Remarriage is a useful time to review an estate plan. You may be balancing care for a new spouse, commitments from an earlier marriage, and the needs of children from different relationships. The documents and beneficiary arrangements should reflect those priorities together.
Review the people named to act for you
Check the personal representative nominated in your will, trustees and successor trustees, agents under powers of attorney, and health care surrogates. Consider whether each person is still appropriate and willing to serve. Name alternatives where needed.
Divorce and marriage can affect existing documents under different legal rules. Do not assume that every appointment or gift is automatically revoked, or that a new spouse automatically replaces a former spouse. An actual review is more reliable than relying on a general impression of what the law should do.
Coordinate beneficiary designations and obligations
Review retirement plans, IRAs, life insurance, payable-on-death accounts, and jointly owned property. Before changing a beneficiary, check any divorce judgment, settlement, marital agreement, court order, or contractual obligation. Certain retirement plans also have federal spousal rights and consent requirements.
The aim is not necessarily to substitute the new spouse everywhere. It is to make deliberate choices that fit both the current marriage and any continuing obligations.
Provide for a spouse and children thoughtfully
Leaving property outright to a spouse gives that spouse control over it. If you also want an eventual inheritance preserved for children, an informal understanding may not accomplish that goal. A trust can establish support for the spouse and identify who receives the remaining property later.
The trustee, distribution standard, residence provisions, and treatment of expenses all matter. A surviving spouse’s needs may change over time, and children may have their own expectations. Clear terms can reduce the burden of asking family members to resolve those competing concerns after a death.
Florida’s elective-share, homestead, and pretermitted-spouse rules must be considered along with any marital agreement. A will or trust cannot simply assume those protections do not apply.
We can help you review the existing estate plan, identify the choices that remarriage brings, and coordinate the changes with your other advisers.
Sources: Florida pretermitted-spouse provision; Waiver of spousal rights; Florida homestead devise restrictions.
Updated October 26, 2026.