Updating your estate plan after a divorce, marriage, or relocation to Florida means revisiting your will, trust, beneficiary designations, and powers of attorney so they reflect your current family and your new home state’s laws. A major life change can quietly break a plan that once worked perfectly, leaving the wrong person in charge or the wrong person inheriting. The good news is that a focused review with a Florida estate planning attorney usually fixes the problem in a single sitting.
I have sat across the table from a lot of newcomers to South Florida who assumed their old documents would simply travel with them. Sometimes they do. Often they don’t. Below is the practical, plain-English version of what changes and why it matters, written for the retirees and seasonal residents who make up so much of this community.
Why Life Changes Quietly Break an Estate Plan
An estate plan is a snapshot of your life at one moment: who you trusted, who you loved, what you owned, and where you lived. Divorce, marriage, and a cross-country move each shift that picture. The documents, though, don’t update themselves. They keep pointing at the people and the rules that applied on the day you signed.
That gap between the paper and your real life is where families get hurt. An ex-spouse stays named on a life insurance policy. A new husband has no legal authority to make medical decisions. A trust drafted under New York or Ohio law contains provisions that mean something different in Florida. None of this is dramatic on a Tuesday afternoon. It becomes dramatic at a hospital bedside or in a probate courtroom.
Updating Your Estate Plan After Divorce in Florida
Florida law gives divorced people a partial safety net, but relying on it is a mistake. Two statutes do a lot of quiet work the moment a final judgment of dissolution is entered.
What Florida Statutes Do Automatically
Under Florida Statutes section 732.507, any provision of your will that affects your former spouse becomes void upon dissolution of the marriage. The will is then read as if your ex-spouse had died on the date of the divorce. Section 736.1105 does the same thing for a revocable trust. So if your old will left everything to your former wife and named her as personal representative, the law treats those provisions as canceled.
That sounds reassuring. Here is the catch: these statutes only reach what passes through your will or revocable trust. A huge share of modern wealth never touches either document.
The Beneficiary Designations Florida Law Does NOT Fix
Life insurance, 401(k) plans, IRAs, annuities, and payable-on-death bank accounts pass by beneficiary designation, outside your will. Many of these are governed by federal law, not Florida law. The U.S. Supreme Court made this painfully clear in Egelhoff v. Egelhoff, 532 U.S. 141 (2001), holding that ERISA preempts state revocation-on-divorce statutes for employer benefit plans. Translation: if your ex-spouse is still the named beneficiary on your company pension or 401(k), the plan administrator must pay your ex, even years after the divorce, even if your will says otherwise.
This is the single most common, most expensive mistake I see after a divorce. After your dissolution is final, do the following without delay:
- Re-file beneficiary forms on every life insurance policy, 401(k), IRA, and annuity.
- Update payable-on-death and transfer-on-death designations on bank and brokerage accounts.
- Revoke the old durable power of attorney and health care surrogate that named your ex.
- Sign a new will and, if you have one, restate or amend your revocable trust.
- Confirm your marital settlement agreement doesn’t require you to keep an ex as an irrevocable beneficiary, which can override the default rule.
One more wrinkle worth knowing: if your divorce judgment or a written agreement obligates you to keep your former spouse as a beneficiary, the automatic revocation statutes step aside. The court order controls. Read your final judgment before you change anything tied to support or property division.
Updating Your Estate Plan After Marriage or Remarriage
Marriage creates rights in Florida whether or not your documents mention your new spouse. Remarriage later in life, often a second or third marriage with children from a prior relationship, is where things get delicate.
Florida’s Spousal Protections You Can’t Ignore
A surviving spouse in Florida is entitled to an elective share equal to 30% of the elective estate under Florida Statutes section 732.201 and the sections that follow. This right can override what your will or trust says. If you try to leave your new spouse less than that 30%, he or she can elect against the estate and claim it anyway, scrambling the distributions you intended for your children.
Florida’s homestead rules add another layer. Your primary residence is constitutionally protected property, and a surviving spouse generally has rights to it regardless of what your will provides. You cannot simply will the family home to your kids and assume that ends the matter. A surviving spouse may take a life estate or, by election, a one-half interest as a tenant in common. For a snowbird who marries again and wants to protect both a new spouse and grown children, the homestead is often the central planning challenge.
Blended Families and the “I’ll Just Add Them Later” Trap
The toughest conversations involve blended families. You love your new spouse and you love the children from your first marriage, and a one-size-fits-all “everything to my spouse” plan can accidentally disinherit your own kids if your spouse later changes their own will. Tools exist to balance these interests, and they have to be chosen on purpose. A few that come up often:
- A QTIP or marital trust that supports a surviving spouse for life, then passes the remainder to your children.
- A prenuptial or postnuptial agreement that validly waives the elective share and homestead rights.
- Carefully coordinated beneficiary designations so retirement accounts and life insurance fund the right people.
- A revocable living trust to keep assets out of probate and reduce the chance of a contest.
