Author: WB Admin

Shared Parental Responsibility Deadlocks: What Happens When Parents Cannot Agree?

Posted on by WB Admin

In Florida, shared parental responsibility means both parents keep full parental rights and must work together on major decisions affecting their child. That sounds straightforward until a real disagreement shows up. One parent wants a school change. The other says no. A medical issue comes up, and both parents dig in. 

Shared Parental Responsibility Does Not Mean Constant Agreement

Florida courts generally order shared parental responsibility unless the arrangement would be detrimental to the child. The focus stays on major decisions, not every routine choice. A court-approved parenting plan must spell out how parents will handle daily responsibilities, time-sharing, communication, and decision-making for matters such as health care, school-related issues, and other activities.

That structure helps, but it does not eliminate conflict. A deadlock happens when parents with shared decision-making authority cannot reach an agreement on an important issue. In many families, the hardest disputes involve education, nonemergency medical care, counseling, and extracurricular commitments. Florida law does not expect parents to agree on everything. It does expect the parenting plan and, if needed, the court order to address how major decisions will be made.

Florida Courts Can Assign Final Say on Specific Issues

When repeated stalemates make co-parenting harder, a Florida court may give one parent ultimate responsibility over specific aspects of the child’s welfare. That authority is not unlimited. The court may assign final decision-making in defined areas, such as education or health care, based on the child’s best interests. Courts do not award one parent blanket control over every part of the child’s life just because the parents disagree.

If shared parental responsibility would be harmful to the child, the court may instead order sole parental responsibility. Florida law specifically directs courts to consider evidence of domestic violence, abuse, neglect, and related safety concerns when deciding whether shared responsibility is detrimental.

Build a Better Parenting Plan

A strong parenting plan can prevent future deadlocks before they start. Wickersham & Bowers handles family law matters involving child custody and support, divorce, mediation, parental rights, grandparent rights, paternity, and domestic violence issues in Florida. We can help you review whether your current parenting plan gives enough direction when major decisions stall. To discuss your situation, call 386-252-3000 or reach out through our contact form.

Estate Planning for Non-U.S. Citizen Spouses

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Estate planning for a married couple gets more complicated when one spouse is not a U.S. citizen. The issue is not just who inherits what. Federal tax rules and Florida spousal protections can change how property passes at death, what rights a surviving spouse keeps, and whether a plan works as intended.

Why Non-Citizen Spouse Planning Is Different

Federal estate tax law usually blocks the unlimited marital deduction when assets pass to a surviving spouse who is not a U.S. citizen. That deduction usually lets assets pass to a surviving spouse without estate tax at the first death. When citizenship is missing, that rule can change. 

In some cases, a qualified domestic trust, often called a QDOT, may preserve the marital deduction if the trust meets strict requirements and the proper election is made. For example, at least one trustee must be a U.S. citizen or domestic corporation, and certain principal distributions can trigger tax.

That does not mean every Florida couple needs a QDOT. It does mean the plan should account for citizenship status instead of assuming a standard will or trust will cover the problem.

Account for Florida Spousal Rights

Florida law gives a surviving spouse important rights, and those rights can affect the final plan no matter what a will says. A surviving spouse of a Florida decedent may claim an elective share, which equals 30% of the elective estate. 

Florida also has strict homestead rules. If a person dies owning a Florida homestead and leaves behind a spouse or minor child, the home cannot always be devised freely. In some situations, the surviving spouse may receive a life estate or elect a one-half tenant-in-common interest instead.

Those rules matter even more in blended families, second marriages, and cross-border households. Beneficiary designations, deed choices, and trust funding should align with the broader plan. Florida law also allows certain spousal rights to be waived in a written agreement signed with two witnesses, which can matter in premarital or marital planning.

Start the Conversation Before a Crisis

A workable plan often includes more than one document. Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, living wills, and health care designations may all need to work together. At Wickersham & Bowers, we help Florida families build estate plans that reflect real family structure, property ownership, and future probate concerns. If you want to discuss planning for a non-U.S. citizen spouse, call us at 386-252-3000 or reach out through our contact form.

