Estate planning is not a one‑time task you cross off and forget. In Florida, the laws that govern how your assets pass, who can serve in key roles, and how taxes and creditors interact with your estate can shift over time. Your life changes too. Marriages begin and end, children arrive and grow up, businesses take off or get sold, and health evolves. An estate plan that fit you five years ago may no longer protect you the way you expect. Reviewing your documents on a sensible cadence, with an eye toward Florida‑specific rules, is part of good stewardship for your family and your future.
This isn’t about constantly tinkering with paperwork. It’s about scheduling deliberate checkpoints, knowing which Florida law updates matter, and recognizing the life events that should send you back to your lawyer sooner rather than later. I’ll walk through timing, triggers, and practical examples from real client scenarios in the Tampa Bay area, including what we see often at Shaughnessy Law estate planning in Brandon, FL. Along the way, I’ll flag traps that catch otherwise careful people.
A practical cadence: annual glance, deeper review every three years
If you want a single rule to follow, here it is. Give your estate plan a quick annual glance, then sit down for a full review every three years. The annual check can be as simple as pulling your binder from the shelf and confirming basics: are your fiduciaries still the right people, do beneficiary designations still match your intent, has your contact information changed, and do you still know where the originals live. The deeper three‑year review invites your attorney into the conversation, compares your plan against current Florida statutes and federal tax rules, and addresses any life changes.
For many Floridians, especially those with revocable trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives, that rhythm strikes a balance. It respects the fact that Florida updates its Probate Code and Trust Code periodically, and that titles and beneficiary designations drift out of alignment quietly. If your life is more dynamic, say you own rental properties across counties or you operate a growing family business, that three‑year interval can shrink to two. Retirees with largely stable finances and family situations may be fine with the three‑year cycle, as long as they stay responsive to major events.
Life events that demand an immediate update
Some moments should put you in front of your estate planning lawyer right away. Florida law has clear effects for certain events, and practical realities create others. Here are five that reliably require prompt action.
- Marriage or divorce Birth or adoption of a child or grandchild Death of a spouse, child, beneficiary, or fiduciary Major asset change, such as selling a home, buying a vacation property, or starting/selling a business Moving into or out of Florida
A few illustrations show why. In a divorce, Florida’s statutes generally revoke provisions in favor of a former spouse, including under a will or revocable trust, but beneficiary designations on life insurance and retirement accounts can be trickier. Some revocations apply automatically after the divorce is final, others do not, and the period between separation and final judgment is a vulnerable time. I have seen a retirement account unintentionally pass to an ex‑spouse simply because the designation wasn’t updated and the plan type fell outside automatic revocation rules. A 30‑minute beneficiary audit would have prevented it.
When a child is born or adopted, you’ll want to revisit guardianship nominations in your will and the trustee provisions in your revocable trust. Florida courts look for clear, updated nominations. If your plan still names your brother in California to raise your now‑teenaged son, but your sister in Sarasota has become the daily presence in his life, your documents should reflect today’s reality.
As for property changes, Florida homestead has special status. Selling a homestead and buying another can upend titling strategies and spousal rights if you don’t retitle the new property correctly. If you own a rental duplex in Hillsborough County and then pick up a short‑term rental in Pinellas, you’ll want to coordinate titling, liability protection through an LLC if appropriate, and how those assets pour into or stay outside your trust.
Moving across state lines demands a review because Florida law is not a clone of the state you left. While Florida generally recognizes a will executed properly under another state’s law, some instruments, such as durable powers of attorney, are highly state‑specific. Banks and title companies in Florida are particular about form and content. I’ve seen an out‑of‑state power of attorney that technically met Florida standards still get rejected at a closing table because it lacked the dealer‑familiar Florida statutory language. Updating your documents to Florida’s norms prevents that friction.
Florida legal updates that nudge reviews more than you expect
You do not need to track every statutory tweak, but a few areas deserve attention because they influence how your plan operates.
First, Florida’s homestead regime is unique. It grants your surviving spouse and minor children specific rights in the residence. Even with a revocable trust, the homestead rules can limit how and when the home can be devised. A trust created ten years ago that directs an immediate sale and distribution may collide with spousal rights if your marital status changed or if the language does not dovetail with current statute. A review ensures your trust’s homestead provisions are still enforceable and that your deed, sometimes a lady bird deed or a trust‑owned homestead with proper designations, aligns with your intent.
