Estate Planning FAQs

Estate planning is the process of deciding who should manage your affairs if you need help, who should receive your property after your death, and how those responsibilities and transfers should be carried out. Your plan may also address care preferences, guardians for minor children, a family business, charitable goals and support for a beneficiary who needs assistance.

In Florida, a plan commonly includes a will, financial and health care documents, and sometimes a trust. The documents work alongside deeds, account ownership and beneficiary designations. For example, a properly funded trust governs its assets, while a retirement plan or insurance policy ordinarily follows its beneficiary provisions. A will generally does not override those arrangements.

Planning therefore involves more than drafting documents. We look at how your property is actually owned, whether the people you have selected can serve, and how the different parts of your plan fit together. We also discuss what you will need to do after signing, such as updating an account designation or completing an appropriate transfer to a trust.

Spiro Verras has practiced law since 1993 and focuses on estate planning, probate and trust administration. His approach is to explain the choices clearly and build a plan around your circumstances. Learn more about our estate planning services.

Without a valid will, property governed by intestacy passes under Florida’s statutory rules. The result depends on the surviving spouse, descendants and other relatives. Those rules may work differently from what a family expects, particularly after a remarriage or when spouses have children from different relationships. Florida’s spousal-share statute and rules for other heirs describe the framework.

A plan lets you make more deliberate choices. You can identify the person you would want to administer your estate, provide instructions for a beneficiary’s inheritance, and coordinate assets that pass outside probate. You can also prepare for periods when you are unable to handle finances or communicate medical decisions.

Incapacity does not automatically mean that a court must appoint a guardian before a bill can be paid. An authorized agent, a successor trustee or another lawful arrangement may already provide the needed help. Whether those alternatives are sufficient depends on the documents, assets and circumstances. Florida’s guardianship law emphasizes less restrictive alternatives. Planning improves the opportunity to use your chosen arrangements, while recognizing that a court proceeding may still be necessary in some situations.

Tax planning may also matter, but it is only one part of the conversation. Florida currently imposes no estate tax. For a U.S. citizen or domiciliary dying in 2026, the federal basic estate and gift tax exclusion is $15 million, with lifetime taxable gifts and other rules affecting the calculation. IRS Form 706 instructions explain the current federal framework. Your family may have important planning needs even when no estate tax is expected.

For planning purposes, consider the full picture: your home and other real estate, bank and investment accounts, business interests, retirement benefits, insurance, vehicles, digital assets and personal belongings. Debts, existing agreements and the needs of people who depend on you are part of that picture as well.

The term “estate” can mean different things in different contexts. Your probate estate, your federal taxable estate and everything you want to address in an estate plan are not necessarily the same. A useful starting point is to identify how each asset would be managed during incapacity and transferred at death:

• Property that may require probate. Common examples include an individually owned account without an effective beneficiary arrangement and a deceased owner’s tenancy-in-common interest in real estate. A valid will directs probate distributions, subject to applicable law. Without one, intestacy rules generally govern.
• Property that passes outside probate. Assets may pass to a surviving owner under a valid survivorship arrangement, to a designated beneficiary under an account or policy, or through a properly funded trust. Merely having two names on an asset does not answer every ownership question.
• Property with additional protections or restrictions. Florida homestead and certain exempt property have special rules. Protection from creditor claims is different from avoiding probate, and a court determination may still be needed.

Retirement accounts and life insurance ordinarily follow their beneficiary provisions, but the estate can become the recipient if it is named or the applicable default provisions lead there. Account agreements and plan rules should be checked; an outdated or missing designation does not produce the same result in every case. The IRS explains how retirement-plan beneficiary rules operate.

Your Florida homestead requires particular care. Restrictions can apply when you are survived by a spouse or minor child, including when a revocable trust is used. Florida’s homestead devise statute and its exempt-property statute should be considered separately from ordinary account titling. Coordinating these details helps avoid a result that conflicts with your intentions.

Your estate plan can identify the person you would want to care for your minor children if no surviving parent is able and legally entitled to do so. A nomination gives the court important guidance, but it does not itself appoint a guardian or displace a surviving parent’s rights. The court applies Florida’s requirements and considers the child’s best interests.

