Story of the Week - You can't be serious!

If you've ever heard the saying, "boy if they only knew what was going on, they'd be rolling over in their grave," then you know what I'm talking about.  Someone has died and something has gone wrong.  Could be anything, but this week's story of the week illustrates what planning by design is ALWAYS better than planning by default.

Gentleman dies without a will.  Is that a big deal?  It is if you aren't survived by a spouse or children.  In this case, he was survived by his "heirs at law."  As a result, the state of Florida determines his heirs.  First we look down the bloodline - are there any children, grandchildren or great grandchildren?  If no, then we look up the bloodline - are there any parents or grandparents?  If no, then we look to siblings, then nieces and nephews, then first cousins, second cousins and so on.  

Our story at hand revealed 40 plus distant heirs living in the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden.  Not a lot of property but it still deserved to be distributed to the proper heirs.  Many of the heirs didn't want the property - not that simple, some died after our gentleman.  Ultimately the property was distributed including a Florida homestead.  Perhaps one of the brave heirs will file a partition action and purchase the property?