0:22

Hi there. Welcome to the Probate Podcast

0:22

I'm so glad you're here.

0:26

My name is Sherri Lund. I'm the host of the podcast

0:27

and I'm the founder of

0:29

Willow Wood Solutions. Willow Wood Solutions is here to

0:31

help families when they're going

0:33

through some of the toughest

0:33

times in life, helping older

0:36

adults transition, senior adults

0:36

find better care, getting into

0:40

the equity of their home to

0:40

help fund that if they need to.

0:43

And then during probate and

0:43

navigating that season during

0:47

the legal process, and then

0:47

afterwards, I'm not an attorney.

0:50

We're not talking about

0:50

legal things here, but

0:52

my guest is an attorney

0:52

Sylvana Rosende how are you?

0:56

I'm good. Thank you for having me. You're going to want to

0:59

grab your pen and paper,

1:01

get comfortable, get your

1:01

favorite beverage, because

1:04

we're going to talk about some things that you're going to want to refer back to

1:06

and remember in the future.

1:09

So let me tell you a little

1:09

bit about Sylvana.

1:12

She grew up in Miami, and

1:12

she's been in the legal field

1:15

since she was a little girl. She graduated with her

1:17

bachelor's degree from

1:19

Florida and she graduated

1:19

with honors from St.

1:24

Thomas University

1:24

College of Law.

1:26

She was awarded the Cali

1:26

Book Awards in Legal Research

1:30

and Writing and an Advanced

1:30

Legal Research in Writing.

1:33

Sylvana graduated from

1:33

law school with honors

1:36

and with an elder law

1:36

certification for guardianship

1:39

and elder law studies. She also made the dean's list

1:40

every semester of law school.

1:44

Sylvana is a smart person. During law school, she interned

1:46

for the chief judge of the

1:49

probate division of the 11th

1:49

judicial circuit in Miami,

1:53

where she gained valuable

1:53

insight and experience in

1:56

probate and guardianship. Sylvana focuses her practice

1:58

on probate, estate planning,

2:01

and guardianship law. She has experience representing

2:03

beneficiaries, professionals

2:07

and corporate fiduciaries,

2:07

administrators, executors,

2:10

trustees and guardians, and

2:10

in contested trust, estate,

2:14

and guardianship litigation. Sylvana has also handled

2:16

various real estate

2:19

matters related to probate. She does have free time now

2:21

and then, and when she does,

2:24

she likes to spend time with

2:24

her family and her 2 special

2:27

dogs and cheering on the

2:27

Miami heat, a Florida fan.

2:35

For sure. It's so you, Sylvana. Thank you. What an accomplished life

2:37

that you've had already.

2:40

Like, Man. Before we jump into that,

2:42

tell me a little bit

2:45

about you as a person. If I just said, Who

2:46

are you as a person?

2:49

What would, how would you answer that? I'm a wife, a daughter and

2:51

a very dedicated attorney.

2:54

And a dog mom. We spoke about it briefly,

2:55

but my family's everything

2:58

I do it's for them. During the weekends.

3:01

I just spend time with

3:01

my family, watch sports,

3:04

hang out with my husband,

3:04

and that's about it.

3:07

Balanced life and fun on

3:07

the weekends and they're

3:10

very professional. Yeah, I was looking

3:12

over your website. You've got great

3:13

testimonials there. A lot of people repeatedly talk

3:15

about how professional you are,

3:19

how prompt you are in responding

3:19

to their needs and how efficient

3:23

you are at responding to those. So those testimonials go a

3:24

long way And I've known you

3:27

for a couple of years, almost

3:27

a year and a half or so.

3:31

And you've been

3:31

interested in law since

3:33

you were a little girl. Yes. So where does that come from?

3:36

Was that someone that

3:36

influenced you or.

3:39

I don't know [laughs] I honestly, I told my mom in

3:41

fifth grade, I wanted to be an

3:44

attorney and she was like, you

3:44

don't even know what that means.

3:48

And that's what I was thinking. I don't even know that I

3:49

knew the name, the title.

3:51

Yeah. And then I just

3:52

went along with it.

