You should review your Florida estate plan every three to five years and again after any major life event, such as a marriage, divorce, birth, death, or significant change in assets. A periodic review confirms that your will, trusts, beneficiary designations, and powers of attorney still match both your wishes and current Florida law. For blended families and second marriages, that review is not optional housekeeping; it is the difference between your plan working and your spouse and children fighting over what you left behind.
I have sat across the table from too many surviving spouses and adult stepchildren who discovered, after a funeral, that the documents in the drawer said something nobody intended. The documents were not forged or fraudulent. They were simply old. Below is how I counsel Palm Beach clients to think about when, and why, to take another look.
Why estate plans go stale faster than people expect
An estate plan is a snapshot of three moving things: your life, your assets, and the law. All three drift. A plan that was airtight in 2015 may now name an ex-spouse, an underage child who is now an adult, a bank account that was closed years ago, or a personal representative who has since passed away or moved out of state.
Florida adds its own wrinkles. The Florida Probate Code and the Florida Trust Code are amended regularly, the homestead protections in Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution are unforgiving, and the surviving-spouse rights baked into Florida law can quietly override what your will says. A document that ignores those rules does not bend the law; the law bends the document.
The blended-family problem that drives most of our reviews
In a first marriage with shared children, “everything to my spouse, then to our kids” usually works. In a second marriage, that same sentence can accidentally disinherit your children entirely. Leave everything outright to your new spouse and trust that he or she will “take care of the kids,” and the law no longer protects your kids at all. Your spouse can rewrite their own will the week after your funeral and leave your assets to their side of the family. I have watched it happen.
That single dynamic is the reason most of our second-marriage clients need a structured review, and often a structured trust, rather than a simple will.
Life events that should trigger an immediate review
Do not wait for the calendar. Any of the following should send you back to your attorney within a few months:
- Marriage or remarriage. A new spouse acquires automatic rights in Florida that your old documents never accounted for.
- Divorce. Under Florida Statutes § 732.507, a divorce voids the provisions of your will that benefit your former spouse, but it does not automatically fix beneficiary designations on every asset, and the gap can be costly.
- Birth or adoption of a child or grandchild. Florida’s pretermitted-child rules (§ 732.302) can give an omitted child a share you never planned for.
- Death of a spouse, heir, personal representative, or trustee. Successor roles must be checked and named.
- A move to or from Florida. Domicile changes everything from homestead to which state’s law governs your plan.
- A large change in net worth—a business sale, inheritance, retirement payout, or real estate purchase.
- A health diagnosis for you or someone in your line of succession, especially one that raises long-term care or Medicaid questions.
- A change in relationships—an estrangement, a special-needs concern, or a beneficiary with creditor or addiction problems.
If two or more of these have happened since you last signed anything, treat a review as overdue, not optional.
Why the periodic three-to-five-year review still matters
Even with no dramatic life event, quiet drift accumulates. Tax thresholds shift. The federal estate-tax exemption is scheduled to change, and plans built around old numbers can become inefficient or simply obsolete. Institutions merge, account numbers change, and the digital footprint of your estate—online accounts, crypto, cloud storage—grows every year. A periodic review catches the slow leaks before they become floods.
What a thorough Florida review actually examines
- Your will and any codicils—does it still name the right beneficiaries, personal representative, and guardians for minor children?
- Your revocable living trust—and, critically, whether your assets are actually titled in it. An unfunded trust is an expensive empty box.
- Beneficiary designations on life insurance, IRAs, 401(k)s, and annuities. These pass outside your will and quietly control huge sums.
- Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death account registrations.
- Your durable power of attorney under Florida Statutes Chapter 709—Florida’s 2011 statutory overhaul means many older powers of attorney no longer function the way banks expect.
- Your health care surrogate designation and living will under Chapter 765.
- Homestead—how your Palm Beach home is titled and whether your plan respects the constitutional restrictions on devising it.
- Spousal rights, including the elective share and homestead, which can quietly reallocate a large portion of your estate.
The Florida spousal-rights traps that surprise blended families
Two provisions in particular catch second-marriage clients off guard, and both are reasons to review.
The elective share. Under Florida Statutes § 732.201 and related sections, a surviving spouse is entitled to 30% of the elective estate—a broad pool that reaches well beyond probate assets—regardless of what your will says. If your plan tries to leave more to your children than the law allows, your new spouse can elect against the estate and reshuffle the whole distribution. A waiver in a valid prenuptial or postnuptial agreement under § 732.702 is often the cleanest fix, but it must be drafted and executed correctly.
