Beyond the Will: Understanding Probate and Estate Protection with Attorney Tara David

Attorney Tara David discusses estate planning and probate, explaining why proper legal documents are essential for everyone, even 18-year-olds. She breaks down common misconceptions about wills, explains the costly and time-consuming probate process, and shares her approach to making legal services accessible and stress-free.

• Estate planning is necessary for everyone 18 and older, not just the wealthy
• A will does not avoid probate - it only provides legal directions
• Probate is a court-supervised process that typically takes 6-12 months and requires attorney fees
• "College packages" provide vital healthcare documents for young adults, allowing parents to help with medical decisions
• Estate planning includes documents for while you're living (power of attorney, healthcare directives)
• Tara offers flat-rate fees and in-person meetings to make legal planning accessible
• Services include free educational workshops and complimentary 15-minute consultations

Contact Attorney Tara David at 954-951-7274 or find her on Instagram and Facebook for information about upcoming workshops.

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Transcript

Meet Attorney Tara David

Speaker 1 0:08

Welcome , welcome everyone to Local Living . We are a community podcast for Palm Beach to Parkland . I'm David Conway , I am the publisher of the Living Magazines and I am also your host for today's episode . And with me I have Tara David , attorney at law . Tara , welcome to the podcast .

Speaker 2 0:31

Hi , thank you .

Speaker 1 0:33

My pleasure . We're excited to have you , so why don't we start out ? Just tell our listeners what type of law do you practice ?

Speaker 2 0:43

Sure . So I own a state law of Florida , which is a probate and estate planning law firm based in South Florida .

Speaker 1 0:53

And so tell us a little bit about your journey . First off , I'm going to go back . What made you decide to enter into this vertical of practicing law ? How did you get interested in probate and things of that ?

Speaker 2 1:08

nature . My journey kind of started from law being overwhelming to a lot of people . I think a lot of people are intimidated by the legal process , so I just really wanted to build a firm that seemed approachable and human , of course , and I also just wanted

Estate Planning Myths Debunked

Speaker 2 1:30

to help people in a time of need for probate , navigating that side of losing a loved one , things like that . And then estate planning , of course , is preparing for the future and really giving people peace of mind . This really helps them not feel intimidated . Or what's going to happen to me , if something happens to my mom , if something happens to me , who's going to take care of my kids ? There's a lot of unanswered questions and I just wanted to help people figure out a way to plan better .

Speaker 1 2:05

So this is the type of thing and I'm speaking for myself here that a lot of us don't want to think about , don't want to deal with how old is . Is there an optimum age to start thinking about estate planning ?

Speaker 2 2:23

there's really not . Anyone who is 18 and up needs some type of estate planning .

Speaker 1 2:31

Whether you're 18 , 18 , 18 and up , right , yes , I know it sounds young . I have an 18 year old . He hasn't graduated

What is Probate and Why Avoid It

Speaker 1 2:40

yet . Now does he need to start planning , or should he get a job first ?

Speaker 2 2:44

No , he really does need to do something if he agrees to do something . But I do a lot of college bound children or adults , rather their health care documents and their powers of attorney , because when they turn 18 , of course you're not going to be able to help them , you know , really with anything they're an adult . So without these special documents , you can't make medical decisions for them , you can't talk to the school if needed . There's a lot of things , even help with their taxes . There's things that you can help them with if they have these documents in place or , you know , god forbid , there's an accident . So I do think these little college packages are good for 18 year olds to consider and , of course , their parents .

Speaker 1 3:34

And so do you have any 18 year old clients yet ? Or what's your youngest client ? I got to ask 18 .

Speaker 2 3:42

18 .

Speaker 1 3:43

So you have an 18 year old client , so I will tell you I want my . It sounds like you are not erring , but you are certainly navigating on the side of caution and preparedness , and that is what I want my lawyer to do , because I don't normally live like that . So it's great that you're offering that to your clients . So any myths or misconceptions about what you do when people come into you and it's their first time thinking about any of this stuff , do they have something in their head already ? That's not necessarily true or the way things are going to go now .

Speaker 2 4:24

Yeah , I would say the biggest myth for all estate planning and probate attorneys that they hear is that a client has a will so they think they're covered . A will doesn't avoid probate and that's huge because most people don't know that they think they have a will , everything's set , but all it does is give legal directions . It's not going to help you basically get the assets to the right person . So that's one of the biggest myths . And then I would say , maybe secondary , is that estate planning is only for the wealthy . They may need a state plan , but even someone that may just own one house or even a few accounts , there is state planning involved . One of them would be something after they're gone to avoid probing .

Speaker 2 5:18

And then another huge part of estate planning is while you're living . Do we have health care documents needing someone to make your medical decisions in an emergency , of health care documents needing someone to make your medical decisions in an emergency , a power of attorney so someone can help you talk to FPL or sell your property if needed . So these are kind of the documents you need while you're living and maybe in an accident or unavailable or even have advanced dementia . These documents already in place avoid all the headaches already in place , avoid all the headaches .

Speaker 1 5:51

So we've got an estate plan which is basically how you're managing your assets when you're alive . Is that correct ? Is that what an estate plan is ?

Speaker 2 5:58

Yeah . So an estate plan is kind of like , I guess , when you go to a doctor and you get a checkup

Tara's Community Involvement

Speaker 2 6:03

For me , you come into my office and we go through everything you own . We make sure that there's either beneficiaries on things or someone can help you in an emergency situation . Even if you own a house with a spouse , if you're in a coma and you need to refinance your house or sell your house , you can't do that without your spouse being able to sign off . So if you don't have these documents in place , it's crucial to get that done . And again , you come to me and we or any attorney , hopefully and we go through everything and make sure that your accounts are settled . Everything's kind of in place for either emergency or death .