3:54

And here I am. That's amazing.

3:57

And then for probate to

3:57

that's another term that

4:01

people don't know about. So you grew up in Florida.

4:04

Yeah. Yes. And you love all things Florida.

4:07

That's fun. Yes. Now you're practicing in

4:08

guardianship, probate, real

4:12

estate comes into that. We're going to talk about

4:13

that in a little bit. Can you talk about guardianship?

4:17

Because we talk a lot

4:17

about guardians being a

4:20

guardian for children. But there's also

4:22

guardianships for adults.

4:24

Can you just confirm before we

4:24

go too far what those 2 terms.

4:29

Yeah, guardianship,

4:29

we can go into a whole

4:32

nother podcast on that. It's a court appointed process

4:34

where we appoint a guardian

4:37

to be able to oversee all

4:37

the rights of that person,

4:40

which they're essentially

4:40

stepping into their shoes,

4:43

making all medical and

4:43

financial decisions for them

4:46

and overseeing their care. We do this for minors, and we

4:47

also do this for adults who tend

4:52

to have dementia or some sort of

4:52

incapacity where they're unable

4:56

to make their own decisions. Okay, so it's a minor being a

4:58

parent of a minor, and you've

5:01

got responsibility for them

5:01

until they turn 18, but if

5:05

someone has a head injury

5:05

or something like that, and

5:07

they're not able to think

5:07

or care for themselves.

5:10

Then that's a guardianship

5:10

that is court appointed and

5:13

you have to meet certain criteria to do that. Yes, correct.

5:17

Talk a little bit about litigation. That's a word not many

5:19

people understand. what that means and you

5:21

obviously are very good at that.

5:24

I would say the majority of

5:24

my cases now are litigation

5:27

cases involving probate it

5:27

occurs you know when there's

5:31

some sort of contest or

5:31

there's someone contesting the

5:34

will, or beneficiaries aren't

5:34

getting along whenever there's

5:37

some sort of court fight. That's where we go into

5:39

litigation and it's a drawn out

5:42

process can be very emotional. It takes a lot of time

5:44

can be very costly. So I do a lot of this and, I,

5:47

I always try to see if there's

5:51

a way that we can come to an

5:51

agreement prior to drawing

5:54

out these battles in court. Sometimes it's unfortunate,

5:56

but we have to talk about like

5:59

family, intimate matters and

5:59

everything in court, which

6:02

people may not necessarily want

6:02

to reveal in public records.

6:06

So I believe in conflict

6:06

resolution, and I do

6:09

try to partake a lot in

6:09

that with my clients.

6:12

I'm very candid and open, and

6:12

I let them know this is what

6:15

you might be looking at to

6:15

spend an attorney's fees, and

6:19

this is what you're paying

6:19

if we come to an agreement.

6:22

Litigation again, hopefully

6:22

it's not ever a case where

6:25

people find themselves into,

6:25

but it can be a very emotional

6:28

and just conflict all around.

6:31

Yeah, and really when I was

6:31

really taking the course

6:35

and thinking about probate

6:35

itself is a good thing.

6:38

I think, you know, it's

6:38

transferring ownership

6:40

from 1 percent to another. It's making things

6:41

on nice and tidy.

6:44

I think 1 of the reasons. A couple reasons people

6:45

don't like probate.

6:47

1 is we're talking about people

6:47

that have died and we don't

6:50

want to think about us dying. And so that's a whole thing.

6:53

But also, it's this contested

6:53

thing when people are arguing

6:57

and they're drawing out. And of course, legal

6:58

fees are expensive.

7:01

There's court fees every time too. And it does add up.

7:04

That's why the main

7:04

reason why I think people

7:07

want to avoid probate. And that's 1 of the reasons

7:09

why I created the podcast was

7:11

if we could start to educate

7:11

people, get the conversation

7:14

going, get the terminology more

7:14

familiar, maybe more people

7:18

will start to plan ahead so

7:18

that we can have less probate.

