Estate Planning Attorney in Hialeah Gardens, Wills, Trusts, and Lady Bird Deeds
Attorney Yanitza Schoonover helps Hialeah Gardens families protect their homes and their children with a clear estate plan that keeps their family out of probate court. Flat fees confirmed in writing before work begins. Every document explained in English or Spanish.
Estate Planning Attorney Serving Hialeah Gardens, Florida
Hialeah Gardens is one of the most tightly knit communities in Miami-Dade County. With a population of roughly 23,000 packed into less than four square miles along Okeechobee Road and the Palmetto Expressway, it is a city where families live close together, often across multiple generations under one roof. More than 93% of residents identify as Hispanic or Latino, and Hialeah Gardens has the highest share of Spanish speakers of any city in the United States. For many families here, a home represents the single most important financial asset they own and at a current median value of approximately $460,000, it is also the most important thing at stake if there is no plan to pass it on.
That closeness makes estate planning matter more, not less. When a home on a quiet street off Okeechobee Road, a small family business, or a savings account built over decades has to reach the next generation, a plan built around your actual family not a form adapted from a 200-city template in Boca Raton is what protects it.
Attorney Yanitza Schoonover is a Florida Bar licensed estate planning attorney who works with Hialeah Gardens families from her office at 6303 Waterford District Drive, Suite 400 in Miami, just minutes away. Every result currently showing up for Hialeah Gardens estate planning searches is either a firm nearly 50 miles away filling in a city name on a template, or a Hialeah-area firm that treats Hialeah Gardens as a single line in a service-area list. Attorney Schoonover drafts every will, trust, and Lady Bird Deed personally, charges flat fees confirmed in writing before any work begins, and explains every document in plain English or Spanish never legal jargon left for you to figure out on your own.
Typical Home Value
Florida's 3% probate fee on a $460,000 Hialeah Gardens home equals $13,800 in attorney fees before your family sees a dollar. A Lady Bird Deed eliminates that entirely.
Core Documents
Last will, revocable living trust, Lady Bird Deed, durable power of attorney, healthcare surrogate designation, living will.
Hispanic or Latino
Hialeah Gardens has the highest share of Spanish speakers of any city in the United States. Full estate planning service available in Spanish Hablamos Español.
Consultation Fee
Free initial consultation. No obligation just answers about your situation and a written flat-fee quote.
What Does an Estate Plan Actually Include?
A complete estate plan usually comes down to six documents. Here is what each one actually does, in plain terms.
| Document | What It Actually Does |
|---|---|
| Last Will and Testament | Says who gets your things after you die, and who takes care of your kids if they are still minors. Florida requires 2 witnesses and a notary. Without one, Florida law decides for you, and it may not decide the way you would have. |
| Revocable Living Trust | Holds your assets while you are alive and passes them to the people you choose, without going through probate court at all. Useful if you own your Hialeah Gardens home outright or have multiple accounts to coordinate. |
| Lady Bird Deed | A simple, low-cost way to pass your Hialeah Gardens home directly to your beneficiaries at death, without probate, without court. You keep full control of the house while you are alive: sell it, refinance it, or change your mind at any time. |
| Durable Power of Attorney | Lets someone you trust step in and manage your money and property if you become too sick or injured to do it yourself, without a judge having to appoint them. |
| Healthcare Surrogate Designation | Names the person who makes medical decisions for you if you cannot speak for yourself. Without it, Florida law picks someone from a list of relatives, and it might not be who you would choose. |
| Living Will | Puts your wishes about life support and end-of-life care in writing, so your family never has to guess or argue about what you would have wanted. |
What Happens If You Cannot Speak for Yourself?
Most families think about estate planning in terms of death. Just as important is what happens if you are still alive but cannot manage your own affairs. A stroke, a sudden accident, or the gradual effects of aging can put a family in that position without any warning, and without the right documents in place, the consequences are severe.
Three documents cover this, and they work best together:
Durable Power of Attorney
This lets your chosen agent manage your bank accounts, pay your bills, and handle your property the moment you need them to, without a judge involved. Without it, your family has to petition Miami-Dade Circuit Court for legal guardianship, a process that typically takes 60 to 120 days and costs $3,000 to $5,000 before anyone has the legal authority to help you.
Healthcare Surrogate Designation
This names the person who makes medical decisions for you if you cannot speak for yourself. Without it, Florida law selects from a ranked list of relatives, whether or not that person is who you would actually want making those calls.
