the landlord intends to keep and for what reasons, via certified mail. The statute does not allow for verbal claims, claims via text-message, or claims via email. If the claim is not sent via certified mail, within 30 days of the tenant leaving the property, the landlord forfeits their right to any of the deposit. Unfortunately, it is not that simple, and usually the landlord is not going to just give you back the security deposit, despite an invalid, untimely claim, and you will have to file a lawsuit against your former landlord in an attempt to get the deposit back. The good news is that the statute allows the winning party to not only get their security deposit back, but also be reimbursed for any fees and costs associated with retrieving your security deposit, including the fees you paid your attorney and any filing fees and costs associated with filing the lawsuit.