7:21

That would be a good goal. What are some common

7:22

things that you see people

7:24

arguing about in court? Mainly when it comes to probate

7:27

a lot of real estate issues

7:30

there, maybe there's been

7:30

that 1 child of the decedent

7:33

who's been taking care of the

7:33

property the whole time paying

7:36

property taxes all of a sudden

7:36

mom dies and now the siblings

7:40

are coming after their share

7:40

of the property and they turn

7:42

around and say, wait a minute. That's not fair.

7:45

I've been taking care of mom been taking care of the property.

7:48

It's a big issue. We call it partition in Florida.

7:51

Where you have a right to be

7:51

able to divide and order a

7:54

judicial sale of the property of

7:54

the beneficiaries aren't getting

7:57

along or negotiate a buyout

7:57

by one of the beneficiaries.

8:01

Those are common issues. I see a lot of undue

8:02

influence in Florida.

8:05

So situations where maybe one

8:05

of the parents was coerced by

8:09

one of the children to draft a

8:09

will, leaving them a majority

8:12

share situations like that.

8:15

It's hard to prove those things, isn't it? Yeah.

8:18

Very hard. Okay, great. So you and I met through a

8:21

course called probate mastery.

8:25

Of course, I was there for

8:25

certification and part of

8:28

that was for me to learn

8:28

about probate and not just

8:31

the terminology and all of

8:31

that, but also to meet people

8:34

like yourself who are in

8:34

probate day in and day out.

8:38

And it was so gracious of

8:38

you guys to other attorneys.

8:41

Yourself included taught us

8:41

so much and really enrich the

8:45

course with your presence there. What was your takeaway on

8:47

probate mastery and your

8:50

position there and what

8:50

you saw yourself for us.

8:54

I think that what I learned

8:54

is that despite you think

8:57

real estate and the legal

8:57

world are completely different

9:00

communities, I think we

9:00

are one and I definitely

9:03

think that there's a gap

9:03

that needs to be bridged.

9:06

So that's why I thought the

9:06

program was an excellent idea.

9:10

Anyone who's partaking in these

9:10

probate real estate sales,

9:14

it involves that background

9:14

knowledge from an attorney

9:18

for you to be able to Pursue

9:18

that transaction help out

9:20

the families and everything. I was happy to be a part of it.

9:25

Yeah. Yeah, it's a big deal. Also probate attorneys

9:27

are not all the same and,

9:30

you've had a long career. You're very young, but

9:31

you've also had a long career in it already.

9:34

Yeah. And working with the

9:34

judge, my goodness. Yeah, so how do you see

9:37

the role of real estate

9:41

playing out in probate? I would say the majority of

9:43

my cases in probate involve

9:47

the sale of real property. It's important to just have

9:49

that agent and have that

9:52

team that's able to know what

9:52

they're getting themselves

9:54

into, set the proper client

9:54

expectations and be transparent

9:59

about the situation. Like I said, there's a gap that

10:01

needs to be bridged between

10:04

probate and real estate. Can you talk more about

10:06

that gap and how you see

10:09

it needing to be filled? So I've noticed it more now

10:11

when there's just agents, I

10:15

think, first of all, this may

10:15

not be the nicest thing to

10:19

say, but I think it's very easy

10:19

for anyone to obtain a real

10:22

estate license, unfortunately. And I think that there should

10:24

be a further, deeper knowledge

10:28

on law, on the law side of

10:28

engaging in this, in these

10:32

real estate transactions. So often we have realtors

10:33

who are pursuing a

10:36

probate transaction,

10:36

and they have no idea.

10:39

So they set closing to

10:39

be in 30 days and probate

10:43

hasn't even been opened

10:43

and now you have formal

10:46

administration that can take

10:46

at least 3 months in Florida.

10:50

You know how you're going

10:50

to expose your client to a

10:52

potential lawsuit and there's

10:52

just a lot of repercussions

10:56

that can happen because of that. So I think that's where we

10:58

need to bridge the gap and

11:01

just I think that realtors

11:01

should do their due diligence

11:04

if you're doing this full time. More particularly to be informed

11:05

to know what's going on and

11:09

just do the best you can for

11:09

your client and you have your

11:13

ethical duties to do that. So that's where there should

11:15

be, you know, either more

11:17

continuous education or

11:17

anything of that nature so

11:21

that everyone's prepared to

11:21

engage in these transactions.

