About Lama Alqasemi

Lama Alqasemi is an up and coming attorney who recently joined Battaglia, Ross, Dicus & McQuaid, P.A. Her practice areas include: Estate Planning, Charitable Gift Planning, Estate and Trust Administration, Business Succession Planning, and Guardianship.

Ms. Alqasemi is known for being accessible and personable to her clients. She places a high priority on staying connected to her clients and co-workers. Ms. Alqasemi says that some of the most memorable moments in her career as an attorney have been when she was able to find creative ways to help her clients. Ms. Alqasemi finds it extremely rewarding to re-instill hope in the lives of her clients facing hardships. As a compassionate attorney, Ms. Alqasemi has maintained relationships with her clients far beyond assisting them with legal issues.

Ms. Alqasemi is not just a caring attorney; she’s also a competent one. She prides herself on being knowledgeable on relevant legal developments as they pertain to each client’s unique situation.With her training on tax law, she will be able to handle complex issues. With her background, she is able to assess issues through a local, national, and/or international lens.

Her varied life experience, education, and training allow her to approach legal issues uniquely and connect deeply with her clients. As such, Ms. Alqasemi is distinguished for being able to offer exceptional and authentic legal services. During law school, she worked as a clerk at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. In addition, she worked as a clerk for Dentons, one of the largest internationally renowned firms in Prague, Czech Republic.

Prior to joining Battaglia, Ross, Dicus & McQuaid, P.A., Ms. Alqasemi worked as an attorney at Absolute Law Group in Ocala, Florida.

Lama Alqasemi’s Education and Background

Ms. Alqasemi completed her undergraduate studies at the University of South Florida with a B.S. degree in Integrative Animal Biology.

She then attended George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia, where she earned her Juris Doctor. After obtaining her Juris Doctor, she went on to earn her Master of Laws in Taxation (LL.M.) from the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

Ms. Alqasemi comes from a large family, which has instilled in her the ability to be a good team player. Being one of five children has taught her the art of negotiating from a very young age. Litigation is not just Ms. Alqasemi’s passion but a family tradition. Her grandfather was also an attorney and is one of her greatest inspirations.

Ms. Alqasemi is a Tampa Bay native, where she grew up and recently relocated back to her hometown. When she’s not helping clients, Ms. Alqasemi loves spending her free time outdoors, in nature. In addition, she enjoys socializing and spending quality time with her friends and family.

Ms. Alqasemi strives to keep a solid and active presence in the local Tampa Bay community. She also commits a considerable amount of her time to educational outreach programs.

She will practice in the following areas at Battaglia, Ross, Dicus & McQuaid, P.A.:

• Estate Planning
• Charitable Gift Planning
• Estate and Trust Administration
• Business Succession Planning
• Guardianship
• Tax Planning
• Probate Administration

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Excellence in and Out of the Courtroom

A Legacy That Lives On

“Every Client Is Our Most Important Client”

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What Is Probate?

What Is a Probate Lawyer?

Do I Need a Probate Lawyer in Florida?

To Overcome The Technical Hurdles

To Avoid Family Conflict

If a Family Member is Making Threats

Determining Beneficiaries

Challenging the Validity of a Will

• A lack of signing formalities.
• If the person who made the Will lacked proper mental capacity when it was signed.
• Undue influence
• Fraud

Creating Estate Plans

Surviving Spouses

Creditor Claims

Probate Attorney When There Is a Will

Probate Attorney When There Is No Will

Should We Use Summary Administration If Available?

• The Will leaves property to many beneficiaries, who would each have to sign a contract to sell the property and other related papers.
• The beneficiaries include minors, so guardianships may need to be set up until they’re adults. However, with a probate attorney, you may be able to avoid that through the Florida Uniform Transfers to Minors Act.
• If a beneficiary is uncontactable, then summary administration cannot work without their presence. Probate, however, can.
• If a beneficiary refuses to cooperate, formal administration will likely be required, improperly filing summary administration may actually lengthen the probate process.

Is It Too Late to Start Probate?

Do I Need to Appear in Florida To Probate an Estate?

Hire a Probate Attorney in Florida

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We look forward to working with Jeffrey and taking advantage of everything he brings to the table.

About Jeffrey Stiller

Jeffrey M, Stiller, ESQ is an associate with Battaglia, Ross, Dicus & McQuaid, P.A. specializing in Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law.

His vast experience and passion for justice and helping people manage complicated financial circumstances have proved consistently pivotal in high-profile cases.

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, he attended Eastern Michigan University and later Stetson University College of Law, where he earned top honors in his Federal Income Tax and Legal Writing Seminar courses.