Property Division When One Spouse Owns a Business: What to Expect

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Divorce is complicated under any circumstances. When one spouse owns a business, it gets harder. The business may be the couple’s most valuable asset, and one of the most disputed. Florida courts follow a specific legal framework for handling business interests in divorce, and understanding that process can help you prepare. 

Marital vs. Non-Marital

Florida divides property through equitable distribution under Florida Statute §61.075, which starts from a presumption of equal division, though courts can deviate based on circumstances. The first question is whether the business counts as a marital asset at all.

A business started before the marriage may seem like it should belong entirely to the spouse who built it. Not necessarily. If the business grew during the marriage through either spouse’s efforts or with marital funds, that growth can be treated as a marital asset subject to division. Commingling personal and business finances makes this even messier.

A business launched after the wedding date is generally presumed marital. But like most things in family law, the facts matter enormously.

How Florida Values a Business

Once a court identifies a business interest as marital property, it needs a dollar figure. Under the 2024 amendment to §61.075, Florida now requires courts to value closely held businesses at fair market value, defined as the price a willing buyer and seller would agree on without pressure from either side.

That same amendment clarifies how courts treat goodwill. Enterprise goodwill, the value tied to the business itself, such as its reputation, location, and customer base, may count as a marital asset. Personal goodwill, tied only to the owner’s individual skills or relationships, generally does not. For professionals like doctors, lawyers, or contractors, that distinction can make a real difference in a divorce.

Valuation disputes are common. Both sides often bring in financial experts who reach different conclusions. Courts weigh the competing analyses and decide.

Talk to Our Team Before the Process Gets Away From You

Business valuation in divorce moves fast once litigation starts. The earlier you understand where you stand, the better positioned you are.

Wickersham & Bowers handles family law matters across Florida, including divorces involving closely held businesses, professional practices, and complex assets. Call us at 386-252-3000 or fill out our contact form to schedule a consultation.

Using Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs) Under the New 2026 Estate Tax Exemption

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Estate tax planning looked very different a year ago. Families were racing to act before a looming deadline, the feared “sunset” that would have cut federal exemptions roughly in half. Then Congress stepped in. 

The One Big Beautiful Bill, signed on July 4, 2025, set the federal estate and gift tax exemption at $15 million per individual starting January 1, 2026. With proper planning, many married couples can shield up to $30 million. It’s permanent, indexed for inflation after 2027, and removes the uncertainty that drove so much urgency in prior years.

So does that mean married couples in Florida can relax? Not exactly. A larger exemption doesn’t make planning irrelevant; it changes the math, but the tools still matter. One worth knowing is the Spousal Lifetime Access Trust, or SLAT.

How a SLAT Works in Plain Terms

Think of it as a one-way transfer with a built-in safety net.

One spouse, the donor, moves assets into an irrevocable trust. Once funded, those assets leave the donor’s taxable estate for good. “Irrevocable” is the keyword: There’s no reversing it later if circumstances change.

What makes couples willing to take that leap? The other spouse, called the beneficiary, can still receive distributions from the trust. Medical bills, everyday living costs, and education expenses. That indirect access keeps the wealth in the family’s orbit even after the legal ownership is gone.

Then there’s the growth angle. Anything those trust assets earn or appreciate stays outside the taxable estate. A business interest that doubles in value, real estate that climbs over 20 years; that upside builds without adding to the estate tax exposure. For Florida families with appreciating assets, the difference can be substantial.

What Can Go Wrong

If the beneficiary spouse dies, that access to trust assets ends. The same goes for divorce. The donor loses their indirect connection to those funds immediately.

Couples who want both spouses to fund separate SLATs for each other face a specific legal trap: the Reciprocal Trust Doctrine. The IRS can treat mirror-image trusts that are too similar in terms and structure as if the gifts were never made at all. 

Talk to Our Team About Your Situation

No single estate planning strategy fits every family. Whether a SLAT makes sense depends on your assets, your marriage, your long-term financial needs, and goals that are specific to you.

At Wickersham & Bowers, we work with individuals and families across Florida on trusts, wills, and estate planning that’s built around real circumstances. Call us at 386-252-3000 or fill out our contact form to set up a consultation.

