Estate Planning and Guardianship Attorney in Oakland Park, FL

Some Oakland Park homeowners bought in the 1970s and never left. Their houses are paid off, their children live in Atlanta or Chicago, and the only estate document in the drawer is a will written decades ago. When one of those owners starts forgetting bills or gets lost driving home from the store on Oakland Park Boulevard, the family suddenly needs answers about authority, money and the house, all at once.

We’re a short drive from Oakland Park, at our office on Cypress Creek Road in Fort Lauderdale. Pamela Schatten has practiced for 20 years, holds an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, and handles estate planning, guardianship, probate and the real estate side of all three for Oakland Park families.

What Oakland Park Families Usually Need From Us

Most calls from Oakland Park fall into one of three situations. Each one has a different first step.

A parent is aging in place. The priority is getting a durable power of attorney, a health care surrogate and an updated will or trust signed while the parent can still sign them. Once capacity is gone, those documents can’t be created, and the only route left is a court guardianship.

A parent has already lost capacity. If nothing was signed in time, we file for guardianship. If something was signed, we check whether it covers what the family needs to do. Often it does, and no court case is necessary.

A parent has passed away. If the house was in the parent’s name alone, it goes through probate before it can be sold. If it was in a trust or covered by a ladybird deed, the process is shorter.

Why Families Choose Barash-Schatten Law

One attorney, start to finish

Pamela meets with you, drafts the documents, files the petition and appears in court. You won’t be passed to an associate you’ve never met.

Guardianship experience

Guardianship is a large part of the practice, not a side service. That means we know the paperwork the Broward court expects and the alternatives that can make a petition unnecessary.

The house gets the same attention as the will

Pamela is an underwriting agent with Attorneys’ Title Fund and of counsel to a Florida title company. Older Oakland Park homes can carry old liens, unrecorded family transfers or boundary questions, and those are easier to fix before a sale than during one.

Fees in writing

Every matter is quoted in writing before work begins.

Florida Law That Applies

Oakland Park is in Broward County, the 17th Judicial Circuit. Guardianship cases are governed by Chapter 744 of the Florida Statutes. Before a court can find an adult incapacitated, it appoints an examining committee of three members to evaluate the person (section 744.331). The court can then appoint a limited guardian, who handles only the matters the person can’t manage, or a plenary guardian with broader authority.

The planning documents carry their own formalities. A durable power of attorney must be signed before two witnesses and a notary (section 709.2105), and certain powers, including making gifts and changing beneficiary designations, require the principal’s separate signature or initials (section 709.2202). A preneed guardian declaration under section 744.3045 lets you name the person you’d want appointed if a guardianship is ever needed.

Services for Oakland Park Clients

Guardianship

• Adult guardianship: Petitions to determine incapacity and appoint a guardian for a parent with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or the effects of a stroke.
• Guardian advocacy: For a young adult with a developmental disability such as autism or Down syndrome, under section 393.12. Often less involved than a full guardianship, and worth asking about before a child turns 18.
• Minor guardianship: Required when a child inherits or receives a settlement of more than $15,000.
• Annual plans and accountings: Guardians report to the court every year, and we prepare those filings.
• Alternatives: We start by asking whether an existing power of attorney or health care surrogate already solves the problem.

Estate Planning

• Wills and revocable trusts: Updated for Florida law and for the family you have now, not the one you had when the old will was signed.
• Ladybird deeds: A simple way to pass an Oakland Park house outside probate while keeping full control during your life.
• Incapacity documents: Durable power of attorney, health care surrogate, living will and preneed guardian declaration.
• Remote signing: Our electronic estate planning package lets documents be signed, witnessed and notarized remotely, which helps when the children who need to be involved live out of state.

Probate and Estate Administration

• Formal and summary administration in the Broward circuit court, including the creditor notice and the three-month claim period (section 733.702).
• Homestead determinations, so the house can pass to heirs or be sold free of creditor claims.
• Trust administration for successor trustees who’ve just stepped in.

Real Estate and Title Work

• Selling a parent’s home out of a guardianship, an estate or a trust, with the authority each one requires. A guardian usually needs court approval to sell.
• Title searches and curative work on older homes, including releasing old mortgages and correcting deeds.
• Residential closings for buyers and sellers.

Family Law

We also handle family law matters, including uncontested divorce, for Oakland Park clients.

When an Older Plan Needs a Second Look

A will that made sense in 1995 can quietly stop working. Review yours if any of these have happened since it was signed:

• A spouse died or you remarried
• A child or grandchild was born, divorced, or now has special circumstances
• The person you named as executor or trustee moved out of Florida, became ill, or passed away
• You refinanced, sold or bought property, or added someone to the deed
• You opened retirement or bank accounts with beneficiary designations that don’t match the will

That last one catches a lot of people. Accounts with a named beneficiary pass by the form on file, not by the will, so an old IRA designation can send money somewhere the will never intended. A review is usually quicker and cheaper than people expect, and it’s far easier than sorting the problem out in probate.

Our Process

01. A brief call to start
We ask a few questions about your situation and tell you which documents to bring, such as the old will, the deed or any power of attorney.

02. Consultation
In person at our Fort Lauderdale office or by video. You leave with a written scope and fee.

03. The work itself
Pamela drafts the documents or prepares the petition and explains each part plainly. If there’s a cheaper or simpler route, she’ll tell you.

04. Follow-through
Deeds get recorded, trusts get funded, and guardianship reports get filed on time.

Serving Oakland Park and Nearby Communities

We work with families across Oakland Park, from the neighborhoods along Dixie Highway and the Culinary Arts District to the streets around Jaco Pastorius Park and the areas west of I-95. We also serve neighboring Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Lauderdale Lakes and Pompano Beach.

Meet Pamela Schatten

Attorney · AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell

Pamela learned estate work beside her father, A. Jeffrey Barash, a Super Lawyer with roughly forty years in the field. She was admitted to The Florida Bar in 2006, is a member of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section, and practices in Broward’s 17th Judicial Circuit and Miami-Dade’s 11th. Read her full bio.