Hialeah Estate Planning Attorney: Keep the Family House Out of Probate
For most Hialeah families, the house is the estate. As an estate planning attorney in Hialeah, Attorney Yanitza Schoonover helps parents and grandparents pass that home to their children without a probate case, usually with a Florida Lady Bird Deed, a short will and powers of attorney, explained in Spanish or English.
You keep full control of the house while you live. Your children receive it without waiting months for a judge in downtown Miami.
The Hialeah House Is Usually the Whole Estate
Hialeah is a city of long-time owners. Census figures put the median owner-occupied home value at about $392,000, the median age at about 46, and roughly one in five residents at 65 or older. Many of those homes were bought decades ago, paid off slowly, and are now worth far more than anything in the bank. Whether it is a block home off Palm Avenue near the old Hialeah Fountain, a house in the streets around Amelia Earhart Park, or a newer place west of the Palmetto Expressway, it is often the single largest thing a family owns.
Median value of an owner-occupied home
Homes lived in by their owners
Residents age 65 or older
Residents born outside the U.S.
A bank account can pass with a simple payable on death form. A house cannot. It only moves after death through a deed, a trust, or a court order.
What happens to a Hialeah home when the owner dies without a plan
If the deed is only in the parent’s name, the family has to open a probate case before anyone can sell, refinance, or even clean up the title. For Hialeah residents, that case is filed with the Probate Division at the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, 73 West Flagler Street. If there is no will, Florida’s intestacy rules decide who owns the house. When a surviving spouse and children are involved, those rules can leave a spouse with a life estate and the children owning the rest, which means several relatives co-own a house that none of them can sell alone.
If a parent has already passed away, our Hialeah probate attorney page walks through what the family does next. This page is about planning now so your own children never need it.
Why the property tax bill can jump for your heirs
While you live in the house as your permanent home, the homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes cap keep the taxable value low, and many Hialeah seniors also qualify for an extra senior exemption. Those benefits belong to you, not to the house. After you pass away, the cap generally resets when ownership changes, and a child who inherits has to qualify and apply for their own exemption.
Putting a Child on the Deed: The Shortcut That Backfires
Ask around any Hialeah family gathering and someone will say, “Just put the kids on the deed.” It sounds simple, and it is one of the most common mistakes we fix. Adding a son or daughter as a co-owner today is a gift of part of your house, and it brings problems most families never hear about:
A lawsuit, a judgment, or a divorce in your child's life can reach their share of your home.
To sell, refinance, or take a reverse mortgage, every owner on the deed has to sign.
A gifted share usually keeps your old purchase price as its tax basis. Property received at death generally gets a new basis at today's value, which can save heirs thousands of dollars in capital gains when they sell.
If the deed does not use the right survivorship wording, the parent's share can still end up in court.
A better tool gives your children the house at your death without giving it to them today.
How a Lady Bird Deed Works on a Hialeah Home
A Lady Bird Deed, also called an enhanced life estate deed, keeps you as the owner for the rest of your life and names who receives the house when you die. Until then, nothing changes for you. You can live there, rent it, sell it, mortgage it, or change your mind and name different beneficiaries, all without asking your children for a signature.
You sign the deed and stay the only owner of your Hialeah home.
Live there, sell, refinance or change beneficiaries. No one else signs.
The house passes to your named children. No probate case.
When you pass away, the house goes to the people named in the deed without a probate case. Your homestead exemption stays in place during your lifetime, and your heirs generally receive the stepped up tax basis.
| Option | Who controls the house while you live |
Skips probate |
Your child's creditors can reach it |
Tax basis for heirs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Add a child to the deed | You and your child together | Sometimes | Yes | Often your old basis |
| Lady Bird Deed Recommended for most homeowners | You alone | Yes | No | Usually a new basis |
| Will only | You alone | No | No | Usually a new basis |
| Revocable living trust | You, as trustee | Yes | No | Usually a new basis |
A Lady Bird Deed is not right for every home. If you are married, Florida’s homestead rules limit who can receive the house, and your spouse usually needs to sign. If you own several properties, have heirs who disagree, or want someone to manage the house for a grandchild, a revocable living trust is often the better fit. We review your deed and your family situation before recommending either one.