Second, powers of attorney received a major overhaul in 2011, and Florida has continued to refine expectations for “superpowers,” such as the power to change beneficiary designations or create trusts. If your durable power of attorney predates these changes or uses generic language, you may find that your agent cannot perform the tasks you imagined during an illness. Banks and financial institutions in Florida are sticklers for specificity. When we update clients’ documents at Shaughnessy Law estate planning, we add tailored powers for Florida financial practice, and we test them by contacting specific institutions in advance.
Third, Florida has embraced the Electronic Wills Act with caution, and remote notarization is permitted in certain contexts. Even so, most high‑stakes estate documents still work most smoothly when executed with traditional formalities. If you signed remotely during an emergency period, consider re‑executing with wet signatures before you need to press those documents into service at a hospital or during a real estate transaction.
Fourth, federal estate and gift tax rules shift, even if Florida has no separate estate or inheritance tax. The current federal estate tax exemption is scheduled to reduce in 2026 unless Congress acts, and while many Floridians fall below the threshold, married couples with appreciating real estate and retirement savings can creep upward quickly. Techniques like portability, step‑up planning, and community property trust strategies for married couples moving from community property states should be revisited in light of current federal thresholds and Florida’s elective share laws.
The invisible drift: funding your revocable trust
The most common problem I see in estate planning Florida cases is not the wrong words in a will, it’s assets that never made it into the revocable trust. You might have signed a well‑constructed trust ten years ago. Since then, you refinanced your home, changed banks, rolled over a 401(k), and opened a brokerage account at a new firm. Somewhere in that churn, titles defaulted back to your individual name. The plan says your assets avoid probate, but your assets never got the memo.
An annual funding audit solves this. For real estate, check the deed. For non‑retirement financial accounts, confirm the owner is the trust, not you individually. For life insurance and retirement accounts, the trust may or may not be the right beneficiary, depending on age of your beneficiaries, creditor concerns, and tax objectives. Beneficiary designations must coordinate with the trust terms. I worked with a Brandon client who assumed his trust captured everything. After a quick check, we found two sizable brokerage accounts titled in his own name because the custodian required a new trust certification after a trustee change, and the account opening defaulted back to him personally. We retitled, avoided a certain probate, and updated the certification so his successor trustee could act seamlessly.
The human element: fiduciaries grow older too
Estate plans hinge on people. Personal representatives, trustees, guardians, and agents under powers of attorney carry heavy responsibilities. Your documents might name your best friend from college as successor trustee, a perfectly fine choice when you were 40. Twenty years later, he lives in another state, has his own health challenges, and feels overwhelmed. Your sister, who once swore she would never manage another family crisis, has evolved into the steady organizer everyone calls first. Fiduciary rosters deserve periodic refreshes.
In Florida, choosing a personal representative for a probate estate comes with statutory constraints. Out‑of‑state personal representatives must be closely related, not just a friend. Certain felony convictions disqualify otherwise trusted individuals. Corporate fiduciaries can be excellent choices for complex estates, but you should evaluate fees and service levels in the current market, not what a bank charged eight years ago. A three‑year review is an ideal time to check that each named person is willing, able, and still legally eligible to serve.
Health care documents age faster than wills
Doctors, hospitals, and care facilities put health care surrogate designations and HIPAA releases to the test far more often than wills. In practice, staff members look for documents that feel current, not dusty. A Florida advance directive from 2012 may be technically valid, but you will have a better experience if your forms track the current Florida statutory template, list current contact information for your surrogates, and include clear express authority for mental health decisions and end‑of‑life preferences.
If you split time between Florida and another state, keep parallel health care documents recognized in both. Most facilities will accept out‑of‑state forms, but the admission staff’s comfort matters when minutes count. At our office in Brandon, we provide laminated summary cards with the essential surrogate contacts and a QR code to a secure copy of the full documents. It reduces the paper chase if a crisis happens while traveling.
Special Florida considerations for blended families
Many Florida households are blended families with children from prior marriages. This is where homestead, elective share, and trust design combine into a tight choreography. Spouses often want to provide lifetime use of a home for the survivor and still preserve principal for children. Florida allows this, but the documents must be precise. A house passing outright to a surviving spouse may unintentionally bypass the children. On the other hand, a rigid trust that forces an immediate sale can leave a survivor displaced.
These plans deserve a review every few years because family dynamics change. A son who once struggled with finances may have matured. A daughter who lived out of state may have moved back and become the informal caregiver. The elective share statute gives a surviving spouse a claim on a percentage of the estate, including certain non‑probate transfers. If your asset profile changed, the balance between spouse and children may have shifted without you realizing it. Adjustments to marital agreements, beneficiary designations, and trust terms can reset the outcome to what you intended.
