Question 1

Do I need a will if I have a trust?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A 'pour-over' will catches anything that didn't make it into the trust and names a guardian for minor children.

Question 2

Can I write my own will?

Accepted Answer

Technically yes in Florida, but the requirements are strict. DIY wills fail often enough that the cost of an attorney-drafted will is almost always the wiser investment.

Question 3

Who inherits if I die without a will in Florida?

Accepted Answer

Florida's intestacy law writes one for you. If you leave no descendants, your spouse inherits everything. If all of your children are also your spouse's children and neither of you has children from another relationship, your spouse still inherits everything. If either of you has other children, your spouse takes one half and your descendants share the rest. The court, not your family, then appoints the personal representative.

Question 4

Can I leave my Florida home to whomever I choose?

Accepted Answer

Not always. The Florida Constitution restricts how homestead property may be devised. If you are survived by a spouse or a minor child, you cannot leave the home to someone else, with one exception: you may leave it to your spouse when there is no minor child. Write something different and Florida rewrites the result, giving your spouse a life estate with the remainder to your descendants, unless the spouse elects a one half interest within six months.

Question 5

I moved to Florida with a will from another state. Is it still valid?

Accepted Answer

Usually yes. Florida honors a will signed by a nonresident if it was valid where it was executed, with two exceptions: handwritten (holographic) and oral (nuncupative) wills. Even so, your durable power of attorney and health care documents should be redone under Florida law, and Florida allows only close relatives to serve as personal representative from out of state, so an out of state friend named in your will may not qualify.

Question 6

What is a Lady Bird deed and do I need one?

Accepted Answer

It is an enhanced life estate deed, known in Florida as a Lady Bird deed. It lets you keep full control of your home while you are living, including the right to sell or mortgage it without anyone's permission, and it passes the home to the people you name without probate. Your homestead exemption and Save Our Homes cap stay in place. It does not fit every family, and a mortgage or a blended family can complicate it.

Question 7

What is the difference between a will and a trust?

Accepted Answer

A will does nothing until you die. It names your personal representative, Florida's term for an executor, and a guardian for minor children, and the court supervises the whole thing through probate, which is a public file anyone can read. A revocable living trust works the moment you sign and fund it. Assets retitled into the trust are managed by your successor trustee if you get sick, and they pass to the people you name without probate. Most Florida families who use a trust still sign a short will alongside it, to catch anything that never made it into the trust.

Question 8

Who is a trust best for?

Accepted Answer

A trust earns its cost when one of these is true: you own real property in more than one state, you want your affairs kept private, you want someone able to step in and manage things if you become incapacitated, you have a blended family, or you are leaving money to a young beneficiary, a beneficiary who is not good with money, or a beneficiary receiving disability benefits. A trust is not automatically better than a will. It only avoids probate for the assets actually retitled into it, so a trust no one funded is an expensive folder.

Question 9

Will a trust protect me from lawsuits?

Accepted Answer

A revocable living trust will not. Florida law treats the property in your revocable trust as reachable by your creditors both during your life and after your death, precisely because you kept the power to take it all back. Some irrevocable trusts can offer protection, but you give up control, the transfer cannot be undone, and a transfer made to escape a creditor you already have can be set aside. Florida already protects a great deal for residents on its own: your homestead, property owned by a married couple as tenants by the entireties, most annuities and life insurance proceeds, and qualified retirement accounts. Asset protection is its own conversation, and it has to happen before there is a problem.

Question 10

Can I save taxes with a trust?

Accepted Answer

For most Florida families the honest answer is that there is very little tax left to save. Florida has no state estate tax and no inheritance tax. The federal estate tax exclusion is $15 million per person for 2026, and a surviving spouse can claim the unused portion of a deceased spouse's exclusion by filing an estate tax return on time. A revocable living trust changes none of that: while you are living its income goes on your own return, and its assets still receive a new cost basis at your death the same way they would without it. Trust planning that genuinely moves the tax needle involves irrevocable trusts and larger estates. If your concern is that your family keeps what you built, the levers are usually probate cost, long term care cost, and the way accounts are titled, not the estate tax.

Question 11

What triggers the Medicaid 5-year look-back?

Accepted Answer

Most uncompensated transfers: gifts, below-market sales, adding names to accounts.

Question 12

Can Medicaid take my spouse's income?

Accepted Answer

No. Florida law protects a portion of the community spouse's income and assets.

Question 13

Does Medicare pay for a nursing home?

Accepted Answer

Not for long term care. Medicare Part A covers up to 100 days of skilled nursing care in a benefit period, after a qualifying hospital stay and only while skilled care is medically necessary. The first 20 days are fully covered and a daily copayment applies from day 21. Custodial care, the daily help with bathing, dressing and eating that most residents actually need, is not covered. That bill falls to the family or to Medicaid.