Revocable Living Trust
Your chosen successor trustee can step in and manage everything inside the trust immediately and privately, with no court filing at all. In close-knit Hialeah Gardens families where a spouse, adult child, or sibling is often the one who steps up in a crisis, this is frequently the document that matters most in practice. Learn more about how to choose a successor trustee.
What Is a Lady Bird Deed, and Why Does It Matter Here?
If you own a home in Hialeah Gardens, this is probably the most useful document you have never heard of. A Lady Bird Deed also called an enhanced life estate deed lets you pass your house directly to whoever you choose the moment you die, without probate court, without waiting months, without attorney fees eating into what your family inherits.
Here is what makes it different from a regular deed: you keep every right to the property while you are alive. You can sell it, refinance it, or change the beneficiary entirely, all without asking anyone’s permission, including the people set to inherit it. They have no legal claim to the home until you pass away.
For a Hialeah Gardens homeowner with a property now valued near $460,000, the math is straightforward. Passing that home through Florida probate means roughly $13,800 in statutory attorney fees before your family sees a dollar. A properly drafted and recorded Lady Bird Deed eliminates that cost completely.
A Lady Bird Deed also protects things Florida homeowners already rely on: your homestead tax exemption, the Save Our Homes cap that limits how much your property taxes can increase each year, and your Medicaid eligibility if long-term care ever becomes a concern. None of the firms currently competing for Hialeah Gardens estate planning searches offer this service.
Learn more about Lady Bird Deed tax implications and Medicaid estate recovery in Florida.
Florida Decides Who Gets Everything
Dying without a will does not mean your family sorts things out on their own. It means Florida’s intestacy law steps in and decides who inherits everything, based on a fixed set of legal rules, not your wishes.
The results often surprise people. An unmarried partner inherits nothing, no matter how long the relationship lasted. Stepchildren you raised but never legally adopted receive nothing. If you have children from more than one relationship, your current spouse does not automatically inherit everything Florida splits the estate between them.
For Hialeah Gardens families where relationships are layered and close, these default rules can produce outcomes no one would have chosen. A simple will costs far less than the conflict it prevents.
- Super Lawyers Rising Stars 2021 through 2026
- 2024 Elite Lawyer Award
- Florida Bar #124081, admitted September 2016
Why Choose The Schoonover Law Firm for Estate Planning in Hialeah Gardens?
Yanitza Schoonover is a Florida Bar licensed estate planning attorney based in Miami with 15+ years of Florida estate law experience. She holds Florida Bar number 124081 with active good standing status and drafts every estate planning document for Hialeah Gardens families personally, from the initial consultation through trust funding and deed recording.
Hialeah Gardens estate planning requires more than filling in a standard template. Florida homestead restrictions, Miami-Dade County recording requirements, and the specific probate avoidance tools that protect Hialeah Gardens families particularly Lady Bird Deeds for long-time homeowners and multi-generational family planning demand an attorney who knows local law and explains it in plain language, in the language your family actually speaks at home.
Years in Estate Law
Years Licensed
Consecutive Rising Stars
Weekly Availability
Why Hialeah Gardens Families Choose This Firm
Every result currently showing up for Hialeah Gardens estate planning searches shares the same problem: no genuine local presence. One is a Boca Raton firm nearly 50 miles away filling a city name into a template it uses for 200+ cities. The other is a Hialeah-area firm that lists Hialeah Gardens as one city in a service-area list, with no dedicated page and no community-specific content. At The Schoonover Law Firm, P.A., estate planning for Miami-Dade families is the entire practice, not an afterthought on a list of hundreds of cities.
Lady Bird Deed Services No Competitor Offers
We use this tool to help Hialeah Gardens families pass their homes directly to beneficiaries at death, eliminating the roughly 3% in probate fees Florida law would otherwise require on a $460,000 property.
Predictable Flat-Fee Pricing
Every estate plan is priced as a flat fee confirmed in writing before any legal work begins. No hourly billing. No surprises.
A Real Miami-Dade Office, Close to Home
Attorney Schoonover works from Miami, minutes from Hialeah Gardens not a firm operating from Boca Raton treating your city as one entry in a spreadsheet.
Plain-Language Guidance
Every document in your plan is explained clearly, so you understand exactly what it does and how it protects your family before you sign anything.
One Attorney, Every Document, Personally
Attorney Schoonover drafts every will, trust, and deed herself. Your plan is never handed off to an associate or paralegal.