Business owners and landlords: inventory and succession
If you own a business or rental properties, your estate plan’s maintenance cycles are shorter. Entities require their own housekeeping. Operating agreements should name successors and explain management transitions. Buy‑sell arrangements need valuation methods that still make sense, not numbers frozen in time. For landlords, each property’s title, insurance, and property manager arrangements need to feed into the estate plan so your successor can act quickly without a probate bottleneck.
I encourage business clients to fold estate planning into their annual corporate minutes or tax review. It’s a natural time to confirm who holds stock certificates or membership interests, whether signature cards are up to date, and how the registered agent information reads. In a health emergency, a well‑drafted durable power of attorney that includes Florida’s required express powers for business actions can keep payroll running. I once helped a Brandon restaurateur whose agent had authority to sign checks, but not the narrower power the bank required for merchant account changes. The fix took a day that the business did not have. We now customize those clauses by bank and vendor.
Digital assets and modern account controls
More of your life lives online than it did even five years ago. Florida has adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which allows you to authorize access to digital property. Many platforms, from Apple to Google to Facebook, offer their own in‑platform legacy tools. Those designations can override your will or trust instructions. If you set a Google Inactive Account Manager contact years ago and then updated your trust to name a different person for digital oversight, the two may conflict.
Your review should include a short inventory of key digital accounts, two‑factor authentication methods, and location of password managers. I’m not advocating you write passwords in your estate plan, but your fiduciaries should know how to get to a secure vault if needed. If your cryptocurrency lives on a hardware wallet, your successor needs practical access, not just legal authority. That conversation belongs in your next review meeting.
Beneficiary designations: small forms, big consequences
Retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities, and payable‑on‑death accounts transfer outside probate through beneficiary designations. Those forms are deceptively simple. They also break more plans than any clause in a will. Common errors include naming a minor outright, omitting a contingent beneficiary, or failing to align the designation with special needs trust provisions. If your child receives government benefits, a direct inheritance can cause a costly interruption. A special needs trust as beneficiary preserves eligibility, but only if the account points there.
Florida creditors have different rights against inherited retirement accounts than against trust assets, depending on structure. After the Supreme Court’s decision in Clark v. Rameker and the SECURE Act’s distribution timelines, the choice between naming a spouse, a trust, or a child outright requires case‑by‑case analysis. That is not a set‑and‑forget decision. Revisit it when your tax bracket, your beneficiary’s financial maturity, or the law changes.
Charitable goals and the timing of gifts
If you plan to leave something to a charity, a periodic review can determine whether lifetime giving or beneficiary designations create a smarter tax result than a bequest in your will. Many Floridians find that naming a charity as a beneficiary of a portion of an IRA, while leaving taxable‑basis assets to family, avoids income tax leakage and keeps appreciated assets eligible for a step‑up in basis. Charities change too. A estate planning Shaughnessy Law local nonprofit may merge or shift programs. Confirm legal names and tax identification numbers. When we re‑read a Brandon client’s plan last year, we found the named charity had dissolved and transferred programs to a successor organization. A quick update maintained the client’s impact.
What an effective three‑year review actually covers
Clients often ask what happens during a full review beyond “is everything still okay.” Here is a straightforward agenda that tends to work well.
- Family and fiduciary update: marriages, divorces, births, deaths, relocations, and willingness of named agents Asset and title audit: deeds, account ownership, beneficiary designations, entity interests, and trust funding gaps Document refresh: will, revocable trust, powers of attorney, health care surrogate, living will, HIPAA release, and any special purpose trusts Legal and tax changes: Florida homestead and elective share alignment, power of attorney specifics, federal exemption levels, SECURE Act impacts Practical access: where originals and digital copies live, who has the safe deposit key, and how to reach advisors
Expect the meeting to lead to a short list of follow‑ups. Sometimes the follow‑ups are yours, like calling your HR department to change a retirement plan beneficiary. Sometimes they are your lawyer’s, like drafting a restatement of your trust or recording a new deed. The value lies in catching misalignments before they turn into litigation or probate surprises.
Why residents of Brandon and the Tampa Bay area benefit from local counsel
Florida law is statewide, but practice is local. Banks, hospitals, and title companies in Hillsborough County develop habits that differ from those in Miami or Jacksonville. Judges in the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit carry their own preferences for certain probate filings. If you live in Brandon or eastern Hillsborough, having a relationship with a local estate planning attorney means your documents are drafted and executed with these practicalities in mind. Shaughnessy Law estate planning has addressed small but consequential details like which notaries and witnesses local banks accept without extra scrutiny, and which deed forms speed recording with the county. Those little efficiencies matter when your family is under stress.
