Our firm handles legal matters in the following practice areas: Estate Planning, Probate, Guardianship, Taxation, Tax Litigation, Family Law, General Practice.
Noel W. Burns concentrates his practice in the primary areas of Estate Planning & Administration, Probate & Guardianship Law, and Taxation. By narrowing the focus of the types of cases he handles he is able to properly dedicate himself to his clients and the law. Client contact throughout the duration of a case is paramount.
Family Law
The term Family Law is used to designate various commonly known actions related to both marital and non-marital issues. These include as Divorce (also known as Dissolution of Marriage), along with division of Marital Assets and Debts, and if necessary the Establishment or Modification of Child Custody, Child Support, or Child Visitation. However, Family Law also includes lesser known actions regarding the issues of Adoption, Paternity (with its own related Child Custody issues), Domestic Violence, Injunctions to Prevent Child Removal, and Name Changes. Mr. Burns is experienced al all of the types of proceedings at differing levels of complexity. After an initial interview you will be fully advised of the most sound legal path and, provided that you agree, your case will be initiated (or replied to) immediately.
Obviously these areas overlap in many ways and necessitate the familiarity with other types of law. For example, we will handle any real estate transfers incident to a divorce or probate. Additionally state and federal income tax plays a great part in estate planning, as well as potential marital settlements. Mr. Burns will prepare and file most forms and returns required by clients.
Probate Law
When a person dies, the legal title of property from their estate has to be transferred to the intended beneficiary via a will. If there is no will, then it is left to determine who is the legal heir to the estate and the property. Collectively, these processes are known as probate.
Probate is a process that is designed to enable the proper transfer of the decedent’s estate to the rightful beneficiaries. This process is also used to collect any taxes due on the transfer of the property. Outstanding debts can also be settled through probate, and usually a date is set by which time creditors must file any claims that they have. The probate process takes at least three months in Florida, since that is the maximum amount of time for claims from creditors to be filed. The balance of the estate or property following settlement of these debts and taxes is then distributed to the beneficiaries. The nature of probate means that if there is no estate or property to be distributed then there is no need to go through probate.
Probate is necessary not only to facilitate distribution of property from the will (if there is a will), but also to allow objections to the will by other parties. Objections can arise for a variety of reasons, and investigations may also be required for such reasons which include: the possibility that the deceased was not of sound mind when the will was made; the possibility that another will was made at a later date; the possibility that the will was forged or that the decedent?s decision was improperly influenced. If any of the assets have a successor by contract, then they will not be eligible for disbursement through probate, as they will automatically go to the contractual beneficiary. The types of items dealt with through probate include property, furniture, vehicles, money, land, artwork, and shares in a business.
In the case of items such as money accounts or property, they must have been owned solely owned by the decedent to be eligible to be distributed through probate, as jointly owned ones will most likely already have a beneficiary by default.
When a will goes through probate, both the heirs and all of the beneficiaries will be notified about the will being presented in the probate court. This is where contestation of the will can take place, where accusations of mental instability, improper influence, and forgery may begin to fly. At this time, a list of the decedent?s assets, an inventory, is prepared in order to begin distribution in accordance with the will. The disbursement of the decedent?s assets also has to be accounted for, whether they were distributed to beneficiaries or were used to pay off debts and expenses.
One aspect of the expenses that probate entails is the legal fees, and you may find that the lawyer that deals with the probate is entitled to a percentage of the assets ? even for assets that do not actually go through probate. Depending on how much the decedent?s estate amounts to, these fees can add up. The flip side of this, however, is when an estate is handled by a non-lawyer. The costs, in both dollar amounts and time, can often far outweigh those that are collected by a probate lawyer; who will guarantee that the job is done right the first time.
The public are allowed access to probate records, and it therefore possible to see how much estate was left by a deceased individual, who the beneficiaries were, and what they received from the estate.
Taxation:
Many types of IRS Problems are confusing because you can't always get accurate information. Most taxpayers do not feel comfortable calling the IRS for answers. You can click on the IRS Problems listed below to help you obtain a better understanding of these problems.
Payroll Tax Problems
·IRS Liens
·IRS Levies
·IRS Audits
·IRS Seizures
·Wage Garnishments
·Unfiled Tax Returns
·IRS Penalties
Payroll Tax Problems
The IRS is very aggressive in their collection attempts for past due payroll taxes. The penalties assessed on delinquent payroll tax deposits or filings can dramatically increase the total amount owed in a matter of months. We believe that it is critical to have a CPA, Attorney, or Enrolled Agent represent taxpayers in these types of situations. How you answer the first five questions asked by the IRS may determine whether you stay in business or are liquidated by the IRS. You should avoid meeting with any IRS representatives regarding payroll taxes until you have met with a professional to discuss your options.