Specialized planning vehicles can also play a role for retirees with significant assets or long-term care concerns. For example, families coordinating Medicaid eligibility with income protection sometimes use a in their prior home state, and those who want to stay in a home while transferring it to the next generation explore . Whether these fit you depends heavily on which state’s law applies, which is exactly why a move matters.
Updating Your Estate Plan After a Move to Florida
This is the section that matters most to our snowbirds and recent transplants. People assume a valid will from up north is automatically a valid Florida will. Usually it is, but “valid” and “well-suited to Florida” are not the same thing.
Will Your Out-of-State Documents Still Work?
Florida generally honors a will that was validly executed under the law of the state where it was signed, with one important exception. Florida does not recognize holographic wills (handwritten and unwitnessed) or nuncupative wills (oral), even if your former state did. A will signed in Florida should also meet our witnessing formalities under section 732.502.
There is a second, sneakier issue: the self-proving affidavit. Florida lets a will be admitted to probate quickly when it includes a self-proving affidavit signed under Florida’s specific format. An out-of-state self-proving clause may not satisfy Florida’s requirements, which means your personal representative could be forced to track down your old witnesses years later. Re-executing the will in Florida solves this cleanly.
Florida-Specific Issues Newcomers Miss
Several things change the day you become a Florida resident:
- Homestead. Florida’s homestead protections and devise restrictions are unlike anything in most other states. A clause that worked in New Jersey can be void here if it conflicts with the homestead rules.
- No state estate or inheritance tax. Florida has none, which is part of why people move here. Plans drafted to minimize a former state’s death tax may now contain unnecessary complexity.
- Personal representative restrictions. Florida limits who can serve as personal representative. A non-relative who lives out of state generally cannot serve, so the executor named in your old will may be disqualified.
- Powers of attorney. Florida’s durable power of attorney statute (chapter 709) has strict requirements, and banks here often balk at out-of-state forms. A Florida-specific durable power of attorney and health care surrogate are well worth re-signing.
- Domicile itself. If you split the year between two states, your former state may still claim you for income or estate tax. Clean, consistent steps to establish Florida domicile protect both your plan and your wallet.
For a deeper look at how these documents fit together, our overview of Florida wills and our guide to Florida probate walk through the mechanics in more detail. If you want a full Florida estate planning review, you can also read about the firm’s .
A Simple Review Checklist After Any Major Change
Whenever your life shifts, run through this short list. It takes ten minutes and prevents most disasters:
- Pull every estate planning document and read who is named, including backups.
- List every account with a beneficiary designation and confirm it matches your wishes.
- Check who holds your durable power of attorney and who is your health care surrogate.
- Confirm your personal representative and trustee are still willing, able, and Florida-eligible.
- Note any court orders from a divorce that constrain what you can change.
- Schedule a sit-down with a Florida estate planning attorney to formalize updates.
None of this is about predicting the worst. It is about making sure that the people you trust stay in charge and the people you love are provided for, no matter which season of life, or which season of the year, you happen to be in. If you have recently divorced, remarried, or planted roots in Florida, this is the right time to act. Contact our Miami estate planning office to review your documents before they are tested.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does divorce automatically remove my ex-spouse from my will in Florida?
Yes, in part. Under Florida Statutes section 732.507, provisions of your will that affect your former spouse become void upon a final dissolution of marriage, and the will is read as if your ex died on the divorce date. Section 736.1105 does the same for revocable trusts. But this does not touch life insurance, 401(k)s, IRAs, or payable-on-death accounts, especially employer plans governed by ERISA, where your ex can still collect unless you re-file the beneficiary forms.
Is my out-of-state will still valid after I move to Florida?
Usually yes, if it was validly executed under the law of the state where you signed it, with key exceptions. Florida does not recognize handwritten (holographic) or oral (nuncupative) wills. Out-of-state self-proving affidavits often fail to meet Florida’s format, and your named executor may be disqualified under Florida’s personal representative rules. Re-executing your will in Florida avoids these problems and lets the document be admitted to probate smoothly.
How much is my new spouse entitled to in Florida if I remarry?
A surviving spouse in Florida has the right to an elective share equal to 30% of the elective estate under Florida Statutes section 732.201, which can override what your will or trust provides. Your spouse also has homestead rights in the primary residence. If you want to leave more to children from a prior marriage, you generally need a marital trust, a valid prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, or both.
What should I update first after a divorce?
Start with beneficiary designations on life insurance, retirement accounts, annuities, and bank accounts, because Florida’s automatic revocation statutes do not reach many of them and federal ERISA law preempts state revocation for employer plans. Then revoke the durable power of attorney and health care surrogate that named your ex, and sign a new will or amend your revocable trust. Check your divorce judgment first, since it may require you to keep your ex as a beneficiary.
Do I need a new power of attorney when I move to Florida?
It is strongly recommended. Florida’s durable power of attorney statute (chapter 709) has specific requirements, and Florida banks and financial institutions frequently refuse to honor out-of-state forms. Signing a Florida-compliant durable power of attorney and a Florida health care surrogate designation ensures the people you trust can actually act for you here without delay or litigation.
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