Question 14

My father's income is over the Medicaid limit. Is that the end of it?

Accepted Answer

No. Florida caps gross monthly income for long term care Medicaid, $2,982 for one applicant in 2026, and one dollar over sinks the application on income alone. The fix is a Qualified Income Trust, sometimes called a Miller trust. It is a funnel, not a shelter: enough income is deposited into a dedicated account each month that the rest falls under the cap. It must be funded every single month, and it cannot be funded retroactively.

Question 15

Does Medicaid pay for care at home or in assisted living?

Accepted Answer

It can. Florida's long term care program covers services at home and in an assisted living facility, not only in a nursing home. The financial rules are the same ones that apply to nursing home care, and both require a CARES level of care determination before an application can be filed. Home and community slots are limited, so ask early rather than waiting for the crisis.

Question 16

My mother is starting to forget things. Is it too late for a power of attorney?

Accepted Answer

Ask now rather than later. A Florida durable power of attorney is valid only if your mother has capacity when she signs it, and it takes effect immediately, because Florida stopped allowing new springing powers in 2011. It requires two witnesses and a notary, and certain powers must be initialed one by one. Once capacity is gone, the alternative is a court guardianship, with an examining committee and ongoing supervision.

Question 17

How soon after death should probate start?

Accepted Answer

Generally within 90 days, sooner if creditor or real estate issues are pressing.

Question 18

Can probate be avoided?

Accepted Answer

Often yes, with proper estate planning: trusts, beneficiary designations, and joint ownership strategies.

Question 19

What is the difference between summary and formal administration?

Accepted Answer

Summary administration is Florida's short track. Since July 1, 2026 it is available when the estate subject to administration, less property exempt from creditors' claims, does not exceed $150,000, or when the person died more than two years ago. It commonly closes in four to eight weeks. Formal administration appoints a personal representative, runs a creditor period, and usually takes six to twelve months.

Question 20

What does the personal representative actually have to do?

Accepted Answer

More than most people expect. Whoever holds the original will must deposit it with the clerk of court within 10 days of learning of the death. Once the court issues letters, the personal representative publishes a notice to creditors, serves the known ones, files an inventory within 60 days, notifies Florida's health care agency if the person was 55 or older, pays valid claims, then distributes and accounts to the court.

Question 21

My father lived in Florida but owned land in another state. Where does that get handled?

Accepted Answer

In two places. The main probate opens where he lived, here in Florida, and the out of state land is handled by a second case in the state where it sits. The reverse is also true: when someone who lived elsewhere dies owning Florida property, Florida requires an ancillary administration here. Holding the property in a trust, or in some cases by deed, usually avoids the second case entirely.

Question 22

What will this cost?

Accepted Answer

You will know before any work begins. The consultation itself is free. At that meeting we explain what your matter involves and what it will cost, in writing, so nothing arrives as a surprise later. Probate and Medicaid matters are quoted once we see what the estate or the crisis actually contains, because the work varies. Florida publishes presumed reasonable probate fees by statute, and by law those are negotiable, not automatic.

Question 23

What should I bring to my first meeting?

Accepted Answer

Bring what you have, and do not postpone the appointment over what you do not. Helpful items: a list of your accounts and roughly what each one holds, the deed to your home, any existing will, trust or power of attorney, the beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance, and the names and addresses of the people you would want to serve or inherit. For a probate, bring the original will and the death certificate.

Question 24

Can we do everything in Spanish?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Our team is bilingual, and the meetings, the phone calls and the walk through of every document can be entirely in Spanish. Your legal documents are prepared in English because that is what Florida courts, banks and title companies require, and we go through each page with you in Spanish before you sign, so you know exactly what you are signing.

Question 25

Can we meet by video, and can documents be signed remotely?

Accepted Answer

Meeting, yes: we work with families across Florida by phone and by video. Signing is different. Florida law does allow electronic wills and remote online notarization, but the same law requires a screening about health, medications and daily care, and when the answers indicate the signer is a vulnerable adult, the witnesses must be physically present. For many elder law clients that means signing in person, and we will tell you which applies to you.

Question 26

How quickly can you get things moving?

Accepted Answer

It depends on two things: how complex the work is, and how quickly your information comes back to us. A straightforward Florida plan moves quickly once the questionnaire and the account details are in hand. Probate runs on the court's clock, where the three month creditor period sets the floor. Crisis matters, a hospital discharge or a nursing home admission, get moved up. We give you a target timeline at the consultation.

Question 27

What is an adult guardianship in Florida?