At his last position, he served as the lead attorney servicing Florida and Michigan clients for one of the largest independent finance companies in the nation.

Now, as a member of the Florida Bar, Jeffrey has gained a reputation for developing and maintaining these client relationships throughout Florida. Jeffrey has also worked for the Social Security Administration and as an adjunct professor for Henry Ford Community College.

In addition to his roles in Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law, Jeffrey is respected for his practice in:

Trusts, Wills, Powers of Attorney, Living Wills and Business Entity Formation.

He has drafted and reviewed hundreds of estate plans involving Revocable Trusts, Irrevocable Trusts, Special

Needs Trusts, Wills, Durable Powers of Attorney, Restatements of Trust, Certifications of Trusts,

Trust Amendments, Deeds, and LLC documents. While also consulting and advising clients regarding estate planning, asset protection, and Medicaid planning. He has also established hundreds of corporations and limited liability companies.

His experience in attending local and national networking events with third-party brokers and financial institutions to develop business relationships and generate income makes him a highly trusted and successful part of our firm.

Jeffrey offers 30-minute complimentary consultations for first-time clients and makes house and hospital calls upon request.

Educational Background & Training

Jeffrey has over a decade of experience in the areas of Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law. Jeffrey has been a member of The Florida Bar since May 2012 and the State Bar of Michigan since 2013.

Jeffrey earned a Juris Doctor (the highest education available in the legal profession) with the highest grade awards in Federal Income Tax, Legal Writing Seminar, Contracts I and Contracts II at Stetson University College of Law in Florida. Before that, he earned a Bachelor of Science, Criminal Justice degree at Eastern Michigan University.

After leaving college, he quickly worked hard to get hands-on experience in the areas of law and finance in Florida – moving from an intern at Aegon Financial Services in St. Petersburg to a Law Clerk at the offices of Darrin T. Mish in Tampa. He later returned to his native Michigan, shining as a Document Review Attorney while reviewing thousands of documents for relevant and privileged materials related to antitrust and

residential mortgage-backed security disputes. He then displayed his expertise and speaking skills as an Adjunct Professor at Henry Ford Community College in Michigan.

This was followed by gaining crucial experience as a Claims Representative at the Social Security Administration assisting thousands of individuals to apply and receive Social Security retirement, Disability, and SSI benefits, walking them through the appeals process if their benefits had been terminated, suspended, or claims had previously been denied. He later became an Associate Attorney at The Lawmaster Law Firm in Michigan. Here he utilized his passion and expertise to manage all phases of medical mergers & acquisitions and establish hundreds of corporations and limited liability companies throughout Michigan and Florida.

Finally, at his previous position at Brook and Wendt, PLLC, Jeffrey was a Partner and Estate Planning Attorney. Here he consulted and advised clients regarding estate planning, asset protection and Medicaid planning, alongside assistance with all aspects of funding Revocable and Irrevocable Trusts.

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What If the Federal Estate Tax Laws Change?

Can Trusts Avoid or at Least Minimize Taxes?

• For example, the IRS allows you to leave unlimited assets at death to your spouse, who will not have to pay any estate tax otherwise due until she dies. In other words, her estate will be responsible for the estate tax due, but only to the extent the remaining assets exceed her available estate tax exemption when she dies. This concept is known as the unlimited marital deduction, and estate planners frequently take advantage of it, especially for larger estates. Essentially, the unlimited marital deduction allows you to delay the imposition of the estate tax until your surviving spouse dies; the estate tax may even be avoided entirely if your surviving spouse spends down the assets below her exemption amount.

• For example, did you know that the IRS wants to tax your grandchildren’s inheritance in addition to the federal estate tax? A seasoned estate planning attorney can advise you on how the generation skipping transfer tax (also known as “GST” or “GSTT” tax) may apply to your estate plan, and, better yet, include the necessary provisions in your trust to minimize or even avoid the GSTT tax altogether.

Do Trusts Pay Income Tax?

• The most common type of trust in estate planning is a revocable trust. Revocable trusts generally are pass-through entities for federal income tax purposes. This means that the trust will not interfere with how you currently report your federal income tax to the IRS: all items of income, deduction, depreciation, and credit will continue to flow through to you on your personal Form 1040, and the trust will not be required to file its own income tax return during your lifetime. Many clients simply assign their social security number to their revocable trust during their lifetime. The general rule is that when you die, your revocable trust becomes irrevocable (because you are no longer alive to modify or revoke it), at which time the taxation of the trust will change.