11:24

Yeah, that's really true. I had someone tell me that

11:26

I need to sign up for..

11:29

I need to be certified as a

11:29

senior relocation specialist

11:32

because I talked about probate

11:32

and, I'm a real estate agent.

11:36

So it's a half day class

11:36

and compared to the

11:39

certification that I got

11:39

in the class that I was in

11:41

with you, nothing compares.

11:43

And so it is it's the start.

11:46

And then there's still so much more to learn. I'm sure you're still learning

11:48

even today with all the

11:50

training that you've got. Yeah, and things change, right?

11:53

The laws change. We have to stay

11:54

up on all of that. But also I'm trying to

11:56

educate the families.

11:59

I have a probate guide and

11:59

planner that talks about the

12:02

expectations that you can have

12:02

and the timeline that's in

12:05

there because the family members

12:05

can put pressure if they don't

12:08

understand the timeline, they

12:08

can put pressure on an agent to

12:11

say, we need to sell this house,

12:11

we've got HOA dues coming up

12:14

and we've got taxes that are due

12:14

and we can't pay for this stuff.

12:18

Okay. You have an agent that

12:18

doesn't know, and you have family members that don't

12:20

know or beneficiaries,

12:23

and that comes into some

12:23

silly listing agreement.

12:27

That's just not appropriate. Right?

12:29

So, What happens when there's

12:29

a will, and when there

12:33

isn't a will regarding the

12:33

probate and real estate?

12:36

A will merely serves like a

12:36

guide for us just to let us

12:40

know who should be inheriting

12:40

what and then if we don't

12:43

have a will, that's where we

12:43

resort to the intestacy laws,

12:46

which I'm sure Texas has the

12:46

equivalent of Florida, which

12:49

we just go by the what we

12:49

call the bloodline pretty

12:52

much who's set to inherit. If there's a will, we go

12:55

pursuant to that, what

12:57

child inherits the property

12:57

or what family member or

13:01

friend or anything, unless

13:01

it's homestead that gets

13:04

more complicated, right?

13:06

Texas is pretty proud of

13:06

their homestead laws yeah,

13:10

so is florida. Yeah, good. What are some challenges

13:12

and issues that you

13:14

see coming up with with

13:14

real estate and probate?

13:18

I've seen a lot of foreclosures

13:18

lately, a lot of partition

13:22

auctions, like I said,

13:22

when beneficiaries aren't

13:24

getting along and all of a sudden they inherit. Property and now, they may

13:26

not be aware that everyone's

13:30

entitled to pay for the

13:30

taxes and everything.

13:33

They all have to contribute. I've probably been retained

13:34

on 5 partition actions in the

13:38

last 2 months, which is a lot. Just beneficiaries inheriting

13:40

property, they can't afford it.

13:43

It's going into foreclosure,

13:43

or someone doesn't want to

13:46

pay their share of the taxes. Those are common issues I see.

13:50

Yeah, it's a big deal and

13:50

all and it never comes at

13:52

a convenient time, it's out

13:52

of the blue and it's while

13:55

you're trying to still live

13:55

your life with your family and

13:58

your kids or your whatever it

13:58

is that you're trying to do.

14:01

Yeah, then there's different

14:01

kinds of real estate.

14:04

There's commercial, there's

14:04

land, there's mineral rights.

14:07

How does that play into

14:07

probate and estate planning?

14:11

For the most part I've mainly

14:11

just dealt with residential.

14:15

There, I have had some, probate

14:15

involving commercial property.

14:20

But, for our purposes,

14:20

it's pretty much the same

14:22

procedure when it comes

14:22

to probate, not when it

14:24

comes to estate planning. There's different factors

14:26

that have to be taken in.

14:29

For example, if you have a

14:29

commercial property and you own

14:31

that with a business partner or

14:31

anything, then we're resorting

14:35

to the operating agreement

14:35

to see and, the real estate

14:38

contracts to see how that would

14:38

affect your estate planning.

14:41

Yeah. So I guess even when you set...