Accepted Answer

It is a court case that takes legal rights away from an adult who can no longer make safe decisions and gives them to someone else. A petition is filed, a court appointed committee of three examines the person, and if the judge finds incapacity, the judge decides which rights are removed and appoints a guardian. The guardian answers to the court every year with a report on the person and an accounting of the money, and the cost of all of it comes out of the ward's own funds. Florida judges are required to look for a less restrictive answer first, which is why a durable power of attorney and a health care surrogate signed while your parent still has capacity are the best protection against ever needing this.

Question 28

My child has been disabled since birth and is turning 18. Is guardianship the only option?

Accepted Answer

Often it is not. Florida offers guardian advocacy under Fla. Stat. 393.12 for adults with a developmental disability, meaning a condition that began before age 18 and is expected to continue, from a list the statute defines that includes intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, autism, spina bifida, Down syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome. It is a gentler process: no adjudication that your child is incapacitated and no examining committee, and the court grants only the specific authority your child actually needs. Parents may file without a lawyer, though most families are glad to have one. Start the paperwork a few months before the birthday, because on the day your child turns 18 the school, the doctor and the bank all stop talking to you.

Question 29

When does a minor child need a guardian?

Accepted Answer

Two different situations, and they are easy to confuse. A guardian of the person is needed when neither parent is able to care for the child, most often because both parents have died. A guardian of the property is needed when a child comes into money, no matter who is raising them. In your will you nominate the person you want, and the judge gives that nomination real weight, but the appointment is still the court's to make. Florida also requires a nominated guardian who is not related to the child to be a Florida resident, which surprises parents who were counting on a best friend in another state.

Question 30

How is guardianship of a minor different from custody?

Accepted Answer

Custody, which Florida now calls time-sharing and parental responsibility, is decided between the parents in a family law case. Guardianship of a minor is a probate court matter that arises when the parents are out of the picture, and the guardian's authority comes from the judge rather than from a parenting plan. There is also a middle path many families do not know about: Chapter 751 of the Florida Statutes lets a grandparent or other extended family member who is already raising a child get temporary custody, enough to enroll the child in school and consent to medical care, without a full guardianship.

Question 31

My child inherited money. Why do I need a guardian of the property?

Accepted Answer

Because in Florida a parent's authority over a child's money stops at $15,000. As natural guardians, parents may receive and manage settlement proceeds and similar funds for a child only up to that amount. Above it, the court appoints a guardian of the property, who posts a bond, keeps the money in a restricted account, files an annual accounting, and hands the balance to your child on their eighteenth birthday. Parents are often startled by that last part. If you would rather your child receive an inheritance at 25 or 30 with someone sensible managing it in the meantime, the fix is a trust in your own estate plan, written before the money ever arrives.

Question 32

My child was hurt in an accident. Does the settlement need court approval?

Accepted Answer

Very likely. Once a claim has been filed on a child's behalf, the settlement is not final until the court approves it, and Florida requires the court to appoint a guardian ad litem to review the deal when the gross settlement reaches $50,000. Anything above the $15,000 a parent may handle directly will also need a guardianship of the property to receive the funds. Talk with an estate planning attorney before the settlement is signed rather than after. Structuring matters, especially if your child receives Medicaid or SSI, because money paid outright to a child on benefits can cost them those benefits.

Question 33

What is the difference between a guardian of the property and a guardian ad litem?

Accepted Answer

A guardian of the property holds and manages the money. It is an ongoing job under court supervision, with a bond, restricted accounts and an annual accounting, and it lasts until the child turns 18 or the ward no longer needs it. A guardian ad litem holds no money at all. That person is appointed for one case, to look at the proposed outcome and tell the judge whether it is genuinely in the child's or the ward's best interest, and the role ends when the case does. Some matters need both.

Question 34

Can we handle a guardianship case in Spanish?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Our team supports bilingual services, so the meetings, the phone calls, the paperwork we gather from you and the walk through of every document can happen entirely in Spanish. Court filings and hearings are in English, and we prepare you for exactly what will be said and asked. Guardianship is the hardest kind of case to sit through in a language that is not your own, and no one in your family should have to translate for a judge.

Start Understanding Before You Schedule

Downloadable guides

The Florida Estate Planning Checklist

Florida Medicaid and the Five-Year Look Back

The Power of Attorney That Keeps Your Family Out of Guardianship Court

What to do when a loved one dies: the Florida survivor's checklist

From the blog

Will or Trust in Florida: Which One Fits Your Family

Frequently Asked Questions

Estate Planning

Elder Law

Probate

Working With Us

Guardianship

Glossary

Ready to protect your family's future?

Professional Memberships