You should review your Florida estate plan at least every three to five years, and immediately after any major life event — a marriage, a death, a sizable change in net worth, a move into or out of Florida, or a shift in tax law. A review confirms that your will, revocable trust, powers of attorney, and beneficiary designations still say what you mean them to say and still work under current Florida and federal law. For high-net-worth families, that periodic check is not housekeeping; it is the difference between an asset-protection plan that holds and one that quietly stops protecting anything.
I have sat across the table from too many people in Fort Lauderdale who assumed that signing a thick binder of documents fifteen years ago was the end of the job. It is not. An estate plan is a snapshot of your life, your assets, and the law on the day you signed it. Time moves all three.
Why a Florida estate plan goes stale
Documents do not expire the way a passport does. There is no stamp telling you the plan has lapsed. Instead, plans drift out of alignment in three quiet ways, and each one matters more when there is real wealth at stake.
1. Your life changes faster than your paperwork
Births, deaths, marriages, divorces, business sales, new partnerships, a child who develops a creditor problem or a substance issue — every one of these can break an assumption baked into your plan. A trust drafted when your children were minors may name a guardian who has since passed away. A will that splits everything equally may now treat a child with special needs in a way that disqualifies them from public benefits.
2. The law changes underneath you
Florida overhauled its trust and estate framework in meaningful ways over the past two decades. The Florida Trust Code (Chapter 736, Florida Statutes) and the Florida Probate Code (Chapters 731–735) govern how these instruments are interpreted and administered, and the legislature amends them regularly. Florida also adopted an electronic wills statute (Section 732.522 and related provisions) that changed how documents can be executed. The federal estate and gift tax exemption is the bigger moving target for affluent families: it is historically high right now but is scheduled to drop substantially when current provisions sunset, which can pull estates that felt comfortably under the threshold back into taxable territory.
3. Your assets change shape
The home that was worth $700,000 is now worth $1.6 million. You sold the business. You bought a second property in North Carolina. You opened a brokerage account and named a beneficiary you forgot about. Funding gaps are the single most common defect I find in otherwise well-drafted plans: a beautiful revocable trust sitting empty because no one ever retitled the assets into it. An unfunded trust does almost nothing — the assets it was supposed to control sail straight into probate.
The life events that should trigger an immediate review
Do not wait for the calendar. The following events should send you to your attorney within a few months, not a few years:
- Marriage or remarriage. Florida grants a surviving spouse strong rights, including the elective share (Section 732.201, Florida Statutes), homestead protections, and family allowance. Blended families especially need plans built to honor both a new spouse and children from a prior relationship.
- Divorce. Florida law revokes certain provisions in favor of a former spouse automatically (Section 732.507), but it does not clean up everything — beneficiary designations on life insurance and retirement accounts often still name the ex.
- Death of a spouse, beneficiary, or named fiduciary. If your personal representative, trustee, or health care surrogate has died, your plan has a hole in it.
- Birth or adoption of a child or grandchild.
- A significant change in net worth. A liquidity event, an inheritance, or a business sale can move you across a tax threshold or expose new assets to creditors.
- Moving to or from Florida. Estate planning is state-specific. A will valid in New York or New Jersey may be honored in Florida, but homestead, elective share, and witnessing rules differ enough that a relocation deserves a fresh look.
- A health diagnosis. Incapacity planning — durable power of attorney, health care surrogate, living will — becomes urgent, not theoretical.
- Starting or selling a business. Succession, buy-sell agreements, and asset protection all intersect with the estate plan.
Why high-net-worth families need to look more often
For families with substantial or complex assets, the stakes of a stale plan compound. Three areas deserve special attention.
Estate tax exposure and the sunset
The federal exemption is generous today, but it is not permanent. Estates that are nowhere near taxable now can become taxable after the scheduled reduction. Planning techniques that lock in today’s exemption — lifetime gifts, irrevocable trusts, spousal lifetime access trusts — are time-sensitive. Reviewing the plan while the exemption is high lets you use it; waiting until after the sunset may mean it is gone. Florida itself imposes no state estate or inheritance tax, which is one of the reasons affluent families establish domicile here, but the federal layer still applies.
Asset protection that actually holds
Florida is a famously favorable jurisdiction for protecting assets: the homestead exemption under Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution is among the strongest in the country, and the state shields annuities, certain life insurance, and tenancy-by-the-entireties property. But protection is not automatic. Titling matters. Trust structure matters. A review checks whether your homestead is properly held, whether entireties property is still entireties property after a refinance or a deed change, and whether your liability exposure (a new rental property, a professional practice, a personal guaranty) has outrun your protection. For families thinking about long-term care costs, vehicles like a Medicaid asset protection trust illustrate how irrevocable planning can shield wealth while preserving eligibility for benefits — the same logic that drives a great deal of affluent planning, adapted to each state’s rules.
