Episode Transcript
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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.
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