Common myths that derail smart review timing
A few beliefs keep people from scheduling reviews when they should. The first is the idea that a revocable trust makes everything automatic forever. A trust is a tool. It works only if assets are titled to it or coordinated with it. The second is the assumption that a lack of federal estate tax means your plan needs no maintenance. Taxes are only one dimension. Family change, Florida‑specific rights, and practical access all matter more often. The third is the belief that updating a beneficiary designation is trivial and safe to do without advice. The form may be simple, but the downstream tax and creditor effects are not always obvious.
Another myth is that adult children can “figure it out” with the bank using common sense. Florida institutions are trained to follow documents, not oral instructions. A neatly organized binder with current instruments will save your family hours of frustration and, in some cases, thousands of dollars in emergency legal fees.
How to prepare for your next review
You can make the process efficient by gathering a few items before you meet with your attorney. Recent account statements with ownership information, copies of deeds, beneficiary designation confirmations, and any new marital agreements or business documents give your lawyer what they need to spot issues quickly. If you own a homestead, bring your property tax bill and homeowner’s insurance declaration page. If long‑term care insurance exists, include the policy or at least the summary. Write down questions that have nagged you, even if they seem small, like whether your son’s fiancée should ever be a signatory on a joint account. Small details often reveal larger adjustments worth making.
When a restatement beats a patchwork of amendments
Over time, clients accumulate amendments. A first amendment swapped a trustee, a second changed distribution ages, a third adjusted homestead provisions. After two or three, reading the trust requires toggling between documents and cross‑references. At that point, a full restatement of the trust usually makes sense. A restatement keeps the original trust’s date, which preserves titling and continuity, but replaces the entire text with a clean version. Successor trustees, beneficiaries, and institutions appreciate the clarity. In practice, a restatement every 8 to 12 years, or sooner if you’ve made multiple material changes, keeps your plan readable and reduces execution risk.
Signs you can wait, and signs you should not
Not every year demands a lawyer visit. If nothing material changed in your family, your assets are stable, and your last review was within three years, an annual glance may be enough. Open the binder, confirm fiduciaries and contact info, check beneficiary confirmations, and verify that you know how to reach your attorney. If you spot any mismatch between the documents and reality, or if you have crossed one of the major life events already discussed, do not wait.
There is also a psychological signal worth noticing. If you feel a little doubt about whether your spouse would be able to access funds promptly in an emergency, or whether your adult child could find the documents, that doubt is telling you something. Use it as the nudge to schedule the review.
The payoff for staying current
A well‑maintained estate plan does three things. It reduces friction for the people you love, it honors your intentions under the laws that actually apply, and it saves money by preventing avoidable probate or trust administration issues. In Florida, where homestead creates special rights and powers of attorney are scrutinized closely, staying current matters even more. Clients who follow the annual glance and three‑year review pattern rarely face surprises. When life lobs a curveball, their plan bends with it.
If you live in Hillsborough County or nearby and want a local checkup, firms like Shaughnessy Law estate planning in Brandon, FL build these reviews into an ongoing relationship, not a one‑off transaction. Estate planning is a service, not just a set of documents. The service includes reminding you when it is time to look again, translating legal updates into plain English, and keeping your plan synced with who you are today.
Florida’s law will keep moving. Your life will too. Put a recurring appointment on your calendar now: a brief look each year, and a full review every three years or after any major life event. That rhythm will keep your estate planning aligned with Florida law and your real goals, without turning maintenance into a burden.
Shaughnessy Law
Address: 618 E Bloomingdale Ave, Brandon, FL 33511
Phone: +1 (813) 445-8439
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Estate Planning in Florida: Your Questions Answered
Do I really need a will if I don't have a lot of assets?
Yes, you absolutely need a will even with modest assets. A will isn't just about dividing up money—it's about making sure your wishes are followed. Without one, Florida's intestacy laws decide who gets what, and that might not align with what you want.
Plus, if you have minor children, a will lets you name their guardian. Without it, a judge makes that call. Even if you're not wealthy, having a will saves your family unnecessary headaches during an already difficult time.
What's the difference between a will and a trust in Florida?
A will goes through probate court after you pass away, while a trust lets your assets pass directly to beneficiaries without court involvement. The will becomes public record and probate can take months, but trusts keep things private and often move faster.