Homestead. Florida’s homestead protection is generous to creditors but rigid about devise. If you are survived by a spouse and a minor child, you generally cannot leave the homestead freely at all. Even with adult children, a surviving spouse takes either a life estate or, by election, a one-half tenancy in common with your descendants. Many blended-family disputes I litigate trace back to a homestead clause that the Constitution simply overruled.
These are not reasons to panic. They are reasons to plan deliberately—often with a properly drafted trust that balances providing for a surviving spouse during life while preserving the remainder for your own children.
Coordinating multi-state and asset-protection planning
Many Palm Beach families have roots elsewhere—a New York apartment, a northern business, parents in another state. Where assets or aging relatives sit in more than one jurisdiction, your Florida plan should be coordinated with counsel in those states. For long-term care planning specifically, vehicles such as a Medicaid asset protection trust can shelter assets when a family member faces nursing-home costs in a high-cost state, and an income-based tool like a pooled income trust can preserve benefits for a disabled or elderly beneficiary. Florida’s Medicaid rules differ, so each state’s documents have to be reviewed on their own terms—but they have to point in the same direction.
For the Florida side of a coordinated plan, our team handles the full range of Florida estate planning work, from wills and trusts to homestead and elective-share strategy for remarried spouses.
How to make your review productive
When you come in—or sit down to organize before you do—bring the originals, not just memories. A few practical habits make every review smoother:
- Keep a one-page asset list with account titling and current beneficiary designations.
- Note every life event since your last signing date.
- Flag any document signed in another state.
- Bring prenuptial or postnuptial agreements; they often control more than the will does.
- Write down who you trust to act if you cannot—and a backup for each role.
If you are early in the process and still building your foundation, start with our overview of Florida wills, and if you are worried about what happens to a plan that was never updated, our guide to Florida probate shows exactly what your family would face. When you are ready for a focused review, reach out to our Palm Beach office and we will walk through your documents together.
The bottom line
An estate plan is not a monument; it is a living instruction set that has to keep pace with your family and your state’s law. Review it on a three-to-five-year cycle, and immediately after any marriage, divorce, birth, death, move, or major financial shift. For blended families in Palm Beach, that discipline is what turns “I assumed everyone would be taken care of” into a plan that actually protects both your spouse and your children—exactly as you intended.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I review my Florida estate plan?
As a baseline, review your plan every three to five years, and sooner after any major life event such as marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, a death in the family, a move into or out of Florida, or a significant change in your assets. Blended families and remarried spouses often benefit from more frequent reviews because spousal rights and homestead rules can quietly override outdated documents.
Does a Florida divorce automatically update my will?
Partially. Under Florida Statutes section 732.507, divorce voids the provisions of your will that benefit your former spouse, treating them as if they predeceased you. However, it does not automatically correct beneficiary designations on life insurance, retirement accounts, or payable-on-death accounts. Those must be updated separately, which is why a post-divorce review matters.
Can my will leave everything to my children and cut out my new spouse?
Not entirely. Florida’s elective share (Florida Statutes section 732.201 and related provisions) generally entitles a surviving spouse to 30% of the elective estate regardless of what your will says, and homestead rules give a surviving spouse additional rights in the family home. To limit a spouse’s share, you typically need a valid prenuptial or postnuptial agreement with a proper waiver under section 732.702.
What documents are part of a complete Florida estate plan review?
A thorough review covers your will and any codicils, revocable living trust and its funding, beneficiary and payable-on-death designations, a durable power of attorney under Chapter 709, a health care surrogate designation and living will under Chapter 765, homestead titling, and spousal elective-share exposure. Each piece should be checked against current Florida law and your current wishes.
Why do blended families need estate plan reviews more than other families?
Because the default approach of leaving everything to a surviving spouse can unintentionally disinherit children from a prior marriage. Once assets pass outright to a new spouse, that spouse can redirect them to their own family. A review, often paired with a properly structured trust, lets you provide for your spouse during life while preserving the remainder for your own children.
For more on our Florida practice, see our overview of powers of attorney in Florida. Morgan Legal Group's affiliated New York office also handles special needs planning in New York.