14:44

when you purchase that

14:44

property, revisit the entity

14:48

or whatever that you went

14:48

into that property with, or

14:51

establish that property and then

14:51

go from there and maybe make

14:54

some changes if you need to. Planning is so important.

14:58

Isn't it? It's like the least thing

14:59

favorite thing to do,

15:01

it's not sexy at all. But it sure makes life

15:02

easier when we're gone.

15:06

You mentioned earlier

15:06

that you try your best to

15:09

resolve differences ahead

15:09

of time so that you can

15:12

avoid court if possible. What are some things that you

15:14

would do to try to mediate

15:17

that? I just, like I said, I come

15:18

in with full transparency.

15:21

I let clients know sure,

15:21

we can drag this out in

15:24

court for the next year. And you're, this is where

15:25

you're looking to pay an attorney's fees or we can

15:27

just Pay them, you know, share

15:32

of this and buy them out and

15:32

move forward with your life.

15:36

So I also tell people you're

15:36

sitting on the stand at

15:39

some point, you're going

15:39

to be questioned, anything

15:43

that you may not want to

15:43

come out may come out.

15:46

So it's just a matter of

15:46

setting, realistic expectations.

15:50

Yeah, I think a lot of people don't realize how public probate is.

15:54

Yes, and yeah you know, your

15:55

comment earlier about

15:57

if you listed a house.. Trying to sell a house

15:59

and then also talk about

16:01

it publicly in court. That's it doesn't

16:03

go together at all. The whole point of having

16:05

a real estate agent is so

16:07

that you can have someone

16:07

as a confidant to talk about

16:10

confidential things that aren't

16:10

disclosed to everybody else.

16:13

But on the other hand, you

16:13

can have this case open.

16:17

What advice would you have for

16:17

people who want to plan ahead

16:20

to minimize their real estate

16:20

in their estate planning.

16:23

So I think that there's just, a

16:24

great amount of tools, at least

16:27

in Florida that I know of that

16:27

you can avoid those headaches

16:31

for your family down the road. For example, we have

16:32

Lady Bird deeds. I'm not sure if Texas

16:34

has the equivalent. Okay.

16:38

So I think that's a great too. And I prepare these so much.

16:42

It's pretty much, you keep your

16:42

life interest in your property

16:45

on touch during your life and

16:45

then upon your passing, it

16:48

goes to whatever beneficiary

16:48

you named on that deed without

16:51

having to go through probate. I think that, estate

16:53

planning, as you mentioned,

16:56

is still like taboo. Sometimes in Florida with

16:57

my older clients, they think

17:00

that if I tell them you

17:00

should prepare a will, take

17:03

a life, a death sentence. And I tell them, no, you

17:05

have these two kids that

17:08

don't necessarily get along. And then you have this kid

17:09

that you want to take care of

17:13

everything after you're passing. So if you were to die right

17:15

now, it's up in the air,

17:18

who's going to be chosen. It has to be a majority,

17:20

majority vote to be the

17:23

executor of your state. You can avoid that if you

17:24

have a will, if you want to do

17:28

estate planning, there's also

17:28

other documents that you should

17:31

realize that are important. For example, a power of

17:32

attorney in the event you're

17:34

incapacitated down the road

17:34

or, have some mental cognitive

17:38

illness where you're not able

17:38

to make any decisions and that

17:41

kid that you really trust is

17:41

the one who will be making

17:43

those decisions for you. It's just important.

17:47

I just have a very, heart

17:47

to heart with people and

17:49

I tell them like, this is

17:49

what I would want in your

17:51

situation, you know, not

17:51

to be left up in the air.

17:54

Sometimes there's people

17:54

that it's not in their

17:56

best interest for them

17:56

to get their full share.

18:00

Maybe they have an addiction

18:00

problem or maybe they have

18:03

a special need that this and

18:03

that Right and all would bump

18:07

them out of their benefits

18:07

and that's can that can

18:09

happen if they don't have a

18:09

will because of will can put

18:12

those parameters on things.. Special needs trust or whatever

18:15

it is that's required for them

18:18

to not be able to get kicked

18:18

out from their benefits.