IRS Liens
The IRS can make your life miserable by filing federal tax liens. Federal Tax Liens are public records that indicate you owe the IRS various taxes. They are filed with the County Clerk in the county from which you or your business operates. Because they are public records, they will show up on your credit report. This often makes it difficult for a taxpayer to obtain any financing on an automobile or a home. Federal Tax Liens can also tie up your personal property and real estate. Once a Federal Tax Lien is filed against your property you cannot sell or transfer the property without a clear title. Often taxpayers find themselves in a Catch-22 where they have property that they would like to borrow against, but because of the Federal Tax Lien, they cannot get a loan.
IRS Levies
An IRS levy is the actual action taken by the IRS to collect taxes. For example, the IRS can issue a bank levy to obtain your cash in savings and checking accounts. Or, the IRS can levy your wages or accounts receivable. The person, company, or institution that is served the levy must comply or face their own IRS problems. The additional paperwork this person, company or institution is faced with to comply with the levy usually causes the taxpayer's relationship to suffer with the person being levied. Levies should be avoided at all costs and are usually the result of poor or no communication with the IRS.
When the IRS levies a bank account, the levy is only for the particular day the levy is received by the bank. The bank is required to remove whatever amount is available in your account that day (up to the amount of the IRS levy ) and send it to the IRS in 21 days unless notified otherwise by the IRS. This type of levy does not affect any future deposits made into your bank account unless the IRS issues another Bank Account Levy.
An IRS Wage Levy is different. Wage levies are filed with your employer and remain in effect until the IRS notifies the employer that the wage levy has been released. Most wage levies take so much money from the taxpayer's paycheck that the taxpayer doesn't have enough money to live on.
IRS Audits
The IRS can audit you by mail, in their office, or in your home or office. The location of your audit is a good indication of the severity of the audit. Typically, correspondence audits are for missing documents in your tax return that IRS computers have attempted to find. These usually include W-2's and 1099 income items or interest expense items. This type of audit can be handled through the mail with the correct documentation. The IRS office audit is usually with a Tax Examiner who will request numerous documents and explanations of various deductions. This type of audit may also require you to produce all bank records for a period of time so that the IRS can check for unreported income. The IRS audit scheduled for your home or office should be taken more seriously due to the fact that the IRS Auditor is a Revenue Agent. Revenue Agents receive more training and auditing techniques than a typical Tax Examiner. All IRS audits should be taken seriously because they often lead to other tax years and other tax deductions not originally stated in the audit letter.
IRS Seizures
The IRS has extension powers when it comes to Seizure of Assets. These powers allow them to seize personal and business assets to pay off outstanding tax liabilities. This occurs when taxpayers have been avoiding the IRS. The IRS attempts to collect amounts owed with a seizure as the ultimate act of their collection efforts.
Wage Garnishments
The IRS wage garnishment is a very powerful tool used to collect taxes owed through your employer. Once a wage garnishment is filed with an employer, the employer is required to collect a large percentage of each paycheck. The paycheck that would have normally been paid to the employee, will now be paid to the IRS. The wage garnishment stays in effect until the IRS is fully paid or until the IRS agrees to release the garnishment.
Unfiled Tax Returns
Taxpayers fail to file required tax returns for many reasons. The taxpayer must be aware that failure to file tax returns may be construed as a criminal act by the IRS. This type of criminal act is punishable by one year in jail for each year a tax return was not filed. Needless to say, it's one thing to owe the IRS money but another thing to potentially lose your freedom for failure to file a tax return. The IRS may file "SFR" (Substitute For Return) Tax Returns for you. This is the IRS's version of an unfiled tax return. Because SFR returns are filed in the best interest of the government, the only deductions you'll see are standard deductions and one personal exemption. You will not get credit for deductions which you may be entitled to such as exemptions for spouses, children, interest and taxes on your home, cost of any stock or real estate sales, and business expenses, etc. Regardless of what you have heard, you have the right to file your original tax return no matter how late it's filed.
IRS Penalties
The IRS penalizes millions of taxpayers each year. They have so many penalties that it's hard to understand which penalty they are hitting you with.
The most common penalties are: Failure to File and Failure to Pay. Both of these penalties can substantially increase the amount you owe the IRS in a very short period of time. To make matters worse the IRS charges you interest on penalties.
Taxpayers often find out about IRS problems many years after they have occurred. This causes the amount owed to the IRS to be substantially greater due to penalties and interest.
Some IRS penalties can be as high as 75%-100% of the original taxes owed. Often taxpayers can afford to pay the taxes owed, however the extra penalties make it impossible to pay off the entire balance.
The original goal of IRS imposing penalties was to punish taxpayers in order to keep them in line. Unfortunately they have turned into additional sources of income for the IRS. The IRS does abate penalties. Therefore before you pay the IRS any penalty amounts, you may want to consider requesting the IRS to abate your penalties.
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