Estate Planning Attorney in South Miami: Wills, Living Trusts, and Lady Bird Deeds
Attorney Yanitza Schoonover drafts complete estate plans for South Miami families. Flat fee pricing confirmed in writing. Florida Lady Bird Deeds. Revocable living trusts. Every document personally handled. Bilingual English and Spanish. Florida Bar #124081.
Estate Planning Attorney Serving South Miami, Florida
South Miami sits at one of the most distinctive intersections in Miami-Dade County. Bounded by the University of Miami to the north, Coral Gables to the west, Pinecrest to the south, and Kendall to the southwest, it is a small municipality with a genuinely mixed demographic: university faculty and staff who have owned the same Ponce de Leon Boulevard or Sunset Drive home for decades, young professional families drawn by walkability and the independent business culture on Sunset Drive, established Latin American families with multigenerational roots in the area, and a growing senior population in neighborhoods near the Dadeland corridor.
What ties these groups together is real property and the question of what happens to it. Attorney Yanitza Schoonover is a Florida Bar licensed estate planning attorney and last will and testament attorney who serves South Miami families from her office on Waterford District Drive in Miami, minutes from South Miami. She drafts every will, revocable living trust, and Lady Bird Deed personally, charges flat fees for all estate planning services confirmed in writing before any work begins, and provides full bilingual service in English and Spanish.
Every competing firm targeting South Miami estate planning searches is either a multi-office statewide template operation with no individual attorney visible, a probate-litigation firm with estate planning as a secondary service, or a 9am-to-5pm practice with no evening availability. None offer a Lady Bird Deed service. None state flat fee pricing. This page exists because South Miami families deserve better than that.
Typical Home Value
Florida's 3% statutory probate fee on a $600,000 South Miami home equals $18,000 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.
Surprise Fees
Full estate planning service in English and Spanish for South Miami's Latin American community, including families near the University of Miami, Hablamos Español.
Languages
Flat fee pricing for all estate planning services. Written quote before work begins: no hourly billing, no surprise invoices.
What Estate Planning Services Does The Schoonover Law Firm Provide in South Miami?
A complete South Miami estate plan covers six core legal documents. Every document is drafted to comply with Florida Statutes and recorded or filed with Miami-Dade County where required.
| Service | What It Does for South Miami Families |
|---|---|
| Last will and testament | Directs who receives your assets after death and names a guardian for minor children. Florida requires 2 witnesses and notarization. Without a valid last will and testament, Florida intestacy law takes over and the state decides who inherits your South Miami property. |
| Revocable living trust | Transfers your assets to named beneficiaries at death through your successor trustee without any probate court proceeding. The most effective probate avoidance tool for South Miami families with titled real property, investment accounts, or business interests. |
| Lady Bird Deed | Transfers your South Miami home to named beneficiaries at death without probate. This enhanced life estate deed lets you retain full ownership and control during your lifetime while eliminating the probate proceeding on your home entirely. |
| Durable Power of Attorney | Authorizes a trusted agent to manage your financial affairs immediately upon your incapacity without going to Miami-Dade Circuit Court. A critical incapacity planning document that most South Miami families do not have until after a crisis makes it too late. |
| Healthcare Surrogate Designation | Names the person who makes medical decisions for you when you cannot speak for yourself. Without this advance directive, Florida law assigns that role from a ranked list of relatives, and the person chosen may not be who you would choose. |
| Living Will | States your wishes on life-prolonging procedures in writing. Removes that decision from your family at the moment they are least equipped to make it. |
For a typical South Miami home valued between $500,000 and $700,000, Florida probate costs 3% of the estate in statutory attorney fees under F.S. 733.6171 before your family sees a dollar. On a $600,000 home that is $18,000 in attorney fees alone, plus court costs, plus 9 to 24 months before the property can be transferred. A funded revocable living trust and a Lady Bird Deed eliminate that entirely for most South Miami families.
Incapacity Planning: What Happens While You Are Still Alive
Most estate planning conversations focus on what happens after you die. Incapacity planning focuses on what happens while you are still alive but cannot manage your own affairs. It is the part of a complete estate plan that South Miami families most commonly skip, and it is the part that causes the most immediate disruption when it is missing.