18:21

So it can really be a disservice. I just think estate

18:23

planning is a lovely thing

18:26

to do for your family. It's an expression of love.

18:28

I think to be able to take

18:28

that burden off of them rather

18:32

than stir up all these bad

18:32

feelings when you're gone.

18:37

So you mentioned probate. I'm sorry. You mentioned

18:39

foreclosure a while ago. Can you talk a little bit

18:40

about that and how that

18:42

can come up and how that's

18:42

played out in probate?

18:46

What happens with that? It happens more often than not.

18:49

Someone passes away, family

18:49

didn't know that they weren't

18:53

able to make the mortgage

18:53

payments on the property and

18:55

all of a sudden the heirs

18:55

are inheriting property

18:58

that's in foreclosure. We have a sale date, so

19:00

our options are either a

19:02

short sale or some sort

19:02

of private sale prior to

19:05

the foreclosure auction. And we have to open up

19:07

probate, try to get title

19:10

transferred soon or get

19:10

a personal representative

19:13

to be able to sell. And that's where I come in,

19:14

with these expedited process.

19:18

Yeah. And so you can expedite

19:18

the real estate process.

19:23

When there's a pending

19:23

foreclosure, you should,

19:26

but you can't do anything

19:26

until there's probate.

19:29

And that is a set timeline. Yes.

19:31

In Texas, there's... Yeah. You have to wait so many

19:33

days for the creditors

19:36

to get back with you. Yeah, the Florida

19:37

judges don't care.

19:39

Yeah. Yeah, so you can expedite

19:40

some things, but other things.

19:43

Good luck. So tell us a little bit

19:45

about how your law practice

19:47

differs from others. I had some fun on your

19:49

website, seeing all

19:51

the things that you do. Thank you.

19:54

So I think that I run a

19:54

very boutique practice.

19:57

My clients have my

19:57

direct line and I'm able

20:00

to just contact them. I have staff.

20:03

I have an associate attorney

20:03

working with me and I have

20:05

paralegals, but it's important

20:05

for me to keep that like

20:10

family feel to it and just

20:10

to be able to understand:

20:13

this isn't a normal thing you're going through. You just experienced loss

20:15

and you're devastated and I

20:19

had a client yesterday who I

20:19

was talking to on the phone.

20:22

I came home from work at

20:22

almost 9 o'clock at night

20:25

and he's like, hey, you

20:25

know, I just lost my wife.

20:28

Can I please call you? This is a new client. I got on the phone with him.

20:32

He told me that he had

20:32

interviewed like four other

20:35

probate attorneys and he's

20:35

you have been the only

20:38

one who spoke to me like

20:38

a person and like a human.

20:41

And this wasn't just any other case. So I'm choosing your

20:43

firm because of this.

20:46

And that's just how

20:46

I feel about it.

20:48

Like , I have clients who

20:48

have experienced the loss of

20:51

a husband, a mother, a child.

20:54

I have a client right now

20:54

who tragically lost her

20:56

husband, has a six year old

20:56

daughter, experiencing the

20:59

trauma of losing her dad. And I just called her to

21:01

see how she was doing.

21:04

And she's like, I really need

21:04

a therapist for my daughter.

21:08

So I've reached out to

21:08

my connections, try to

21:10

find someone for her. I just think that, probate

21:12

is a heartfelt area.

21:15

It should not be around like

21:15

you're just a case or a number.

21:18

So that's my

21:18

approach for my firm.

21:21

And, I'm obviously growing and

21:21

I have a high case volume, but.

21:26

I want to be accessible

21:26

for my clients and

21:28

that's important to me. That's really special.

21:31

Sylvana. I really appreciate. I mean, Obviously you're in

21:33

Florida, but as a person who

21:36

has been through that I have not

21:36

lost my husband, fortunately,

21:40

but I have lost family members

21:40

and to have people in your

21:44

court that have your back that

21:44

don't see you as a number or

21:48

a house to sell, or, something

21:48

to get them to an advantage...

21:52

this is a person that

21:52

we need to remember.

21:54

Yeah, and I do appreciate

21:54

that about you.

