When and Why to Review Your Florida Estate Plan: A Surviving Spouse Guide
When and why to review your Florida estate plan: life events, law changes, and elective-share traps that surviving spouses in South Florida should never ignore.
Estate Planning
When and why to review your Florida estate plan: life events, law changes, and elective-share traps that surviving spouses in South Florida should never ignore.
A Florida attorney’s guide to estate planning for blended families: elective share, homestead, trusts, and protecting both a spouse and children.
How Florida health care surrogate designations and living wills work, why surviving spouses need both, and how they fit into your estate plan.
How Florida’s durable power of attorney works under Chapter 709: signing rules, superpowers, banking, and elective-share traps for surviving spouses.
How Florida families use spendthrift trusts, staggered distributions, and trustee controls to protect an inheritance for young or financially risky heirs.
Divorced, remarried, or new to Florida? Learn how Florida law changes your will, trust, and beneficiary designations—and what to update to protect your family.
How Florida trust administration works after the grantor dies: successor trustee duties, the 60-day notice rule, spousal elective share, and key deadlines.
Planning for incapacity in Florida means a durable power of attorney, health care surrogate, and living will. Learn how to protect a spouse before death.
How Florida law (Chapter 740) treats digital assets and online accounts in your estate plan, plus what surviving spouses should know about elective share.
How Medicaid asset protection planning works in Florida, the 5-year lookback, spousal rules, and how elective share interacts with long-term care planning.
How to fund a Florida revocable trust the right way, retitle assets, protect homestead, and keep a surviving spouse’s elective share intact.
How Florida’s elective share gives a surviving spouse 30% of the elective estate, the deadline to claim it, and how to plan around it lawfully.
A Florida living trust keeps your estate private by avoiding public probate. Learn how it protects assets, heirs, and surviving spouses.
Not sure if your situation calls for an attorney? Here are five clear signs it’s time to hire a lawyer instead of going it alone.
When irrevocable trusts make sense in Florida: asset protection, Medicaid, estate tax, and how they interact with a spouse’s elective share.
Before you hire a lawyer, vet them properly. Learn how to check licensing, experience, fees, and fit so you choose the right attorney.
How special needs trusts protect a disabled beneficiary’s Medicaid and SSI in Florida, plus the elective-share angle for surviving spouses.
A free consultation is your chance to evaluate a lawyer and your case. Avoid these common mistakes to make the most of the meeting.
A Florida estate attorney explains Lady Bird (enhanced life estate) deeds, how they avoid probate and Medicaid recovery, and their elective-share traps for spouses.
How Florida business owners plan estates and succession: buy-sell agreements, LLC transfer rules, the spousal elective share, and probate-avoidance strategies.
Avoid the most common Florida estate planning mistakes, from elective-share traps to homestead errors. A South Florida attorney’s practical guide.
How Florida homestead law protects the family home, restricts who you can leave it to, and what surviving spouses must know for an estate plan.
How to name a guardian for minor children in a Florida estate plan, including the will, court approval, standby designations, and money management.
How Florida residents handle federal estate tax and lifetime gifting. No state estate tax, the federal exemption, annual exclusion, and spousal planning.
How charitable trusts fit a Florida estate plan, and how the elective share protects a surviving spouse against gifts to charity.
Confused by legal billing? Learn the difference between hourly and flat-fee arrangements and how to choose the right one for your matter.
Not every legal matter needs a lawyer. Learn when it’s reasonable to handle things yourself and when you should call an attorney.
How pour-over wills work with a Florida living trust, what they catch, probate and elective-share effects, plus a surviving-spouse FAQ.
Joint ownership and survivorship in Florida estate planning can defeat your will, harm a surviving spouse, and trigger elective-share fights. Here’s how.
What does “no win, no fee” really mean? Learn how contingency fees work, what they cover, and the questions to ask before you sign.