If you have recently moved to Florida, or if you are preparing for your relocation to this state, you will likely need to update your estate plan. The laws that govern a number of important estate planning essentials vary widely from state to state, so moving to Florida from elsewhere in the United States, and certainly moving into the state from overseas, makes it imperative for individuals to review their estate planning documents and make appropriate updates to ensure that the documents themselves are still legally valid. Additionally, the way terms delineated in some documents – as advance care directives or a Last Will and Testament – are carried out may be affected by state laws, so it is important to review these terms and make any necessary adjustments. An estate planning attorney with Roulet Law Firm, P.A. may be able to assist you with reviewing your estate planning essentials and determining where updates are needed. Schedule a consultation today by calling 941-909-4644. Or you can fill out the contact form on this page and a member of our team will reach out to you to schedule your consultation.
Beneficiary Designations on Life Insurance Policies and Transfer-on-Death Accounts
If you already have a life insurance policy with a company that operates nationally (or one that has offices established throughout Florida), then in most cases updating your life insurance policy documents will likely be a relatively simple matter. Individuals who are married often name their spouses as the primary beneficiaries on their life insurance policies; if this applies to your situation, then your spouse has likely moved to Florida with you – in which case updating the address and contact information for the primary beneficiary – on both accounts, if each spouse has a policy that names their partner – is a simple, but easily overlooked, step to take. Regardless of whom you name as a primary beneficiary, this can be a good opportunity to review the designations for all beneficiaries named in the policy (i.e., secondary designations) and ensure that those designations still reflect your current wishes and that the beneficiaries’ own addresses and contact information is up to date in each case (after all, beneficiaries themselves can move).
The strategy for transfer-on-death accounts may be similar, depending on structure. If you already hold accounts with national banks and investment companies, then you may only need to update your own address and contact information and that of the individual designated to receive the transfer upon proof of death. Assets held in joint accounts will in most cases automatically become the sole property of the other person named on the account – but if this person is a member of your household (e.g., your spouse) who has recently moved to Florida with you, then the other owner’s account will also need to be updated with his or her current address and contact information, to prevent inconsistencies that could lead to delays farther down the line.
Last Will and Testament
Moving to another state can be a good time to review even the most basic essentials of your estate plan, such as a Last Will and Testament. Even individuals who are otherwise extremely meticulous and detailed in updating their estate planning essentials after a move sometimes feel tempted to leave out this step, arguing that their wishes have not changed and the directions they have left regarding the disposition of their property after death should still hold. However, there are (at least) two important reasons why updating your Will after a move to Florida should be part of your overall estate planning process.
Executor
In some cases, the executor you name in your Will may already be a Florida resident, especially if this individual is a member of your own household. However, many people name close friends or even trusted estate planning attorneys as their executors. If either has been true for you, there is a good chance that the executor named in a Will you created in another state designates as executor a person who is not a resident of Florida. The executor named in a Florida Will cannot carry out the probate process unless formally appointed as the estate’s personal administrator by a Florida Probate Court, and Fla. Rev. Stat. § 733.304 prohibits the appointment as personal administrator of any nonresident who does not meet specific criteria (broadly speaking, these criteria are based on the relationship of the proposed personal administrator to the testator). If an out-of-state executor named in the Will does not meet the criteria set out in the Florida Probate Code, then the Probate Court that has jurisdiction over your estate will appoint a different personal representative to carry out the executor's duties. Updating your Will to ensure that the document designates an executor who meets Florida’s legal requirements for a personal administrator, whether the person is a resident of the state or not, can help to avoid this scenario.
Terms Designed To Address State Requirements
While testators throughout the United States do enjoy broad latitude in directing the disposition of their property after their own deaths, the discretion afforded each individual is not without limits. Many states, including Florida, impose statutory mandates that entitle specific parties – most commonly, surviving spouses – to a minimum share of a decedent’s estate, regardless of the terms the individual has set out in his or her Will. If the property left to one of these legally entitled persons is less than the share required by state law, then the law will override the terms of the Will (although the individual beneficiary may in many cases waive his or her right to the legally mandated share). If your estate plan was previously developed in light of the share requirements set out in another state’s laws, then you may wish to review the terms of your Will to consider whether the disposition of your property laid out therein still makes sense in light of Florida’s Probate Code. Similarly, if your Will written in a previous state was drafted without regard to this type of requirement, you may wish to revisit its terms to determine whether Fla. Rev. Stat. (2024) § 732.201-228 may affect your estate plan. An experienced Florida estate planning attorney with Roulet Law Firm, P.A. may be able to assist you if there are specific assets you need to transfer outside the Will to ensure the final outcome reflects your wishes.
Trusts
If you had a trust created in another state, you will want to have it updated to operate under Florida law. While there are a number of reasons, here are just a couple:
Florida Homestead
Florida homestead provides significant tax and creditor protection benefits. However, your trust will need to have specific provisions in it in order to maintain homestead status of any real estate you transfer into it. This can be a real trap for many people relocating here with trusts created in other states that do not meet Florida’s requirements.
Helps to Establish Residency
Updating your trust – and the rest of your estate planning documents such as wills, financial powers of attorney and health care documents – can be an important step in proving you have established residency in Florida in the event your prior state of residence attempts to continue to tax you.
Advance Directives in Florida
Most states offer a few types of estate planning tools that residents can use to put in place a variety of advance directives. As the National Institute on Aging (NIA) explains, advance directives are legal documents that provide a written record of an individual’s wishes regarding certain predictable types of medical interventions typically associated with end-of-life care or identify a surrogate or “proxy” to make healthcare decisions (especially less predictable ones) in the event that the individual is unable to evaluate information and communicate his or her decisions in real-time, as the need arises.
Documents of the first type, providing a written record without designating a proxy decision-maker, are typically known as Living Wills, although in many instances patients may also have records on file with their primary care providers concerning specific medical treatments, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). In Florida the main document for designating a proxy decision-maker for medical issues is called a Health Care Surrogate Designation, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration; the Florida Hospices & Palliative Care Association provides a copy of the statutory suggested form as a Designation of Health Care Surrogate.
Living Wills
Living Wills are common throughout the United States and in most cases contain similar provisions. These documents tend to be relatively limited in their form, and for the most part are designed to provide healthcare providers with simple, yes-or-no answers to some of the many questions that are unfortunately common and predictable parts of many patients’ final days. Florida is one of the several states that offer the option to include the designation of healthcare proxy alongside the living will as a single document; you may choose to combine these directives as you are updating your living will, or you may wish to create and file separate documents for each one.
Get Help Updating Your Florida Estate Plan
Moving to another state can be an exciting process, but a successful move requires significant planning and preparation in advance, and in most cases will need another round of updates and adjustments during the “settling in” period. As you begin to get comfortable in your new Florida home, consider updating your estate planning essentials to reflect your change in circumstances, ensure accurate contact information for yourself and any beneficiaries, and adjust the terms in your legal documents to ensure that they will still have their desired effect under your new state’s laws. Schedule a consultation to review your Florida estate plan with an experienced attorney at Roulet Law Firm, P.A. by calling 941-909-4644 today. Or you can fill out the contact form on this page and a member of our team will reach out to schedule your consultation.
Or, if you are not yet ready to schedule a consultation and would like to learn more, here are some additional resources for you:
If you would like to learn more about the legal requirements for establising residency in Florida and severing residency "back up north", download your copy of my book "The Florida Snowbird Guide: A Fast & Friendly Legal Guide for Florida Snowbirds and Relocation". Click here to download your copy.
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