Durable Power of Attorney
Authorizes your named agent to manage your bank accounts, real estate, and financial affairs immediately upon your incapacity, without any court involvement. Without it, a family member who needs to act on your behalf must petition Miami-Dade Circuit Court for guardianship, a process that typically takes 60 to 120 days and costs $3,000 to $5,000 before any authority is granted.
Healthcare Surrogate Designation
Names the person who speaks for you medically when you cannot. Without this advance directive, Florida law assigns that authority from a statutory ranked list that may not reflect your actual wishes or relationships.
Revocable Living Trust with Successor Trustee
Your named successor trustee steps in immediately and privately upon your incapacity, managing trust assets without any court filing. For South Miami families with investment accounts, rental properties, or business interests, this is the fastest and most complete form of incapacity protection available.
Not one of the four firms competing for South Miami estate planning and probate searches addresses incapacity planning as a named framework. Miami Probate Attorneys is a probate and litigation firm. Florida Probate and Family Law Firm covers it in a general bullet. Lorenzo Law is probate-focused. None of them offer South Miami families a structured three-document incapacity plan as a standalone service.
A family member who needs to manage your affairs must petition Miami-Dade Circuit Court for guardianship, a process that takes 60 to 120 days and costs $3,000 to $5,000 to initiate before any protective authority is granted.
Florida Lady Bird Deeds for South Miami Homeowners
South Miami has one of the most stable homeownership profiles in Miami-Dade County. Families along Sunset Drive, SW 62nd Avenue, and the streets near Dante Fascell Park have often owned the same property for 20 or 30 years. That history of homeownership, combined with steadily rising South Miami property values, means the cost of passing that home through Florida probate is not abstract. It is real money, real time, and a real disruption to a family that is already grieving.
A Lady Bird Deed, also called an enhanced life estate deed, is a straightforward legal instrument that transfers your South Miami home to your named beneficiaries at death without any probate proceeding. You retain complete ownership and control during your lifetime. You can sell, refinance, lease, or revoke the deed at any time. The named beneficiaries have no rights in the property while you are alive.
The deed preserves Florida homestead protection, the Save Our Homes assessment cap, and Medicaid eligibility under current Florida estate recovery rules. Attorney Schoonover drafts every Lady Bird Deed to comply with Florida Statutes and records it with the Miami-Dade County Clerk. Miami Probate Attorneys has no Lady Bird Deed service on any of its 30+ South Florida location pages. Florida Probate and Family Law Firm has no Lady Bird Deed service at all.
How to Avoid Probate in Florida: The South Miami Approach
South Miami families ask about probate avoidance at almost every initial consultation, and for good reason. Florida probate is public record, takes 9 to 24 months for uncontested formal administrations in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, and costs 3% of the gross probate estate in statutory attorney fees under F.S. 733.6171. For a $600,000 South Miami home, that is $18,000 in attorney fees before anyone can sell or transfer the property.
The most effective probate avoidance strategy for South Miami homeowners combines two instruments. The first is a funded revocable living trust, which transfers all titled assets to a successor trustee at death without any court proceeding. The second is a Lady Bird Deed on the family home, which transfers the property directly to named beneficiaries at death by operation of law. Together these two instruments eliminate the need for formal probate administration for most South Miami families.
Accounts with payable-on-death designations, jointly titled assets, and life insurance and retirement accounts with named beneficiaries also transfer outside of probate. A complete estate plan coordinates all of these instruments so that no asset is accidentally left in the probate estate at death.
- 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 South Miami?
Yanitza Schoonover is a Florida Bar licensed estate planning attorney based in Miami with 13 years of Florida estate law experience. She holds Florida Bar number 124081 with active good standing status and drafts every estate planning document for South Miami families personally, from the initial consultation through trust funding and deed recording.
South Miami 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 South Miami families, particularly the Florida Lady Bird Deed for homes along the Sunset Drive corridor and near Dadeland, demand an attorney who knows local law and handles every detail without delegation.
Every estate planning document, every client question, and every signing appointment handled personally by Attorney Schoonover.
