Estate planning for Tampa families and business owners

List your interest in each business and bring the operating agreement, shareholder agreement or other governing documents. Explain who currently signs contracts, manages accounts and keeps records. The person you want to inherit your interest may be different from the person equipped to keep the business running.

A will or trust should be considered alongside existing agreements and any restrictions on transfers. Ask how your estate-planning goals fit those documents before changing ownership. This review does not assume that an inheritance instruction alone appoints a manager or overrides an agreement with other owners.

For every investment property, identify the owner shown on the deed, county, lease, manager and recurring obligations. A Hillsborough County deed can be located through the Clerk’s official records services. If a property is elsewhere in Tampa Bay, use its actual county rather than treating the whole region as Hillsborough.

Explain whether you hope beneficiaries will keep the property, sell it or continue an existing management arrangement. Include information about reserves, loans and the paperwork a successor would need. A clear inventory helps the attorney distinguish property owned directly from an ownership interest in a company.

Consider how personal expenses would be handled if your income or management role stopped unexpectedly. Identify the people you trust with financial decisions and the information they would need. Discuss a will, trust and incapacity documents in light of those responsibilities rather than selecting documents by asset value alone.

Attorney Dolina Lascaze’s office is in Aventura, with visits by appointment only. When scheduling from Tampa, confirm meeting arrangements and describe the businesses or properties involved so the scope of the consultation is clear.