Speaker 1 6:46

So I think most of our listeners have a pretty good idea what a will is , and we now know that . I guess , as you said , writing our will on a napkin Leaving in the desk drawer is probably not sufficient . But could you describe ? Probate to us just a little bit .

Speaker 2 7:07

Yeah , so just kind of a brief summary of probate is a court supervised process . If the value of your estate is over $75,000 , then we have to open what's called a formal estate . An attorney is required , so you have to pay an attorney . You have to open what's called a formal estate . An attorney is required , so you have to pay an attorney . You have to pay for filing fees . We have to publish notice in a newspaper for all the creditors to come forward . There's a 90 day hold on all the assets for this period and then generally you have to serve anyone that was in the will . They have to sign off on things . So it's very time consuming . I would say it's most likely going to be at least six months , probably more towards a year , to get it all finished . And the least of it is the time you have the headache of paperwork and dealing with banks and dealing with beneficiaries and then , of course , paying all these expenses and costs .

Speaker 1 8:06

And you can avoid a lot of that . Is that correct ?

Speaker 2 8:09

Yes , so that's what I was talking about , that checkup . So we would go through everything and just the main goal is to avoid probate in estate planning .

Speaker 1 8:19

So I'm guessing you work a lot , but when you're not working Tara , I know you live down here in South Florida Tell us a little bit more about yourself and what you like to do when you're not working .

Speaker 2 8:34

Well , I love to travel and I am a mom , so I do have a lot of family ventures , mom groups , things like that , and I really do enjoy connecting with other local businesses , finding ways to give back to the community . I volunteer . I also do a lot of workshops that are free seminars . I write a little article in the newspaper . I try to basically be involved in the community . That's kind of my main focus and , of course , my children .

Speaker 1 9:10

So when you do a workshop , how do you let people know about the workshops ? Do you do you advertise them or you just do it through a networking group , or how do you share that information ? How could someone find out more about that ?

Speaker 2 9:23

Definitely follow me on Instagram . That would be my biggest place where I would share those type of things . I try not to spam my contact list with all of these workshops , but definitely Instagram or Facebook social media would be the best place to find those , but definitely .

Speaker 1 9:42

Instagram or Facebook social media would be the best place to find those . And you know I want to go back because I am curious . Was there so , before you came , a lawyer ? Was there a moment when you knew that you wanted to be a lawyer ? Do ?

Speaker 2 10:00

you remember when you made that decision ? Um , I was very into justice , um when I was younger , you know , and things that are fair and unfair , and I really wanted to help people um with really with navigating the law . And I think it kind of like went off when I saw people and complaining about attorneys , even in when I was younger . Um , you know , a lot of them just take money and don't return your calls and I just wanted to really flip that on its head and be accessible and be present and get back to people and and just kind of hold their hand a little bit . Through that , those challenges .

Speaker 1 10:40

That sounds like a really fresh approach , and so can you . Before we go , can you let our listeners know something that about your business that they they might not have gotten from what we talked about so far ?

Speaker 2 10:54

I would say for estate planning I do offer everything flat rate , flat

How to Reach Tara David

Speaker 2 11:00

fees , so that makes it more accessible for people . I told you about the educational workshops and you know my main thing is just making it as stress free as possible . I also do most of my meetings in person if the person chooses to do that . I really just don't want it to be a virtual type of situation . So they're welcome to come to my office , and a lot of attorneys at this time aren't doing that , so I feel that gives more of a personal touch to estate planning and probate .

Speaker 1 11:36

And you have offices in Boca or Parkland . Where are your ? Offices located Tara .

Speaker 2 11:43

So I have an office in Boca Raton , one in Lighthouse Point , which is East Broward County , and then I have one out West of Broward County which is 441 in Hillsborough . It's Coconut Creek technically .

Speaker 1 11:57

Okay , and what's the best way for our listeners to reach you ? Should they go on a website ? Should they just give you a call , or how can they get a hold of you , tara ?

Speaker 2 12:07

Yes , they can definitely call me . You can find me online and my contact us link on our website , and you can also schedule a complimentary 15 minute call by calling 954-951-7274 .

Speaker 1 12:25

Real quick . You know I'm going to flat rate . So they come in , they need for an estate plan . So they'll have a 15 minute conversation . You'll get an idea of what they might need and what their assets might be , and then at that time you give them a flat rate for whatever service they want you to provide . Is that correct ?

Speaker 2 12:46

Sometimes it's rare that I can just quote it in a 15-minute call . So what we would do is have an in-person meeting or a longer estate planning meeting after that , and what I do is I charge AP , but I basically credit the person towards their services if they do want to retain me , and at that meeting they would already have their intake form pretty much filled out and we'd go through all of those assets I was talking about .

Speaker 1 13:13

That's great , Tara . I want to thank you very much for joining us today on Local Living .

Speaker 2 13:21

Thank you , thanks for having me .

Speaker 1 13:24

Once again , everyone . That's Tara David , attorney at law . She didn't bring it up , but she was named , I believe , to the 2021 list of rising stars for young lawyers in the state of Florida . And once again , I am David Conway , publisher of the Living Magazines and your host for Local Living . We will see you next time .