Moran & Associates

Moran & Associates Trusts, Trust Administration, Estate Planning, Wills, Probate, Real Estate.

Your father evacuates to Orlando before the storm. Two days later he's in the hospital with a broken hip, and the mortga...
09/03/2026

Your father evacuates to Orlando before the storm. Two days later he's in the hospital with a broken hip, and the mortgage payment is due. The person named as successor trustee has never signed anything, and the bank has no idea who they are.

In Florida, a successor trustee typically only gets full authority once the trigger written into the trust actually happens: death, resignation, or incapacity. Incapacity is commonly proven with a physician's written certification, and a bank typically won't act on family concern alone. Banks and title companies generally want to see a certification of trust and the new trustee's signed acceptance before they'll act, and exactly what they'll accept can vary from one institution to the next.

Storm season doesn't wait.

If you don't know whether your successor trustee could walk into a bank today and prove they have authority, call us: (561) 779-2029.

A client once told me she'd moved her house into a revocable trust so no lawsuit could ever touch it. Not even close, at...
08/30/2026

A client once told me she'd moved her house into a revocable trust so no lawsuit could ever touch it. Not even close, at least not while she's alive.

While you're alive, a revocable trust stays reachable by your own creditors, up to whatever you could revoke and take back yourself. A spendthrift clause won't save you here. The assets are still legally yours to control. The protection people picture, the kind irrevocable trusts are actually built for, just isn't part of the deal while you hold the strings.

After you pass, the trust doesn't quietly close its doors either. If your estate publishes notice, creditors get three months to file a claim. Skip that notice, and the window stretches to two years from the date of death.

Before you build your plan around the wrong kind of trust, call us: (561) 779-2029.

People tell us they put their house in the trust. Then we pull the deed, and it's still sitting in their name. Never re-...
08/26/2026

People tell us they put their house in the trust. Then we pull the deed, and it's still sitting in their name. Never re-recorded. Never signed over.

In Florida, funding a trust with real estate means signing a new deed, witnessed by two people and notarized, and if you're married, your spouse has to join in when the property is your homestead. Bank and brokerage accounts follow a different path. You either retitle the account in the trust's name or name the trust as the payable-on-death or transfer-on-death beneficiary.

An asset that never gets retitled doesn't skip probate just because a pour-over will names the trust. It still lands in front of a judge, on the court's timeline, not yours.

If you want a second set of eyes on how your deed or accounts are titled, call us: (561) 779-2029.

08/19/2026

Your family's finances don't stay private after you're gone.

Every dollar in a probate case becomes part of the public court file: who inherited what, who was cut out, who fought over it. Anyone with an internet connection can pull it up. A properly funded trust keeps that story off the record instead of on it.

- Marianne Moran | Moran & Associates, Palm Beach & Tequesta

08/13/2026

A Kind Word From One Of Our Clients

"Marianne and her team are outstanding! Professional, personable and genuinely care about her clients like they're family. I cannot recommend Moran & Associates more. If you have questions or thoughts about wills, estates, future planning, real estate or more, they are knowledgeable, diligent and expeditious in all that they do."

Thank you, David, for the five stars and for trusting us with something this important. Reviews like this are why we do this work.

-Moran & Associates

Leaving money directly to a family member with a disability can unintentionally disqualify them from Medicaid or SSI.Tho...
08/12/2026

Leaving money directly to a family member with a disability can unintentionally disqualify them from Medicaid or SSI.

Those programs are means-tested, so a lump sum in their bank account may push them over the asset limit. Special needs trusts are specifically designed to let a person with a disability hold assets without jeopardizing eligibility for those benefits. Funds can still pay for things like a modified van or extra therapy but do not pass through the beneficiary's hands.

Trusts can be structured to cover specific needs or release funds at milestones rather than as one lump sum that trips the benefit wire. This matters: a sibling could keep rent covered by SSI one month and lose that check the month an inheritance clears.

Before a distribution accidentally costs someone their SSI, call us: (561) 779-2029.

Your brother is the trustee. You asked him for last year's numbers back in March. He says he's working on it. It's almos...
08/08/2026

Your brother is the trustee. You asked him for last year's numbers back in March. He says he's working on it. It's almost winter now.

Florida law doesn't leave that answer up to his schedule. Beneficiaries have the right to stay reasonably informed about how the trust is being run, and to get a copy of the trust document and the trustee's report when they ask for one. Trustees are also typically required to keep decent records of the money coming in and going out, so there's something real to hand over.

Months of silence on a request like that is worth asking a lawyer about, especially when the whole point of the rule is to let you check on the money before it becomes a bigger problem.

If a trustee keeps pushing off your request for an accounting, call us: (561) 779-2029.

08/06/2026

⏳ Setting up asset protection after a lawsuit already started? Courts call that a fraudulent transfer, and they can undo it completely.

Asset protection planning only works if it's already in place before a creditor claim or lawsuit ever shows up. Once trouble starts, the shelf life on that protection is already gone.

- Marianne Moran | Moran & Associates, Palm Beach & Tequesta

The trust names the house as an asset. The deed on file at the county clerk's office still lists the homeowner alone.Und...
08/03/2026

The trust names the house as an asset. The deed on file at the county clerk's office still lists the homeowner alone.

Under Florida law, a trust only holds property that has actually been transferred to the trustee. Naming a house inside the trust document isn't the same as recording a new deed that moves title into the trustee's name, whether the house is in Palm Beach or Tequesta.

If that step is skipped, the home stays outside the trust no matter what the paperwork says. Assets properly funded into a revocable trust are typically not subject to Florida's probate process, often allowing for quicker, more private distribution. A house left off the deed doesn't get that benefit. It still goes through probate.

Homeowners tell us, 'I already did the trust, doesn't that cover the house?' Call us to check whether your deed matches your trust: (561) 779-2029.

The deed is the part that does the work.

Address

231 Royal Palm Way
Palm Beach, FL
33480

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Monday 9am - 4pm
Tuesday 9am - 4pm
Wednesday 9am - 4pm
Thursday 9am - 4pm
Friday 9am - 4pm

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