Years in Estate Law
Years Licensed
Consecutive Rising Stars
Weekly Availability
Why South Miami Families Choose The Schoonover Law Firm
Every firm currently competing for South Miami estate planning and probate searches has a significant structural limitation. Miami Probate Attorneys is a multi-attorney probate and litigation firm operating 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday, with no individual attorney named on the South Miami page and no Lady Bird Deed service. Florida Probate and Family Law Firm operates eight offices across Florida from Coral Gables to Port Charlotte, treats South Miami as one of many service zip codes, and has no Lady Bird Deed service. Jose Lorenzo Law is probate-focused with estate planning as a secondary offering.
Lady Bird Deed
For a $600,000 South Miami home, that absence costs families $18,000 in statutory probate fees.
Flat Fee Estate Planning
All estate planning fees confirmed in writing before work begins.
Bilingual in English and Spanish
Full estate planning service in both languages for South Miami's large Latin American community, including families near UM and along Sunset Drive. Hablamos Español.
One Named Attorney, Every Matter
Attorney Schoonover handles every will, every trust, and every Lady Bird Deed personally from consultation through deed recording. No associate, no paralegal, no delegation.
Incapacity Planning as a Named Framework
Durable power of attorney, healthcare surrogate designation, and revocable living trust with successor trustee, drafted as a unified plan.
Extended Availability Beyond 9 to 5
In-person Mon–Fri before 5 PM. Evening and weekend consultations by phone or Zoom only, Mon–Sun 8 AM to 9 PM. Miami Probate Attorneys operates 9-to-5 weekdays only.
Estate Planning Attorney Serving South Miami and Surrounding Communities
Primary Service Areas
South Miami · Sunset Drive Corridor · SW 62nd Avenue Dante Fascell Park Area · Dadeland Corridor Pinecrest · Coral Gables · Kendall
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 South Miami · All in-person visits by appointment only
Estate Planning Questions from South Miami Families
Common questions Attorney Schoonover receives from South Miami families during initial consultations.
Q: How much does estate planning cost in South Miami?
At The Schoonover Law Firm, all estate planning services are priced at a flat fee confirmed in writing before any work begins. A basic will package including a last will and testament, durable power of attorney, healthcare surrogate designation, and living will typically ranges from $800 to $1,500. A complete trust-based estate plan including a revocable living trust, pour-over will, all four supporting documents, and a Lady Bird Deed for your South Miami home typically ranges from $3,500 to $8,000. A written quote is provided before any work starts for estate planning and all other legal services. No competing South Miami estate planning attorney states their pricing.
Q: What is the difference between a trust attorney and an estate planning attorney in South Miami?
The terms overlap significantly. An estate planning attorney in South Miami handles the full range of estate planning documents: last wills and testaments, revocable living trusts, Lady Bird Deeds, durable powers of attorney, healthcare surrogate designations, and living wills. A trust attorney is an estate planning attorney whose practice centers on revocable living trusts and trust administration. At The Schoonover Law Firm, both terms describe the same service, Attorney Schoonover drafts every estate planning document including trusts and serves as counsel through trust administration and successor trustee transitions.
Q: Can I avoid probate on my South Miami home without a trust?
Yes. A Florida Lady Bird Deed, also called an enhanced life estate deed, transfers your South Miami home to named beneficiaries at death without any probate proceeding, without a revocable living trust, and without any court involvement. You retain full ownership and control during your lifetime, including the right to sell, refinance, or revoke the deed at any time. For South Miami families whose primary goal is probate avoidance on the family home and who do not have complex asset structures, a Lady Bird Deed may be the right starting point. A free consultation covers whether a trust, a deed, or both make sense for your specific situation.
Q: Does The Schoonover Law Firm provide estate planning in Spanish in South Miami?
Yes. Attorney Schoonover provides full estate planning representation in both English and Spanish. Every consultation, every document review, and every signing appointment can be conducted in Spanish for South Miami families who prefer it. Hablamos Espanol. Call (305) 299-7496 or email info@estateplanningattorney.us to schedule a free consultation in the language you prefer.
Start Your South Miami Estate Plan Today
A complete South Miami estate plan takes 1 to 4 weeks from consultation to signing. Attorney Schoonover reviews your assets, your family structure, and your 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 for South Miami, Pinecrest, Coral Gables, and Kendall families: including last wills, revocable living trusts, Lady Bird Deeds, durable powers of attorney, healthcare surrogate designations, and living wills.
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
