Estate Planning Attorneys -- Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, FL
Estate planning is the legal process of deciding, in advance, who controls your finances if you cannot, who makes medical decisions for you, and how your assets transfer at death — without leaving those questions to a court. In Florida, getting those answers right requires understanding how homestead law, probate rules, and asset titling interact, because a plan that works in another state can easily fail here. David Shulman is Board Certified by the Florida Bar in Wills, Trusts and Estates and holds an LL.M. in Taxation. Jill Ginsberg is Board Certified in both Elder Law and Estate Planning and Trusts. Both certifications are held by fewer than five percent of eligible Florida attorneys.
What Is Estate Planning and What Does It Cover?
Estate planning documents your wishes for incapacity and death — who acts for you, what happens to what you own, and how your family is protected if you are not there to make decisions. At minimum, a complete Florida plan includes a last will and testament or revocable trust, a durable power of attorney, a designation of health care surrogate, and a living will. More complex plans layer in irrevocable trusts for asset protection or tax planning, special needs provisions, planning for minor children, or business succession structures. In Florida specifically, asset titling — how property is held, not just what documents exist — often determines whether a plan actually works. A revocable trust that is never funded, a deed that conflicts with a trust’s terms, or a beneficiary designation that overrides a carefully drafted will can each produce the wrong result regardless of the quality of the underlying documents.
Florida Homestead: The Most Common Planning Landmine
Homestead is the area where Florida estate planning most often produces results the client never intended, and where attorneys from other states most often get it wrong.
Florida’s Constitution restricts how you can leave your primary residence if you have a surviving spouse or a minor child. An attempt to devise the home to someone else — a child from a prior relationship, a sibling, a trust with different beneficiaries — may be void. The Constitution overrides your will on this point, so the statute controls the result regardless of what your documents say. In a second marriage, the result is often an unintended life estate: the surviving spouse receives the right to live in the home, and the deceased spouse’s children from a prior relationship receive a remainder interest. Neither party wanted that outcome. Homestead also interacts with elective share and spousal rights in ways that can override planning if not handled correctly.
If homestead passes outright to a minor child, a court-supervised guardianship of the property is required to manage the asset until the child turns eighteen — annual accountings, court approval for major transactions, ongoing reporting. All of it avoidable with the right trust structure, but only if it is set up before it becomes necessary.
A properly established primary residence is also generally protected from most unsecured judgment creditors under Florida law — one of the strongest homestead creditor protections in the country. Poor titling, or moving the home into the wrong type of entity, can eliminate that protection. Deeding a Florida homestead into a revocable trust can preserve both the probate avoidance and the creditor protection, but the deed and the trust must be structured correctly to do so.
Why Does Board Certification Matter in Estate Planning?
Board Certification by the Florida Bar in Wills, Trusts and Estates requires demonstrating substantial experience, passing a written examination, and earning peer recognition for competence and ethics. Fewer than five percent of eligible Florida Bar members hold it. It means the attorney has been formally evaluated — not just self-designated as a specialist. For estate planning, it matters because the documents are easy to execute and hard to fix. A will that does not meet Florida’s execution requirements is void. A power of attorney that does not comply with the current statute may be rejected by financial institutions. A trust that is not properly funded does not avoid probate.
What Are the Core Florida Estate Planning Documents?
Every complete Florida estate plan should address four things: asset distribution at death, financial decision-making during incapacity, medical decision-making during incapacity, and end-of-life preferences. A last will and testament or revocable trust handles distribution. A durable power of attorney handles financial decisions. A designation of health care surrogate handles medical decisions. A living will records your end-of-life preferences so your surrogate and physicians are not left to guess. These documents work together — gaps create problems that become visible only after the fact, when fixing them is no longer possible.
When Does a Revocable Trust Make More Sense Than a Will?
A last will and testament requires probate — a court-supervised process that takes time, costs money, and is public record. A revocable trust, properly funded, transfers assets directly to beneficiaries without court involvement. For Florida residents who own real property in other states, a trust avoids ancillary probate proceedings in each state where property is titled — a significant issue for clients with second homes or snowbird property. For clients with minor children or beneficiaries who should not receive a lump sum, a trust provides more distribution control than a will can.
Trusts are more expensive to establish than a will and require ongoing maintenance — the house must be deeded in, accounts retitled, new assets coordinated. A trust that is not properly funded does not avoid probate. The most common estate planning failure is a signed trust that was never fully funded: the document is excellent, but because assets were never moved into it, the family opens a full probate anyway. A board-certified attorney can run the analysis for your specific situation and handle the funding work, not just the document drafting.
What Is a Durable Power of Attorney in Florida?
A durable power of attorney authorizes someone — your agent — to manage your financial and legal affairs if you become unable to do so. “Durable” means it remains effective after you lose capacity, which is precisely when it is needed. Without one, a family member has no legal authority to pay your bills, access your accounts, manage your investments, or handle property transactions during your incapacity. The alternative is a court-supervised guardianship to manage your property — slower, more expensive, and more restrictive. Florida imposes specific execution requirements on durable powers of attorney. Documents that do not comply with the current statute may be rejected by financial institutions regardless of the parties’ intent.
What Are the Special Considerations for Complex Families?
Estate planning becomes more complicated when the family structure does not follow a simple pattern. Second marriages with children from prior relationships raise questions about who receives what and when — and standard distribution provisions frequently produce results that neither spouse intended, particularly when Florida’s homestead restrictions apply. A child with a disability may lose means-tested government benefits if they inherit outright. A beneficiary with creditor problems or an unstable relationship may need a protective trust rather than a direct inheritance. Minor children need both a guardian designation and a trust to hold assets until they are old enough to manage them. These situations are manageable with the right structures in place. They are not manageable after the fact.
What Happens If You Die Without an Estate Plan in Florida?
Florida’s intestacy statutes govern the distribution of assets for people who die without a will. The results follow a fixed formula — and in a blended family, that formula almost certainly produces a result neither spouse intended. A surviving spouse’s share depends on whether there are descendants, and whether those descendants are shared or from prior relationships. Assets with no beneficiary designation and no joint owner pass through the estate and are subject to the intestacy rules. Probate is still required even without a will. Beyond distribution, dying without a will means the court appoints a personal representative — who may not be who you would have chosen.
Our Estate Planning Services
Planning for Minor Children
Guardian designations and trust structures to protect your children if you cannot.
Learn more about planning for minor children
Special Needs Planning
Trusts and planning strategies that preserve government benefit eligibility while providing for family members with disabilities.
Learn more about special needs planning
Wealth Preservation & Asset Protection
Irrevocable trust structures for clients with creditor exposure or estate tax concerns.
Learn more about wealth preservation and asset protection
Business Planning
Succession structures for business owners integrating estate planning with ownership transition.
Learn more about business planning
If you own real property in Florida, have minor children, are in a second marriage, or have not reviewed your documents since a major life change, your plan may not work as intended. The documents are straightforward to execute when you have capacity and time. They are not fixable after the fact. Call (954) 839-8705 or use the form below to schedule a consultation with a board-certified Florida estate planning attorney.