Estate Planning and Guardianship Attorney in Pembroke Pines, FL

Pembroke Pines is home to many longtime retirees, from the 55-and-over community at Century Village to the single-family neighborhoods off Pines Boulevard where owners have lived since the 1980s and 1990s. When one of those residents begins showing signs of dementia, the family’s first legal question is usually the same: who has the authority to help?

Pamela Schatten has practiced for 20 years and is AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell. She handles guardianship, estate planning, probate and related real estate matters for Pembroke Pines families from our office on Cypress Creek Road in Fort Lauderdale, with video meetings and remote signing available. She handles every matter personally.

Why Pembroke Pines Families Call Us

Guardianship is a core part of the practice

Pamela regularly represents families and court-appointed guardians in incapacity cases. She also knows when a guardianship can be avoided, which is often the better outcome.

Planning that anticipates incapacity

The best guardianship case is the one that never has to be filed. Pamela drafts powers of attorney, health care surrogate designations and preneed guardian declarations with that goal in mind.

Real estate handled in-house

When a parent moves into assisted living or memory care, the house often has to be sold. Pamela is an underwriting agent with Attorneys’ Title Fund and of counsel to a Florida title company, so the sale is handled by the same attorney managing the guardianship or estate.

One attorney, clear fees

Pamela returns her own calls, usually within two hours during the business day, and every matter is quoted in writing before work begins.

How Guardianship Works in Florida

Pembroke Pines is in Broward County, the 17th Judicial Circuit, and guardianship cases are filed in the Broward circuit court under Chapter 744 of the Florida Statutes.

A guardianship starts with a petition to determine incapacity. The court appoints an examining committee of three members, who evaluate the person and file reports (section 744.331). The person is entitled to an attorney and to a hearing. If the court finds the person incapacitated, it decides which rights are removed and appoints a guardian to exercise them. Florida courts must consider whether less restrictive alternatives, such as an existing power of attorney or health care surrogate, would meet the person’s needs.

A limited guardianship removes only the rights the person can no longer exercise. A plenary guardianship removes all delegable rights. Either way, the guardian must file an initial plan and annual reports and accountings, and many decisions, including selling the person’s home, require court approval. It is a serious step, and for a parent who is still partly independent, it can feel like a loss of dignity. That’s one reason families are better served by planning early.

Planning So a Guardianship Isn’t Needed

While a person still has capacity, a few documents can do most of what a guardianship would:

• Durable power of attorney: Lets an agent manage finances and property. Must be signed before two witnesses and a notary (section 709.2105), and some powers require separate initials (section 709.2202).
• Health care surrogate designation: Lets a chosen person make medical decisions under Chapter 765.
• Living will: Records end-of-life wishes so the family doesn’t have to guess.
• Preneed guardian designation: If a guardianship ever becomes necessary, names who you want appointed (section 744.3045).
• Revocable trust: A successor trustee can step in to manage trust assets without court involvement.

None of these can be signed once capacity is gone. If a parent is in the early stages of dementia, timing matters, and a physician’s input on capacity can be important.

Services for Pembroke Pines Clients

Guardianship

• Adult guardianship for parents with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or the effects of a stroke, including limited guardianship
• Guardian advocacy for adults with autism, Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities, under section 393.12
• Minor guardianship when a child inherits more than $15,000
• Annual plans and accountings for appointed guardians

Estate Planning

• Wills signed with two witnesses (section 732.502) and made self-proving
• Revocable trusts, with the Pembroke Pines home deeded into the trust
• Ladybird deeds to pass a home outside probate
• Incapacity documents listed above

Probate and Estate Administration

• Formal and summary administration in the Broward circuit court
• Homestead determinations before a home is sold or transferred
• Trust administration for successor trustees

Real Estate and Title Work

• Selling a parent’s home out of a guardianship, estate or trust, including court approval when required
• Deeds and title work, with Broward documentary stamp tax ($0.70 per $100 of consideration) handled correctly
• Condo and villa transactions in 55-and-over communities, including association approvals

Family Law

We also handle family law matters for Pembroke Pines clients.

Two Pembroke Pines Families, Two Outcomes

A widower in his eighties lives alone in the house off Pines Boulevard he bought in 1988. His daughter in Weston notices unpaid bills and a car he can no longer drive safely. He’s forgetful but still understands his finances when they’re explained to him. They come in together, and he signs a durable power of attorney, a health care surrogate designation and a revocable trust, and the house is deeded into the trust. A year later, when he moves into memory care, his daughter sells the house as successor trustee. No court is involved.

A second family waits. By the time they call, their mother can no longer follow a conversation about her own accounts, and nothing was signed. The family files for guardianship. An examining committee evaluates her, a hearing is held, and her son is appointed guardian. When the house needs to be sold, he asks the court for permission first, and he files a report every year after that.

Both families got where they needed to go. One got there with far less time, cost and stress.

Our Process

01. A short call
We ask about your parent’s condition, what documents exist and what decisions need to be made.

02. Consultation and written quote
By video or at our Fort Lauderdale office. Scope and fee in writing.

03. Documents or petition
Pamela drafts the planning documents or prepares the guardianship petition, and explains each step.

04. Follow-through
Signing, recording, and, for guardianships, the initial plan and annual reports the court requires.

Serving Pembroke Pines and Southwest Broward

We work with families throughout Pembroke Pines, including Century Village, Pembroke Lakes, Silver Lakes, Chapel Trail and the neighborhoods along Pines Boulevard and near C.B. Smith Park. We also serve Miramar, Cooper City, Davie, Weston, Hollywood and Dania Beach.

Meet Pamela Schatten

Attorney · AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell

Pamela trained beside her father, A. Jeffrey Barash, a Super Lawyer with about forty years in estate and tax law. She was admitted to The Florida Bar in 2006 and is a member of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section. Read Pamela’s full bio.