Probate – Cochran Law Firm, P.L.

What to Do With an Inherited Home in Florida: The Practical Reality Nobody Warns You About

Inheriting a home in Florida puts you in charge of a significant asset at one of the hardest moments of your life. Whether you plan to sell the property, keep it in the family, or figure that out later, the house will not wait patiently while you grieve and sort through paperwork. It has immediate […]

April 27, 2026
By Allison Cochran
Business, Estate Planning, Probate, Succession Planning, Trusts
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Digital Assets and Estate Planning: What Happens to Your Phone, Photos, and Accounts When You Die

Most people spend years building an estate plan to protect their home, their savings, and their family. Then they forget about everything stored behind a password. Your photos. Your email. Your cloud storage. Your social media accounts. Your business records and financial logins. None of that transfers automatically. And in many cases, your family will […]

Probate: What It Is & How To Avoid It—Part 2

Why Probate Is a Problem and How to Help Your Family Avoid It Unless you’ve created an estate plan that works to keep your family out of court, when you die or become incapacitated, many of your assets must go through probate before they can be distributed to your heirs. Like most court proceedings, probate […]

March 29, 2026
By Allison Cochran
Estate Planning, Long Term Care Planning, Medicaid Planning, Probate, Trusts
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Why “Someone Will Take Care of Me” Is Not an Estate Plan | Cochran Law Firm, P.L.

Why “Someone Will Take Care of Me” Is Not an Estate Plan Most people expect that if something goes wrong, a spouse, adult child, or close friend will step in. For millions of aging Americans in Florida, Washington, and across the country, that assumption is increasingly difficult to rely on. According to AARP, more than […]

January 25, 2026
By Allison Cochran
Probate
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PROBATE: WHAT IT IS — AND WHY MOST PEOPLE WANT TO AVOID IT (PART 1)

If you don’t have the right estate plan in place when you die, many of your assets won’t automatically pass to your loved ones. Instead, they’ll have to go through probate—a court-supervised legal process that stands between your family and the property you intended them to receive. Probate is often slow, expensive, public, and emotionally […]

The Florida Home Transfer Hack That Can Actually Work

Every so often, a legal tool comes along that’s so practical, so efficient, and so downright useful that I find myself wondering why more people don’t talk about it at dinner parties. (Yes, I’m fully aware that normal people do not talk about legal documents over appetizers. I’ve made my peace with it.) But if […]

The Caregiving Reality Check: What Happens to Families Without a Plan (and How to Prevent It)

When adult siblings step in to care for aging parents, people expect a heartwarming Hallmark moment. What actually happens? Old wounds get ripped open, new resentments settle in, and suddenly the group chat turns into a battleground. What should bring families together usually does the opposite. With more than 37 million Americans providing unpaid elder […]

“Nobody Prepared Me for This”: The Reality of Managing Inherited Real Estate

You’re grieving the loss of someone you love, and now—on top of that—you’ve inherited their house. It’s probably sitting empty, the utilities are still on, the mail is piling up, and suddenly you’re asking yourself questions like: Who’s paying the bills? Is the AC still working? What even happens if the place gets broken into? […]