Trust funding and beneficiary alignment
Wealthy families tend to accumulate accounts faster than they update them. Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death designations override your will and trust, so a forgotten beneficiary form can redirect a seven-figure account away from your carefully drafted plan. A review reconciles every beneficiary designation with the documents. For families supporting a loved one with a disability, specialized vehicles such as a pooled income trust can preserve needs-based benefits while still providing for that person — but only if the plan is reviewed and the funding is handled correctly.
What a thorough estate plan review actually covers
When I review a plan for a Fort Lauderdale client, I am not just rereading the will. A proper review walks through the whole architecture:
- The will — Does it still reflect your wishes? Is the personal representative qualified to serve in Florida? (Florida restricts out-of-state personal representatives to relatives, which surprises many people.)
- Revocable trust — Is it funded? Are successor trustees still appropriate and alive?
- Irrevocable trusts — Are they performing the tax or protection function they were built for?
- Durable power of attorney — Florida’s statute (Chapter 709) requires specific authority for certain “superpowers” like gifting; older POAs may lack them.
- Health care surrogate and living will — Are your named agents current and willing?
- Beneficiary designations — Retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities, TOD/POD accounts.
- Asset titling — Homestead, entireties property, business interests, out-of-state real estate.
- Tax posture — Current and projected estate tax exposure against the exemption.
If you want a sense of how these documents fit together before your review, our overview of wills and the documents around them is a useful starting point, and our guide to Florida probate explains exactly what happens to assets that fall outside the plan.
The cost of skipping the review
I have watched families spend years and tens of thousands of dollars untangling problems a one-hour review would have caught. An unfunded trust that forced a full probate. An ex-spouse who collected a life insurance payout because no one updated the form. A personal representative named in 2004 who had moved to Canada and could not legally serve. A homestead that lost its protection because of a careless quitclaim deed. None of these were caused by bad drafting. They were caused by drift — by good documents left alone too long.
How often, in plain terms
Here is the rule I give clients: read your plan every three years the way you would read an insurance policy, and call your attorney whenever life changes in a way you would mention to a close friend. If you are a high-net-worth family with a business, multiple properties, or estate tax exposure, shorten that interval and treat any change in the tax law as its own trigger. The review is inexpensive. The mistake it prevents rarely is.
If you are reviewing a plan that touches both New York and Florida — common for families who winter in South Florida — coordinate counsel in both states so domicile, homestead, and tax positions line up. Our Florida team handles estate planning across the state, and you can reach our Fort Lauderdale office to schedule a review.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I review my Florida estate plan?
Every three to five years as a baseline, and immediately after any major life event — marriage, divorce, death of a beneficiary or fiduciary, a large change in net worth, a move, or a change in tax law. High-net-worth families with business interests or estate tax exposure should review more frequently.
Does moving to Florida from another state require a new estate plan?
Often, yes. While a valid out-of-state will is generally recognized in Florida, the state’s homestead protections, elective share rules, witnessing requirements, and restrictions on out-of-state personal representatives differ enough that a relocation warrants a full review and frequently a redraft.
What happens if my revocable trust is never funded?
An unfunded trust controls only the assets actually retitled into it. Anything left in your individual name typically passes through probate under your will instead, defeating the privacy, control, and efficiency the trust was meant to provide. Funding is verified during every review.
Does Florida have an estate tax?
No. Florida imposes no state estate or inheritance tax. However, the federal estate tax still applies to estates above the exemption, and that exemption is scheduled to decrease, which is why affluent families should review their tax exposure regularly.
Should I review my plan before the federal exemption sunsets?
Yes. Time-sensitive techniques that use today’s high exemption — lifetime gifting and certain irrevocable trusts — may be far less effective after the scheduled reduction. Reviewing now lets you decide whether to act while the larger exemption is available.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I review my Florida estate plan?
Every three to five years as a baseline, and immediately after any major life event such as marriage, divorce, death of a beneficiary or fiduciary, a large change in net worth, a move, or a change in tax law. High-net-worth families with business interests or estate tax exposure should review more frequently.
Does moving to Florida from another state require a new estate plan?
Often yes. While a valid out-of-state will is generally recognized in Florida, the state’s homestead protections, elective share rules, witnessing requirements, and restrictions on out-of-state personal representatives differ enough that a relocation warrants a full review and frequently a redraft.
What happens if my revocable trust is never funded?
An unfunded trust controls only the assets actually retitled into it. Anything left in your individual name typically passes through probate under your will instead, defeating the privacy, control, and efficiency the trust was meant to provide. Funding is verified during every review.
Does Florida have an estate tax?
No. Florida imposes no state estate or inheritance tax. However, the federal estate tax still applies to estates above the exemption, and that exemption is scheduled to decrease, which is why affluent families should review their tax exposure regularly.
Should I review my plan before the federal exemption sunsets?
Yes. Time-sensitive techniques that use today’s high exemption, such as lifetime gifting and certain irrevocable trusts, may be far less effective after the scheduled reduction. Reviewing now lets you decide whether to act while the larger exemption is available.
For more on our Florida practice, see our overview of estate planning in Palm Beach. Morgan Legal Group's affiliated New York office also handles Article 81 guardianship in New York.