Modification of Final Judgments When Adult Children Develop Disabilities

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Most divorce judgments lock in support terms based on what everyone knows at the time. Life does not always stick to that script. Sometimes an adult child who was healthy at the time of divorce later develops a disability that limits work capacity and creates a need for public benefits such as SSI or Medicaid. 

When that happens, families often wonder whether old orders can change and how financial support can continue without breaking benefit rules. Here is what to understand under Florida law and federal benefit standards.

When Disability Changes the Support Picture in Florida

Florida courts keep continuing jurisdiction over child support. A parent may ask the court to modify an order when a substantial change in circumstances occurs. A later-in-life disability that creates dependency can qualify. Courts look closely at medical evidence, functional limits, and financial need before adjusting support.

If the child now depends on needs-based benefits, the structure of support becomes just as important as the amount. Direct payments to the adult child may count as income for SSI purposes and reduce or eliminate monthly benefits. 

Past-due support, if paid directly, can raise similar eligibility concerns depending on how funds are received and held. That makes coordinated legal and benefits planning essential before anyone changes payment flows.

Using Special Needs Trusts and ABLE Accounts the Right Way

A third-party special needs trust allows parents, including divorced parents, to set aside funds for a disabled adult child without placing assets in that child’s name. Because the trust owns the funds, they usually do not count toward SSI and Medicaid resource limits. The trustee can then pay for approved supplemental expenses such as therapy, education support, or adaptive equipment. A well-structured third-party special needs trust typically avoids any Medicaid reimbursement requirement after death.

ABLE accounts are tax-advantaged accounts for qualified individuals with disabilities. They allow limited annual contributions and capped balances while preserving benefit eligibility. Families often use ABLE accounts for smaller, flexible spending needs and trusts for larger or long-term funding.

Review Your Orders and Planning Tools Now

Support orders and benefit rules do not always line up automatically after a late disability diagnosis. We help Florida families review existing judgments, explore modification options, and coordinate support with special needs planning tools. Call us at 386-252-3000 or fill out our contact form to discuss your situation.

Portability Elections and Reverse-QTIP Trusts: Maximizing the Unified Credit When Spouses Die in Rapid Succession

Posted on by WB Admin

When a married couple dies within a short time of each other, executors face nuanced federal estate tax decisions. Two important tools in this space are the portability election under Internal Revenue Code § 2010(c) and reverse QTIP elections for generation-skipping transfer (GST) purposes. These elections affect how much of each spouse’s unified credit (commonly called the estate tax exemption) and GST tax exemption survives to benefit the family. 

In this post, we explain these concepts and how they interact for estates with compressed timelines.

Portability

Under federal law, each person has a unified credit or applicable exclusion amount that shelters a portion of their estate from federal estate tax. If the first spouse to die does not use their full exemption, the unused portion, the Deceased Spousal Unused Exclusion (DSUE) amount, may be transferred to the surviving spouse through a portability election.

To elect portability, the executor files Form 706 by the estate tax deadline, usually nine months after death, and may request a six-month extension. A properly prepared, on-time return locks in the election, and it is rarely reversible. The transferred unused exclusion (DSUE) then becomes available to the surviving spouse to offset taxable gifts made during life or property included in their later estate.

Reverse-QTIP Trusts for GST Tax Planning

A Qualified Terminable Interest Property (QTIP) trust allows property to qualify for the federal marital deduction while keeping it in trust for beneficiaries other than the surviving spouse. Normally, assets in a QTIP trust are included in the surviving spouse’s estate and thus get a new step-up in basis at their death. 

For GST tax planning, a reverse QTIP election can be made so that the first spouse’s GST tax exemption applies to the trust. This preserves the GST exemption for transfers to grandchildren down the line, even though the GST exemption itself is not portable.

Make the Right Filing Decisions Early

When two spouses pass within a short window, early tax return elections can directly affect how much federal estate and GST exemption survives for the family. Choices tied to § 2010(c) portability and any reverse QTIP treatment carry lasting consequences once filed. If you are handling a Florida estate under tight timelines, we can walk through the options with you. Call 386-252-3000 or use our contact form to start the conversation.

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