What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine…prenuptial agreement, joint property and hand grenades

Sharyn and Leslie Turchin, like many couples these days, entered into a pre-marital agreement prior to their marriage ceremony whereby they both renounced any ownership rights to the other person’s property in case there was a termination to their marriage by divorce or death.   Thereafter, Leslie Turchin, using his premarital assets acquired two residences, one described as the Coconut Isle and the other as the Aqua Vista. He recorded title with both his name and his wife’s.  Both properties were subsequently sold during the marriage. The proceeds from the sale of the Coconut Isle property were deposited in the parties’ joint checking account. Thereafter, the husband withdrew most of the funds in order to satisfy his personal obligations with the balance of the withdrawn funds being deposited in the husband’s individual bank account. As part of the purchase price of the Aqua Vista property, the buyers executed a mortgage in favor of both the husband and wife.  Leslie Turchin died testate and his estate planning documents directed that the remaining balance on the Aqua Vista mortgage be forgiven. Read the rest of this entry

Court rules that a Will’s direction for payment of “all just debts” did not require exoneration of jointly held property.

Under the common law doctrine of exoneration, an heir or devisee is generally entitled to have encumbrances upon real estate paid by the estate unless the will directs otherwise.

The Florida Probate Code abrogates this common law doctrine and directs that the specific devisee of any encumbered property is entitled to have the encumbrance paid at the expense of the residue of the estate only when the will shows that intent. Fla. Stat. §733.803. Read the rest of this entry