Planning in Spanish, Signing Under Florida Law
More than 9 in 10 Hialeah residents speak a language other than English at home, and about three in four were born outside the United States. Attorney Schoonover explains every page of your plan in Spanish or English, whichever you are more comfortable with, so your parents understand what they are signing instead of nodding along.
A “poder” from another country or a store form
A power of attorney signed abroad, or a generic form bought online, is often refused by Florida banks and title companies. Florida requires two witnesses and a notary, and certain powers, such as changing beneficiaries or making gifts, must be initialed one by one. A properly signed durable power of attorney in Florida lets a son or daughter pay bills, deal with the bank, and handle the house if a parent cannot.
Children or heirs living outside Florida
Many Hialeah parents have children in Cuba, Venezuela, Spain, or another state. Florida allows a close relative such as a son or daughter to serve as personal representative even if they live far away, but a friend or cousin abroad usually cannot. Naming the right people in your Florida will now, and keeping the house out of court with a Lady Bird Deed, saves relatives from flying in to sign court papers.
For medical decisions, a health care surrogate designation tells doctors at Hialeah Hospital, Palmetto General, or any other hospital exactly which family member speaks for you. Without one, the hospital follows a priority list that may not match your wishes.
Your Hialeah Plan, Step by Step
First conversation. In person, by phone, or by Zoom, in Spanish or English. Bring a copy of your deed if you have it, or we look it up in the county records.
Deed and family review. We check how the house is titled today, whether a spouse or minor child affects the homestead rules, and who you want to inherit.
Flat fee in writing. You receive one price for the deed, will, and powers of attorney before any work begins.
Signing. You sign with the required witnesses and notary in a single appointment.
Recording. We record the Lady Bird Deed with the Miami-Dade Clerk and send you recorded copies for your records.
Meeting With Us From Hialeah
The office is at 6303 Waterford District Drive, Suite 400, just off State Road 836 west of Miami International Airport. From central Hialeah, most clients take the Palmetto Expressway south to 836, a drive of about 20 to 25 minutes outside rush hour. If driving is hard for an older parent, we can meet by phone or Zoom and plan the signing around the family’s schedule.
Attorney Yanitza Schoonover has been licensed in Florida since 2016 and has been selected as a Super Lawyers Rising Star six years in a row. She handles your plan herself, not a paralegal, and gives you a flat fee in writing before anything is drafted. Evening and weekend appointments are available for families who work during the week. Learn more about Attorney Yanitza Schoonover.
Families We Help Around Hialeah
Many of our Hialeah clients have relatives a few minutes away. We also work with families who need an estate planning attorney in Hialeah Gardens, homeowners looking for a Miami Lakes estate planning lawyer, and business owners who need a Doral estate planning attorney. For a full overview of what a plan includes, visit our Florida estate planning services page, or learn how to avoid probate in Florida on other types of property.
Hialeah Estate Planning Questions
Yes. The most common way is a Lady Bird Deed, which keeps the house in your name while you live and passes it to the children you name when you die, without a probate case. A revocable living trust also works, especially if you own more than one property.
No. Your homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes cap end with your ownership. A child who moves in and makes the house their permanent home can apply for their own exemption, but the taxable value generally resets, so the tax bill is often higher.
Sí. Attorney Schoonover explains every document in Spanish or English. Florida documents are prepared in English for the courts, banks and title companies, and we go through each page with you in Spanish before you sign.
Yes. A person does not need to live in the United States to inherit Florida property. A Lady Bird Deed is especially helpful here, because it avoids a probate case that would otherwise require documents, signatures and sometimes travel from relatives abroad.
Yes. The mortgage stays in place and you keep making payments as usual. When you pass away, the house goes to your beneficiaries with the mortgage still attached, and they can keep paying it, refinance, or sell.
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Talk With a Hialeah Estate Planning Lawyer This Week
Bring your deed and your questions. We will tell you how your Hialeah home is titled today, what would happen to it without a plan, and the flat fee to fix it.
The Schoonover Law Firm, P.A.
6303 Waterford District Drive, Suite 400, Miami, FL 33126
