Your estate plan should recognize the people who matter to you and make your wishes clear. For LGBTQ individuals and couples, that may include a spouse or partner, children, close friends, and chosen family. The right plan starts with your relationships and goals rather than assumptions about what a family should look like.
Marriage provides rights, but documents still matter
In Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court held that states must license and recognize marriages between two people of the same sex. Federal tax recognition of lawful same-sex marriages began earlier following United States v. Windsor in 2013.
Married same-sex couples generally have the same estate planning rights and responsibilities as other married couples. Florida spousal inheritance and homestead protections, beneficiary rules, and federal tax provisions still require coordination with the couple’s actual assets and wishes.
Do not assume that marriage automatically directs every asset as you intend. A beneficiary form, trust, or ownership arrangement may control a particular asset. Likewise, federal marital tax deductions have conditions, including special rules when a spouse is not a U.S. citizen. Retirement accounts have their own spousal options and distribution requirements.
Unmarried partners need intentional planning
A long-term relationship does not, by itself, create the same inheritance rights as marriage. An unmarried partner may receive property through a valid beneficiary designation, survivorship ownership, will, or trust, but the arrangement must actually provide for that result.
Consider a durable power of attorney, health care surrogate designation, appropriate privacy authorizations, and clear instructions for property at death. Name alternates and make sure your chosen people can locate the documents. These steps can be particularly helpful when the people closest to you are not your legal next of kin.
Confirm legal parentage and plans for children
A child’s family relationships and legal parentage deserve careful review. Biology alone does not determine every legal parent’s status, and marriage, adoption, assisted reproduction, and court orders can raise different questions. An estate plan should coordinate with the family’s existing legal arrangements.
A will can nominate a guardian for a minor child, subject to the court’s authority and a surviving legal parent’s rights. A trust can provide financial support under terms suited to the child’s needs. When adoption, parentage, or other family-law assistance is required, appropriate counsel should address those issues directly.
Review older documents and beneficiary forms
Documents created before marriage or major legal changes may no longer fit. Review names, appointments, tax assumptions, former-partner designations, and the treatment of children and chosen family.
I welcome the opportunity to help you create a plan that reflects your life. Contact Verras Law to discuss your wishes and the practical steps to carry them out.
Sources: Congress: marriage and constitutional protections; IRS recognition of same-sex marriages; IRS estate tax questions; Inherited IRA rules.
Updated October 26, 2026.