21:56

I agree, and I think that,

21:56

if you're a realtor and

21:59

you're partaking in a probate

21:59

transaction, it should be

22:02

the same standard that I

22:02

hold myself to: empathetic

22:07

and have a heart when you're

22:07

dealing with individuals

22:10

who just lost someone. For sure.

22:13

So what is your process like

22:13

when they call the number or

22:16

they reach you through the

22:16

contact form on your website?

22:19

What happens from there? So we set up an

22:20

initial consultation.

22:23

My initial consultations

22:23

are complimentary and then

22:26

we can do it through zoom

22:26

and person over the phone.

22:29

However, anyone prefers and

22:29

then from there we'll screen

22:32

your case run a conflict check,

22:32

make sure we're okay to take on

22:36

the case send out retainers and

22:36

then from there begin working.

22:39

What do you like about your job, Sylvana? Like I said, I've wanted

22:42

to be an attorney since I was five years old,

22:44

I just, I love my job.

22:47

I was on vacation

22:47

and I missed my job.

22:50

I love interacting with people.

22:53

I love, I obviously

22:53

love winning.

22:55

I'm very competitive, and

22:55

I do well on behalf of my

22:59

clients, it's a great feeling. But I like the fact that I'm

23:01

really able to help out people

23:05

in this field, like someone

23:05

who tells me I need to sell

23:08

this property right away in

23:08

probate, I just lost my husband.

23:11

I have no other way of paying bills.. And I can turn around the sale

23:13

of the property in a few weeks

23:17

that to me speaks volumes. The fact that I'm able to

23:19

just change lives through

23:22

what I do or be able to help

23:22

our, extend a hand during

23:26

someone's very difficult time. You bring up a really good

23:28

point about real estate

23:30

and not everybody has the

23:30

leisurely time to clean it

23:36

up, make it look nice and

23:36

spiffy, put it on the MLS.

23:39

Have a slew of people

23:39

come through read through

23:42

95 offers these days. To be able to really see that

23:44

client, maybe she can't get

23:47

out of her pajamas, she's

23:47

just overwhelmed with all the

23:50

things to do and to be able

23:50

to service to be able to say,

23:54

I'll take care of that for you. And we can do it in a

23:55

non traditional way.

23:58

And yeah, I think that's a really good point that you bring up.

24:02

So someone may be

24:02

listening right now and

24:04

I hope that they are. I hope that lots of people see

24:05

this episode and they may be

24:09

thinking about estate planning

24:09

and just doing some preliminary

24:14

test work, prior to, or maybe

24:14

they're neck deep in trouble.

24:18

And they're like, who can help

24:18

me say to them about you and

24:23

how they can reach out to you.

24:25

Yeah, I would definitely say,

24:25

just tread cautiously and

24:29

make sure that when you do

24:29

engage in estate planning,

24:32

it's with a trusted attorney. We have a lot of different

24:33

forms and things that we

24:37

can find online now that

24:37

you can do a will for $50..

24:40

I have actually been

24:40

in litigation over

24:42

those type of wills. They're often not done pursuant

24:43

to state formalities or you

24:48

know, with proper devices. I would just suggest going to

24:49

an attorney you trust, make

24:52

sure that everything is done

24:52

properly in accordance to law

24:56

and just, it's the best thing

24:56

you can do for your family,

24:59

your peace of mind and make

24:59

sure that you have, all your

25:02

affairs in a row, visit your

25:02

estate plan every year, make

25:05

sure nothing has changed. You don't wish to

25:06

change anything. There's a significant

25:09

life event. You get married, you do

25:10

anything, remember that

25:13

the estate plan now has

25:13

to change too as well.

25:16

So I, and if anyone reaching out

25:16

to me, I'll sit down with you.

25:20

I tell clients the 1st

25:20

time we meet and I'm like.

25:23

We need to have chemistry,

25:23

otherwise this won't work.

25:25

It's like, when you go and

25:25

you meet your primary care

25:28

provider, if you don't like

25:28

your doctor, you're not going

25:30

to want to work with them. I feel the same way

25:32

with my clients.