• The income taxation of irrevocable trusts is more nuanced (as compared to revocable trusts). Essentially, an irrevocable trust can be designed to be taxed as its own entity (like a corporation), but there are also ways to have an irrevocable trust taxed to a particular person, such as the person who created it (the “settlor” or “grantor”). Your estate planning attorney should discuss these options with you before the irrevocable trust is established.

Can Trusts Avoid Tax Altogether?

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What is a Revocable Trust?

What is an Irrevocable Trust?

Do Revocable Trusts and Irrevocable Trusts Protect You Against Creditors?

• Application to Revocable Trusts: Recall that the main benefit of establishing a revocable trust during your lifetime is probate avoidance; your revocable trust does nothing for you from an asset protection standpoint. However, when you die, your revocable trust becomes irrevocable (because you are no longer alive to modify it). When this happens and trust assets are held in further trust for the benefit of your beneficiaries (for example, your children), such assets will be protected from your children’s creditors, as long as the trusts are considered “spendthrift” trusts under Florida law.

• Application to Irrevocable Trusts: Similarly, Florida law does not allow you to place assets in an irrevocable trust for your own benefit and circumvent your own creditors, whether such creditors exist now or arise in the future. However, when you fund an irrevocable trust during your lifetime with assets for the benefit of a third party beneficiary, such assets will be protected from the beneficiary’s creditors, as long as the trust is considered a “spendthrift” trust under Florida law.

What Is a Spendthrift Trust?

How Do You Create a Spendthrift Trust Under Florida Law?

Should the Beneficiary’s Trust Last for Her Lifetime? or Should It Terminate at a Certain Age?

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Who Is Entitled to Your Estate Assets When You Die?

Step 1: Does the Asset Have Any Surviving Co-Owners?

Step 2: Does the Asset Have Any Designated Beneficiaries?

• “pay-on-death” or “POD” beneficiaries
• “transfer-on-death” or “TOD” beneficiaries
• “in trust for” or “ITF” beneficiaries
• remaindermen

Step 3: Does the Deceased Person Have a Will?

Step 4: If the Deceased Person Does Not Have a Will, Then Who Are His or Her Intestate Heirs?

• First, your spouse;
• Second, your descendants;
• Third, your parents;
• Fourth, your siblings; and
• Fifth, your more remote next of kin (e.g., nieces, nephews, and cousins).

Step 5: Locate the Intestate Heirs.

Step 6: Escheat to the State of Florida.

1. There are no surviving joint owners (JTROS); and
2. There are no surviving designated beneficiaries; and
3. If there is a Will, none of the people named in the Will survive the person; and
4. If there is no Will, or if all of the people named in the Will fail to survive the deceased person, none of such person’s distanced relatives, no matter how remote, can be located.

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Enhanced Life Estate Deeds

Revocable Trusts

• Changes in family dynamics (e.g. marriage, death, divorce, birth of children or grandchildren).
• Change in net worth or acquisition of new assets (e.g. purchase of a new residence or vacation residence).
• Changes in the tax laws.
• Changes in state law.

Comparison: Trusts vs. Joint Ownership vs. Beneficiary Designations

Joint Ownership + Wills:

Beneficiary Designations:

Revocable Trust:

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Common Asset Protection Mistakes

Best Practices

• First, the client and their estate planning attorney should discuss asset protection techniques in person or by phone, never by email.
• Second, the client’s file should simply be titled, “Estate Planning.” Even if the client’s primary goal in meeting with the attorney is asset protection planning, it is a good idea for the attorney to update the client’s core estate planning documents in conjunction with any asset protection techniques. This bolsters the client’s position that their overall goal was an estate planning update generally, and any creditor protection benefits derived therefrom simply were tangential.
• Third, asset protection planning should always be commenced when the “sky is clear,” meaning ideally, the client should put planning in place that minimizes liability exposure when there are no potential claims or lawsuits pending. The mere threat of litigation is enough to unwind even the most sophisticated asset protection maneuver.
• Fourth, a qualified estate planning attorney will conduct an assessment of the client’s creditor exposure without even being asked; we all drive or ride as a passenger in motor vehicles on a daily basis, which by its very nature is a dangerous activity. Moreover, and unfortunately, our society is extremely litigious – so these days everyone is a potential target for a lawsuit.

What Can You Do to Protect Yourself?

