Attorney Jerry B. Wells is a highly experienced and well-respected probate attorney serving Ormond Beach, FL. For more than four decades, his firm has provided trusted legal representation to probate administrators, trustees, and other individuals on various probate and trust issues, including probate litigation. The firm's service area extends throughout Central Florida, including the Volusia County communities of Daytona Beach, DeLand, New Smyrna Beach and Port Orange and the Flagler County communities of Bunnell and Palm Coast.
A probate administrator, also known as a personal representative in Florida, is a court-appointed individual with the sole responsibility for managing and closing the affairs of a decedent’s estate through the probate process. A probate administrator is typically an adult family member or trusted friend, but a bank or trust company can also be appointed as a probate administrator. A probate administrator has a legal obligation to protect the interests of the decedent’s estate while executing numerous fiduciary duties, including identifying assets and creditors, completing, and filing tax returns, paying estate expenses and taxes, distributing assets to beneficiaries and heirs, and resolving disputes.
When disputes cannot be settled out of court, probate litigation may be necessary. Since a probate administrator has significant legal responsibilities, hiring a well-respected probate lawyer with probate litigation experience like Attorney Jerry B. Wells is imperative.
Attorney Wells is also a skilled trust attorney. More families and individuals in Ormond Beach and throughout Volusia County are using revocable and irrevocable trusts to protect their assets and simply the process of distributing assets to beneficiaries and heirs. A trust is a separate legal entity managed by a trustee, who is often the person who established the trust. The trust’s owner (trust maker) can appoint additional trustees who will manage the trust upon incapacitation or death of the owner. Trustees have a fiduciary duty to protect the financial interests of the beneficiaries contained in the trust. Trusts are often complex legal entities, so it’s best to retain an experienced trust attorney who can provide expert guidance when trust contests, disputes, and other legal issues arise.
Visit our website or contact us at (386) 253-3676 to schedule an appointment with an experienced probate attorney serving the Ormond Beach, FL area!