Join Florida elder law attorney Rep DeLoach for a free Aging With Dignity workshop at the law office of DeLoach + Hofstra, PA on May 23rd from 3-5pm. Seating is limited, to be sure to RSVP by calling Donna at 727-835-5502.

Topics for this informative workshop will include:

• Estate Planning Checkup
• Power of Attorney Update
• Medicaid and Veterans Benefits
• End of Life Decision Making
• Assistance with Care Givers

“Rep” DeLoach is uniquely qualified to help educate the St Petersburg community on Elder Law and Elder Care Law as one of very few Board Certified Elder Law Attorneys in Florida. “Rep” has a passion for working with seniors and educating both seniors directly and their families on how to properly plan for the “Golden Years”.

Elder Law Attorney “Rep” DeLoach will leading a discussion for the Largo community on Life Care Planning, Estate planning and the changes with the Power of Attorney. Come join Rep and learn how to plan for your future and where to get answers to questions about long term care.

“Rep” DeLoach is uniquely qualified to help educate the St Petersburg community on Elder Law and Elder Care Law as one of very few Board Certified Elder Law Attorneys in Florida. “Rep” has a passion for working with seniors and educating both seniors directly and their families on how to properly plan for the “Golden Years”.

Be sure to join “Rep” DeLoach at Oak Manor on Thursday, May 10th at 11am.

Elder Law Attorney “Rep” DeLoach will leading a discussion for the Largo community on Life Care Planning, Estate planning and the changes with the Power of Attorney. Come join Rep and learn how to plan for your future and where to get answers to questions about long term care.

“Rep” DeLoach is uniquely qualified to help educate the St Petersburg community on Elder Law and Elder Care Law as one of very few Board Certified Elder Law Attorneys in Florida. “Rep” has a passion for working with seniors and educating both seniors directly and their families on how to properly plan for the “Golden Years”.

Be sure to join “Rep” DeLoach at Allegro on Thursday, April 12th at 11am.

Elder Law Attorney “Rep” DeLoach will be presenting to the residents and surrounding community of Allegro Senior Living Facility. This seminar will focus heavily on Life Care Planning, Estate Planning, Wills, Trust, and Power of Attorney’s.

“Rep” DeLoach is uniquely qualified to help educate the St Petersburg community on Elder Law and Elder Care Law as one of very few Board Certified Elder Law Attorneys in Florida. “Rep” has a passion for working with seniors and educating both seniors directly and their families on how to properly plan for the “Golden Years”.

Be sure to join “Rep” DeLoach at Allegro on Thursday, March 8th at 12pm. RSVP with Shannon Harvey at Allergo – (727) 231-6771.

Legal Issue Insights

The Florida Legislature recently passed a bill drastically changing the existing durable power of attorney statute. Governor Rick Scott has yet to sign the bill but it is expected to become law shortly. When it becomes law, it will affect powers of attorney executed on or after October 1, 2011.

The new statute makes a great number of changes to the old law, clarifies some previously existing “gray” legal areas and greatly expands the previously existing statute. Some key provisions include:

•Powers of attorney must now be notarized as well as have two (2) witnesses for valid execution;

• Powers of attorney executed in other states are valid in Florida if validly executed in their state of origin;

• Special rules are provided for co-attorneys-in-fact;
• “Springing” Powers of attorney are eliminated after the effective date, although Springing powers executed before the effective date are still valid;
• Certain powers contained in the document must be initialed in order for the attorney-in-fact to perform such actions;
• Only qualified people can get paid to serve as the attorney-in-fact; and
• Much more specific standards of conduct must be followed by the attorney-in-fact.

You can view the contents of this bill here.

The net effect of this bill will provide for drastic changes to your average power of attorney. At DeLoach & Hofstra, we continuously work to improve and update our powers of attorney. This is another opportunity to make our documents even better and help our clients as best we can.

Perhaps one of the country’s best known upscale furniture stores has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal court. The Fort Myers-based company has been in business for 96 years but faltered when the housing market took a tumble in 2006.

In spite of the bankruptcy filing, company executives hope to make a rebound as the economy strengthens. In its bankruptcy filing, the company told the court that it was $57 million in debt and needed bankruptcy relief. Seeking comment on the bankruptcy, the News Press published these thoughts by a Florida business consultant:

“Orlando-based retailing consultant C. Britt Beemer said Robb & Stucky is a highly regarded, innovative company, but that when the housing crash hit in 2006, it hurt upscale furniture sales much more than furnishings at the lower end of the market.

“You look at a Robb & Stucky and some other high-end guys around the country, 50 to 60 percent of their business is directly or indirectly tied to new home sales,” he said. “When you lose that pace, it’s a slow death.”

The Wall St. Journal’s front page, top of the fold headline may be good news for the troubled Florida housing market. WSJ reports that cash buyers are buying homes at a vigorous pace. These buyers are betting that home prices are at rock bottom and the housing market across the country is poised to rebound. Last year, 28% of all sales were all-cash transactions. In 2008, the rate of all cash housing transactions was 14%. The local Tampa market, which had the third highest rate among cities surveyed by the Wall St. Journal, jumped to 44.6% of its housing sales listed as all-cash transactions.

The Journal concluded that “Residential real estate has been slower to bounce back than stocks, but the presence of apparent bargains is luring in newly confident buyers.” Hopefully, this is a trend and not an anomaly. Our local Tampa Bay market is dependent upon strong housing sales if it hopes to recover from the poor economy.

It used to be that banks would foreclose on homes and condos when owners became delinquent with their mortgage payments. Now, that’s changed. Condo owners who’ve fallen behind their mortgages or their association dues may be facing foreclosure by the condo association. Banks don’t want to do it because then they are responsible for the association fees. So, with the advent of a new law, condo associations

According to the article in the St. Pete Times today, “HOAs are seizing more and more property as owners stop paying their monthly assessments. Some are going a step further — renting out the seized properties to recoup the lost dues. And thanks to a new law, they don’t even have to foreclose to collect rent in some circumstances.”

Tough economic circumstances have led to such a drastic change. “A Florida law enacted on July 1, 2010, allows homeowner and condominium associations to seize rent from tenants who rent from delinquent owners — even before foreclosing.”

While the normally slow holiday month of December showed marked improvement in the real estate market, a closer inspection of those numbers reveal a troublesome statistic. Condo and single family home sales dramatically increased during December 2010. However, half of those sales were the result of short sales or foreclosures. The mixed message provides no solid indication that we are out of the woods as far as the Pinellas County real estate market is concerned. The sales prices for both condos and single family homes continues to drop even though the volume of sales for both markets is up since the same period last year.

The St. Pete Times recently reported the same trend for upscale luxury homes in the Tampa Bay area.

“The Times reported last month that the sales of million-dollar-plus homes and condos aren’t skyrocketing in the bay area, but they are selling again — at a discount. Sales were up 22 percent in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties in mid December.” For instance, former NBA player and Countryside High School basketball star Matt Geiger’s Tarpon Springs mansion finally sold this month after being on the market for four years. The original asking price of $20 million was reduced to $8 million in order to move the property.