My clients are often surprised that under Florida law, most of their assets already receive some level of creditor protection. The type of protection generally falls under one of three primary categories: constitutional, statutory, or common law. Here are some common examples applicable to Florida residents:*

Florida’s Constitution provides that a Florida resident’s primary residence is not subject to forced sale by most creditors, including most judgment creditors. Thus, your primary residence can be one of the safest places to put your cash. This being said, one obvious drawback is the lack of liquidity of real property and the fact that every investment in your residence does not necessarily increase its market value: just because you spend $40,000.00 on an infinity pool does not mean that the value of your residence has now increased by $40,000.00. It should also be noted that there are three primary types of creditors that can lien and force the sale of your primary residence in Florida:

1. a lender with a properly recorded mortgage;
2. the IRS and other taxing authorities; and
3. mechanic’s lienholders.

Most qualified retirement plans, including 401(k)s and most IRAs, receive creditor protection by virtue of §222.2221(2)(a), Florida Statutes. Importantly, the statutory protection is strongest when applied to the primary plan owner and his or her spouse; there is at least one case that seems to say that the statutory creditor protection of assets within qualified plans is not as strong when your children or other third parties inherit your qualified plan assets upon your demise (the reasoning being: it’s not their retirement; they didn’t work for it, so there is less of a public policy in protecting it from their creditors).

Florida Statutes, §222.14 protects the cash value of life insurance policies from the creditors of the policyholder, thus making a well-structured, sound life insurance policy a safe place to store excess cash that can be accessed relatively quickly, if needed, either by virtue or withdrawal or a loan from the policy. When life insurance proceeds pass to a named beneficiary, the proceeds pass outside of the decedent’s probate estate, thereby insulating the proceeds from the claims of the decedent’s creditors. Therefore, it is imperative that clients ensure their life insurance policies name at least one valid beneficiary; proceeds payable to a decedent’s probate estate lose their creditor protected status upon the death of the decedent.

Annuities with life insurance companies also are creditor protected under Florida law by virtue of Florida Statutes, §222.14. In addition to the cash value of annuities, the income stream from annuities also enjoys creditor protection by virtue of the decision of the Florida Supreme Court in In re McCollam, 12 So. 2d 572 (Fla. 1993): the court ruled that because the payment stream from the annuity was, in essence, the core of the contract, it was exempt from creditor attachment.

Married Florida residents enjoy a special non-statutory form of creditor protection known as “tenancy by the entireties” (or “TBE” for short). Essentially, TBE is a joint tenancy with the right of survivorship plus the unity of marriage (the parties must be married at the time the property became titled in their joint names). TBE protection emanates from common law, specifically the Florida Supreme Court case of Beal Bank, SSB v. Almand & Associates, 780 So. 2d 45 (Fla. 2001). Assets titled as TBE are exempt from creditors who have claims against only one spouse. For example, a creditor with a judgment against their husband only cannot attach TBE assets of both husband and wife. Notable exceptions to TBE creditor protection include “super creditors” such as the IRS. It is also important to note the “bad day” exception: the same example as above, except wife, dies; in this scenario, the judgment creditor of the husband can pursue the assets in husband’s sole name upon the death of wife.

Properly structured business entities, including partnerships and limited liability companies (“LLCs”), can provide significant creditor protection by insulting liabilities arising from within the business from assets outside of the business, and vice versa. It is important to note that Florida law treats single-member LLCs differently than multi-member LLCs; therefore, this type of planning should be overseen by a qualified estate planning attorney who should coordinate the income tax election for the business with the client’s accountant or CPA.

While this article enumerates some of the most common creditor exemptions available to Florida residents, there are other more sophisticated techniques available, including, for example, family limited partnerships and irrevocable trusts established either domestically or offshore. A qualified estate planning attorney can determine whether you are a candidate for these advanced techniques based on the size of your estate, as well as your estate planning goals and risk profile generally.

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• Minor Children (under age 18 in most states); and
• Incapacitated Adults.

What is Probate?

What is Formal Administration?

What is Summary Administration?

Which Assets Are Subject to Probate?

• Individual checking/savings accounts with no “pay on death” beneficiary
• Individual brokerage accounts with no “transfer on death” beneficiary
• Stocks and bonds
• Real estate with no joint owner
• Real estate that is owned as “tenants in common”
• Retirement accounts with no “designated beneficiary” (or the designated beneficiary is deceased)
• Insurance policies with no “designated beneficiary” (or the designated beneficiary is deceased)
• Automobiles owned by individuals with no joint owner
• Tangible personal property (e.g. household appliances, furnishings, artwork, jewelry, etc.)

What is Joint Tenancy with Rights of Survivorship (“JTROS”)?

What is a Will?

What is a Living Will?

What does Intestacy mean?

What are Beneficiary Designations?

What Is a Durable Power of Attorney and When Do I Need One?

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