Estate planning in Florida involves much more than preparing a will. A complete plan addresses what happens to property after death, but it should also address incapacity, the management of assets during life, Florida homestead, the rights of a surviving spouse, probate avoidance where appropriate, business interests, beneficiary designations, and the manner in which assets are titled.
Florida is also a state where many residents arrive with estate plans prepared somewhere else. Someone may retire to Florida after living for decades in Massachusetts, New York, or another state. Others may maintain homes in two states and eventually decide to establish Florida as their primary residence.
An existing estate plan does not necessarily cease to be valid simply because a person moves to Florida. However, a move is an appropriate time to review the plan and determine whether it works with Florida law and the client’s current assets and objectives.
What a Florida Estate Plan Typically Addresses
For many clients, a comprehensive Florida estate plan includes a revocable living trust, a pour-over will, durable power of attorney, health care documents, and appropriate advance directives.
The documents should work together.
A revocable living trust can provide a structure for managing assets during life and after death. When assets are properly titled in the trust, it can also reduce the assets that must pass through probate.
When I prepare a revocable living trust plan, I prepare and recommend a pour-over will as part of that plan. The pour-over will serves as a companion to the trust rather than a substitute for it.
Asset ownership should also be reviewed. Real estate, bank accounts, investment accounts, business interests, retirement accounts, and life insurance do not all pass in the same manner.
Some assets pass according to title. Some pass under beneficiary designations. Others may pass through a trust or probate estate.
The goal is to coordinate all of them rather than assuming the will controls everything.
Florida Homestead: Protection and Restrictions
Florida homestead law is one of the most important, and sometimes misunderstood, parts of Florida estate planning.
Florida homestead can provide substantial protections, but it can also restrict what an owner is permitted to do with the property at death.
Under Florida law, protected homestead generally cannot be devised freely when the owner is survived by a spouse or a minor child. If there is a surviving spouse but no minor child, Florida law permits the homestead to be devised to the spouse.
If homestead is not validly devised, Florida law establishes what happens to the property. Depending on the circumstances, a surviving spouse may receive a life estate with the remainder passing to descendants, and Florida law provides an election that can permit the spouse to take an undivided one-half interest as a tenant in common instead.
Those rules make the family structure extremely important.
A married person with adult children from a prior marriage may face very different planning considerations from an unmarried person, a married couple with only joint children, or a parent with minor children.
Placing a Florida homestead into a revocable living trust does not necessarily eliminate these restrictions. Florida’s statute expressly recognizes that certain trust dispositions are treated as devises of homestead.
Homestead planning therefore should not be approached simply as a deed-preparation exercise. The title, marital status, children, trust terms, mortgage, creditor considerations, and intended disposition of the property should be considered together.
Probate in Florida
Probate is the court-supervised process for administering property that does not otherwise pass automatically at death.
Having a will does not, by itself, avoid probate. The will provides instructions for probate assets and usually nominates the person who will serve as personal representative, but individually titled assets may still have to pass through the probate process.
Florida has several procedures depending upon the circumstances.
Formal administration is the traditional probate process and is used in many estates. A personal representative is appointed by the court and is responsible for identifying and protecting estate assets, addressing creditor claims and expenses, handling appropriate tax matters, and ultimately distributing the remaining estate.
Florida also permits summary administration for qualifying estates. An important change took effect in 2026: the statutory value limit increased from $75,000 to $150,000 for deaths occurring after July 1, 2026, excluding property exempt from creditor claims. Summary administration may also be available when the decedent has been dead for more than two years, assuming the statutory requirements are otherwise satisfied.
Florida also has a more limited procedure for disposition of certain personal property without administration, which applies only in particular circumstances.
Which procedure applies depends on the assets, the passage of time, creditor issues, the will, and other facts.
For a person who lived outside Florida but died owning Florida property, ancillary administration may be required. Florida’s probate statutes expressly provide for ancillary administration of Florida assets belonging to a nonresident decedent.
This is one reason trust planning is frequently considered for clients who own a second home in Florida.
Florida Estate Tax
Florida currently does not impose a separate Florida estate tax for estates of individuals.
That does not mean estate taxes can always be ignored.
The federal estate tax remains relevant for estates large enough to fall within the federal system, and changes in federal law can affect planning over time.
Clients who own property or have domicile connections outside Florida may also need to consider whether another state imposes an estate or inheritance tax.
This difference is particularly important for clients moving between Florida and Massachusetts because Massachusetts maintains its own estate tax system.
Tax planning therefore should consider more than simply the location of one house.
Rights of a Surviving Spouse
Marriage creates significant inheritance rights under Florida law.
A surviving spouse may have rights that exist independently of what a will or trust says. One of the most significant is Florida’s elective share, which is equal to 30 percent of the statutory elective estate.
The elective estate is a statutory concept and can include more than property passing under the probate estate, which is one reason simply transferring assets outside probate does not necessarily eliminate spousal-rights issues.
Florida homestead protections create additional rights and restrictions for spouses.
If a person dies without a will, Florida’s intestacy rules also determine the surviving spouse’s share. In some family structures the spouse receives the entire intestate estate; in others, particularly where one spouse has descendants from another relationship, the result can be different.
These rules make planning especially important for second marriages and blended families.
A client may want to provide generously for a spouse while also preserving assets for children from a prior relationship. Those goals are not necessarily inconsistent, but they should be addressed intentionally rather than left to default law.
Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements can also affect estate-planning rights and should be reviewed together with wills and trusts.
Living Outside Florida but Owning Florida Property
A person does not need to be a Florida resident to have a Florida estate-planning issue.
Owning a condominium, vacation home, rental property, or other Florida real estate can create a Florida connection even when the owner resides elsewhere.
If a nonresident dies owning Florida property individually, a Florida ancillary probate may be required.
For that reason, clients who live primarily in Massachusetts or another state but own Florida real estate should review how that property is titled as part of their overall estate plan.
The solution is not necessarily to create a completely separate Florida estate plan.
Often the more effective approach is a coordinated plan that considers the client’s state of domicile, Florida property, trust ownership, beneficiary designations, family structure, and any property owned elsewhere.
Florida estate planning works best when the documents and assets are considered together. The objective is not merely to have a will or trust on file, but to create a structure that addresses incapacity, minimizes unnecessary administration where appropriate, respects Florida’s unique homestead and spousal-rights rules, and carries out the client’s intended plan for family and property.