Bilingual Service in English and Spanish
Hablamos Español for the Hialeah Gardens community, where Spanish is the primary language of the home for more than 95% of families.
Estate Planning Attorney Serving Hialeah Gardens and Surrounding Communities
Primary Service Areas
Hialeah Gardens · Hialeah · Medley · Doral · Miami Springs · Virginia Gardens · West Miami · Miami Lakes · Miami
In-Person Appointments
Monday through Friday Before 5:00 PM By appointment only
Phone & Zoom
Monday through Sunday 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM Evenings & weekends available
Office: 6303 Waterford District Dr, Suite 400, Miami, FL 33126 · Minutes from Hialeah Gardens · All in-person visits by appointment only
Estate Planning Questions from Hialeah Gardens Familie
Common questions Attorney Schoonover receives from Hialeah Gardens families during initial consultations.
What is a Lady Bird Deed in Florida?
A Lady Bird Deed, also called an enhanced life estate deed, lets you transfer your home to a chosen beneficiary at death without probate, while keeping full control including the right to sell or change your mind during your lifetime.
Does a Lady Bird Deed avoid probate?
Yes. A properly drafted and recorded Lady Bird Deed transfers the property directly to your named beneficiary at death, entirely outside the probate process.
What happens if you die without a will in Florida?
Florida’s intestacy law decides who inherits your estate and in what order, based on fixed rules rather than your wishes. Unmarried partners inherit nothing. A surviving spouse does not automatically receive everything if there are children from another relationship.
How do I avoid probate in Florida?
The two most common tools are a funded revocable living trust, which passes assets to beneficiaries without court involvement, and a Lady Bird Deed, which does the same specifically for real estate.
Do I need a trust in Florida, or is a will enough?
It depends on what you own. A will alone still requires probate. If avoiding probate matters to you especially for a home or multiple financial accounts a trust or a Lady Bird Deed, or both, is usually the better fit.
Do I need a will in Florida if I already have a trust?
Usually yes. Most trust-based plans still include a simple pour-over will to catch anything not already titled in the trust’s name at the time of death.
What is a Florida durable power of attorney?
A durable power of attorney names someone to manage your finances and property on your behalf if you become incapacitated. It takes effect immediately or upon incapacity depending on how it is drafted, and it avoids the need for a court-appointed guardian in most situations.
How much does estate planning cost in Florida?
At The Schoonover Law Firm, every service is priced as a flat fee confirmed in writing before any work begins. A basic will package typically runs $800 to $1,500. A complete trust-based plan including a Lady Bird Deed typically runs $3,500 to $8,000.
What is incapacity planning?
Incapacity planning refers to the set of documents a durable power of attorney, a healthcare surrogate designation, and often a living will that protect you and your family if you become unable to manage your own affairs. It is the part of estate planning that addresses what happens while you are still alive but unable to act.
Does this firm offer a free consultation?
Yes. Attorney Schoonover offers a free initial consultation to review your situation and explain exactly what you need before any work begins.
Does this firm offer services in Spanish?
Yes. Every consultation, document review, and signing appointment is available in Spanish. Hablamos Español.
Start Your Hialeah Gardens Estate Plan Today
A complete Hialeah Gardens estate plan typically takes 1 to 4 weeks from first call to signing. Attorney Schoonover reviews your assets, your family, and your goals on the first call, and tells you exactly what you need and what it costs before any work begins, with no obligation to move forward.
Attorney Schoonover drafts complete Florida estate plans for Hialeah Gardens, Hialeah, Medley, Doral, and surrounding communities including last wills, revocable living trusts, Lady Bird Deeds, durable powers of attorney, healthcare surrogate designations, and living wills. Want to understand how to avoid probate in more depth first? Start there, then come back to build your Hialeah Gardens plan.
A complete Miami estate plan takes 1 to 4 weeks from consultation to signing. Attorney Schoonover reviews your assets, family structure, and goals in the first call and confirms exactly which documents you need and what they will cost before any work begins.
Attorney Schoonover drafts complete Florida estate plans including last wills, revocable living trusts, durable powers of attorney, healthcare surrogate designations, living wills, and Lady Bird Deeds for individuals and families throughout Miami-Dade County and South Florida.
Start With a Free Consultation
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Email info@estateplanningattorney.us
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Schedule a Free Consultation at estateplanningattorney.us
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In-person meetings by appointment only.
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English and Spanish, Hablamos Español
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Flat fee for estate planning, fee quote provided before any work begins