In Florida, probate can be expensive and time-consuming, especially if you own property here. Trusts also give you more control—you can set conditions on when and how beneficiaries receive assets. The downside? Trusts cost more upfront to set up, but they often save money and hassle later.
How does Florida's homestead exemption affect my estate plan?
Florida's homestead laws provide special protections and restrictions that directly impact who can inherit your home. Your primary residence gets special protection from creditors, and there are restrictions on who you can leave it to if you're married.
You can't just will your homestead to anyone you want—your spouse has rights to it, even if your will says otherwise. This trips people up all the time. If you own a home in Florida, you need to understand these rules before finalizing any estate plan.
Can I avoid probate in Florida?
Yes, you can minimize or avoid probate through several strategies. Setting up a revocable living trust, using beneficiary designations on accounts, owning property as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, or using transfer-on-death deeds for real estate all work.
Many people use a combination of these. That said, probate isn't always the enemy—Florida has a simplified process for smaller estates under $75,000. The key is understanding what makes sense for your specific situation rather than avoiding probate just because someone told you to.
What happens if I die without an estate plan in Florida?
Your estate goes through intestate succession, where Florida law determines who inherits based on a predetermined formula. Generally, everything goes to your spouse, or if you don't have one, it's divided among your children.
No spouse or kids? Then parents, siblings, and other relatives. It sounds straightforward, but it gets messy fast—especially with blended families, estranged relatives, or if you wanted to leave something to a friend or charity. The process takes longer, costs more, and might not reflect your actual wishes at all.
Do I need to update my estate plan if I move to Florida from another state?
Yes, you should have a Florida attorney review and likely update your estate plan when you relocate here. Estate planning laws vary significantly by state, and what worked in New York or California might not hold up here.
Florida has unique rules about homestead property, different probate procedures, and its own requirements for valid wills. Your out-of-state documents might technically be valid, but they could create problems or miss opportunities for Florida-specific protections. It's usually not a complete overhaul, but adjustments are almost always needed.
How do power of attorney documents work in Florida?
A power of attorney authorizes someone to make decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. In Florida, you need two types: a durable power of attorney for financial matters and a healthcare surrogate (similar to a healthcare power of attorney elsewhere).
The financial POA lets your agent handle banking, pay bills, manage property—basically anything money-related. The healthcare surrogate makes medical decisions. These documents are crucial because without them, your family might need to go to court for guardianship, which is expensive and invasive.
What's a living will, and is it different from a regular will?
A living will is completely different from a regular will—it outlines your end-of-life medical preferences while you're still alive but incapacitated. It tells doctors what life-prolonging measures you want if you're terminally ill or in a permanent vegetative state.
A regular will, on the other hand, distributes your property after you die. You need both. Florida has specific requirements for living wills—they need to be witnessed properly, and you should make sure your doctors and family have copies.
How much does estate planning typically cost in Florida?
Estate planning in Florida typically costs anywhere from $300 for a simple will to $5,000+ for complex plans. A simple will might run $300-$800, while a complete estate plan with wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives usually costs $1,500-$3,500 for most people.
Complex situations with business interests, multiple properties, or tax planning can run $5,000 or more. It may seem like a lot upfront, but compare that to probate costs—which can easily hit 3-5% of your estate's value. Good planning pays for itself.
Can I create my own estate plan using online forms?
You can create your own estate plan using online forms, but it's risky unless your situation is very simple. Online forms work okay for single people with straightforward assets and clear beneficiaries.
However, Florida has specific rules about witness requirements, homestead restrictions, and other legal nuances that generic forms might miss. One mistake can invalidate your documents or create problems your family has to sort out later. For most people, the few hundred dollars saved isn't worth the risk. At minimum, have an attorney review any DIY documents before you finalize them.
Shaughnessy Law
Address: 618 E Bloomingdale Ave, Brandon, FL 33511
Phone: +1 (813) 445-8439
Estate Planning in Brandon, Florida
Shaughnessy Law provides estate planning services in Brandon, Florida.
The legal team at Shaughnessy Law helps families create wills and trusts tailored to Florida law.
Clients in Brandon rely on Shaughnessy Law for guidance on probate avoidance and asset protection.
Shaughnessy Law assists homeowners in understanding Florida’s homestead exemption during estate planning.
The firm’s attorneys offer personalized estate planning consultations to Brandon residents.
Shaughnessy Law helps clients prepare durable powers of attorney and living wills in Florida.
Local families choose Shaughnessy Law in Brandon, FL to secure their legacy through careful estate planning.