25:34

I tell them, just be candid

25:34

with me, tell me about your

25:36

family dynamics, your assets. What you want to leave, who you

25:39

choose to leave everything to

25:42

is completely your discretion. I don't care if you tell

25:43

me the craziest thing. I'm not here to judge.

25:47

I'm here to do as you tell me

25:47

and I'm here to work for you.

25:50

So that's just how I

25:50

go about everything.

25:53

Yeah. And again, attorneys are

25:53

not all the same, just like

25:56

doctors are not all the same. Some have a better bedside

25:57

manner than others.

26:00

And so I've talked to people

26:00

that have an attorney, maybe

26:04

their friend recommended them

26:04

or whatever, but that chemistry

26:06

is not there or they're just

26:06

not sure that they really have

26:10

knowledge about whatever issue

26:10

that they're dealing with.

26:13

Is it okay to transfer?

26:15

If you start with 1 attorney, is

26:15

it okay to at least in Florida?

26:19

I know that the the Florida bar

26:19

rules are very fluent on that.

26:22

You can fire your

26:22

attorney at any time.

26:24

If you're ever not comfortable,

26:24

I'm sure every state is the

26:26

same way that we ever not

26:26

comfortable with your attorney.

26:29

You don't even have to give them a reason, you can fire them and move on with your life.

26:33

Okay, good to know. Yeah.

26:36

So is there something that we

26:36

have not talked about that you

26:39

feel would be important for us

26:39

to have on this episode today?

26:44

I love the fact that we

26:44

touched, on the importance

26:46

of the estate planning. I can't stress it enough.

26:50

I'll give you a case just so

26:50

that everyone understands the

26:53

I've had partners

26:53

are coming to into my office.

26:58

The girlfriend of this gentleman who passed away came into my office.

27:02

She was with him for, I want

27:02

to say, close to 30 years.

27:06

They were never married. They lived together,

27:07

did everything together.

27:10

She took care of him

27:10

through his cancer illness.

27:12

All of a sudden he passed away. He was the one who

27:14

owned everything. He had no estate plan, anything.

27:18

Now what happens? She's not entitled to

27:19

absolutely anything at all.

27:23

So she has to vacate

27:23

that property.

27:25

And the estranged siblings

27:25

in a South American country

27:29

were the ones who came

27:29

in to take everything and

27:31

pretty much kick her out. That's just one of many

27:32

scenarios that can occur.

27:36

It's just so important to

27:36

make sure that, you cover

27:38

yourself, cover your family,

27:38

especially if you're not,

27:41

married pursuant to, there's no

27:41

common law marriage in Florida.

27:44

I'm not sure about Texas,

27:44

but for those partnerships

27:48

like that, it's important. It's really important.

27:51

Wow, what a shock on top of

27:51

everything else for her to

27:55

have to now start all over. Wow. That's so sad.

27:58

Sylvana, how can people reach you? How can they find you online?

28:01

Okay, we can provide

28:01

my email and my contact

28:04

information, my phone number. I'm on social media as well.

28:08

Facebook, Instagram, and

28:08

as soon as you send a

28:11

message, you'll receive a

28:11

response and we can discuss.

28:15

Okay, good deal. Those the email and the phone

28:16

number will be in the show

28:19

notes for those that are

28:19

maybe on the trail jogging

28:23

or in the car driving. You can always come back

28:24

and take a look at that. Sylvana, thanks again so

28:27

much for your information.

28:30

Yes, it's my pleasure to have

28:30

you and so glad to connect

28:34

with you online again. For those of you that are

28:36

listening, thank you for

28:38

joining and spending your time

28:38

with Sylvana and I, we both

28:42

want you to know if you're

28:42

going through something like

28:44

this that we are here for you. People are here for you and

28:45

have your best interest in mind.

28:49

You're not alone and you matter. That's the heartbeat of what

28:52

I do and what the Probate

28:55

Podcast is about a place for

28:55

you to get resources like this.

28:58

And I'm so glad that

28:58

you were here today.

29:01

Thank you. So until next time, yeah,

29:02

we'll see you next time.

29:05

Thank you Sylvana again

29:05

so much for your time.