Florida permits a declaration of preneed guardian for a minor. The statute provides for a written declaration by both parents if living, or by the surviving parent, and a process for filing it with the clerk. A will can also express a guardian nomination. We can coordinate the appropriate documents and discuss alternate choices if your first nominee is unable to serve.

Think separately about who would raise your children and who would manage their inheritance. One person may be well suited to both roles, or your family may benefit from dividing the responsibilities. A trust can establish how money is managed and used for a child, rather than relying on an outright distribution at the earliest permitted age. The choice of trustee and the distribution terms deserve as much attention as the guardian nomination.

It also helps to speak with the people you are considering. Their willingness, health, location, relationship with your children and ability to work with other family members all matter. Instructions about education, family relationships and personal values can provide useful guidance alongside the legal documents. See our planning for children page.

The appropriate documents depend on your circumstances. Most adults should consider the following, with provisions tailored to their property, family and chosen decision-makers:

• A will. A will directs the disposition of probate property and nominates a personal representative. It can also include trusts and a guardian nomination. The person you nominate must satisfy Florida’s eligibility requirements; certain nonresident relatives may qualify. A will does not, by itself, avoid probate.
• A revocable trust, when appropriate, together with a pour-over will. A funded trust can provide continuity in managing trust property and direct its later distribution. A pour-over will addresses probate property intended to pass into the trust, but that property may still require probate. A trust is useful for some families and unnecessary for others.
• A durable power of attorney. This authorizes a selected agent to handle specified financial and legal matters. Under Florida law, a newly executed financial power of attorney generally takes effect when signed. Certain older springing powers executed before October 1, 2011, and qualifying military powers are exceptions. Durable means the authority can continue during incapacity; it does not mean authority begins only then.
• A designation of health care surrogate. This identifies the person you want to make health care decisions or receive health information as authorized in the document. Florida permits carefully specified immediately exercisable authority, while preserving the competent principal’s ability to make their own decisions. We discuss when you want the surrogate’s authority to operate.
• A living will. This records your wishes concerning life-prolonging procedures in circumstances addressed by Florida law, including a terminal condition, end-stage condition or persistent vegetative state. It should reflect your values and work with your surrogate designation. It is distinct from an emergency do-not-resuscitate medical order.
• A HIPAA authorization, where appropriate. This can help the people you choose obtain health information within the permission you give. It complements the health care documents; it is not itself authority to make treatment decisions.
• A preneed guardian declaration. An adult declaration can identify whom you would want to serve if a guardianship becomes necessary. Parents can consider the separate declaration for minor children. These nominations provide guidance to the court and do not make every guardianship avoidable.

Any recommendation for a trust should explain how it serves your family. It can help with privacy, management and the timing of distributions, but it requires proper funding and ongoing attention. A revocable trust generally does not remove assets from your federal taxable estate or protect them from your own creditors. Our living trust questions and answers and Florida’s settlor-creditor rules address these distinctions.

Keep signed documents accessible to the appropriate people and review the plan after significant changes in your family, finances, health or residence. Beneficiary designations, trust funding and the suitability of your chosen agents should be part of that review.

Our usual practice is to sign Florida estate planning documents in person at our Palm Harbor office. Zoom and teleconference appointments are available for consultations. For your document signing, we bring you together with our team and the required witnesses and notary, so we can attend carefully to Florida’s exacting signing requirements. We consider alternative signing arrangements in extraordinary circumstances, after reviewing your needs and the documents involved.

A video call or an ordinary electronic signature alone should not be assumed to satisfy the execution requirements for a will, trust, power of attorney or health care document. Florida has specific rules for electronic wills and remote notarization, and the requirements differ among documents. The availability of an electronic process does not mean that any document can be signed through any platform.

We will explain the arrangements for your particular documents before the signing appointment. If health, mobility or another substantial concern may affect your ability to attend, let us know early so that the circumstances can be reviewed. Read why we sign estate planning documents in person.