Florida Estate Planning Law

Estate planning in Florida involves creating legal documents that control how your assets are managed during incapacity and distributed after death. A properly structured plan avoids probate, minimizes taxes, protects beneficiaries, and ensures your property reaches the people you choose. Florida’s combination of no state income tax, no inheritance tax, and strong homestead protections creates a favorable environment for estate planning, but these benefits only apply when the right documents are in place.

Living Trusts

A living trust is the foundation of most Florida estate plans. You transfer ownership of your assets to a trust during your lifetime, serve as your own trustee, and designate a successor trustee who takes over if you become incapacitated or when you die. Assets held in the trust bypass probate entirely, remain private, and can be distributed to your beneficiaries within weeks rather than the months or years that probate requires.

A living trust also provides incapacity planning. If you become unable to manage your affairs, the successor trustee steps in immediately without the expense and delay of court-supervised guardianship. For anyone with assets beyond a single home, a living trust is typically the most effective estate planning tool available.

If you are considering a trust, the process of creating a trust in Florida involves drafting the agreement, choosing a trustee, funding the trust with your assets, and preparing supporting documents including a pour-over will and power of attorney.

Wills

A last will and testament directs how your probate assets are distributed and names a personal representative to manage the probate process. A will also designates a guardian for minor children, which a trust cannot do. Every Florida adult should have a will, even those with a living trust, because a pour-over will catches any assets not transferred to the trust during life.

Naming a guardian is a temporary safeguard. A stepparent or other family member who wants permanent parental rights should pursue a stepparent adoption or relative adoption, which creates a legal parent-child relationship that survives regardless of what happens to the biological parent.

A will does not override every inheritance rule. Florida law guarantees a surviving spouse at least 30% of the augmented estate regardless of what the will says, and homestead property follows its own constitutional rules that a will cannot override. Without coordinated planning, the default rules can produce results the couple never intended, particularly in blended families.

The key limitation of a will is that it goes through probate. Assets passing under a will are subject to court supervision, statutory attorney fees, and public disclosure. On a $500,000 estate, Florida statutory probate fees alone reach approximately $15,000.

Most comprehensive plans include both a will and a trust. The choice between wills and trusts in Florida depends on the size and complexity of the estate, whether privacy matters, and whether the plan needs to address incapacity.

Avoiding Probate

Avoiding probate is one of the primary goals of Florida estate planning. Probate is expensive, time-consuming, and public. Florida law provides several tools for transferring assets outside of probate, including living trusts, lady bird deeds, beneficiary designations on financial accounts, and joint ownership with right of survivorship. Most effective estate plans combine multiple tools so that little or nothing passes through probate at death.

Motor vehicles are one of the most common assets families need to handle after a death, and Florida Statute § 319.28 allows car title transfers after death without probate as long as the estate has no outstanding debts.

Lady Bird Deeds

A lady bird deed transfers Florida real estate to named beneficiaries at death while the owner retains full control during life, including the right to sell, mortgage, or revoke the deed. The property passes automatically outside of probate, and the beneficiaries receive a full stepped-up tax basis.

For homeowners whose primary estate planning concern is their residence, a lady bird deed is often the simplest and least expensive solution. Florida does not have a statutory transfer on death deed, but the lady bird deed serves as Florida’s functional equivalent and is widely recognized by courts, title companies, and recording offices throughout the state.

Those comparing their options can review the differences between a lady bird deed and a living trust to determine whether one or both are appropriate. The tax consequences of a lady bird deed are also an important consideration, particularly regarding the stepped-up basis, gift tax treatment, and Medicaid estate recovery.

Life Estate Deeds

Life estate deeds divide property ownership into a present interest (the life estate) and a future interest (the remainder). A traditional life estate deed gives the owner the right to possess the property during life but restricts the owner’s ability to sell or mortgage without the remainderman’s consent. An enhanced life estate deed (lady bird deed) removes those restrictions. Understanding the distinction matters because the two deed types have different tax consequences, different levels of owner control, and different implications for Medicaid planning.

Adding or Removing Names from Deeds

Florida property owners sometimes need to add or remove a name from a deed. Adding someone requires a new deed from the current owner. Removing someone requires voluntary cooperation from the person being removed. Both transactions have tax, homestead, and mortgage implications that should be evaluated before recording any document. In most situations involving parents and children, a lady bird deed is a better alternative than adding a child’s name to the deed.

Inheritance Tax and Estate Tax

Florida does not impose an inheritance tax or estate tax. The Florida Constitution prohibits both taxes, making the state one of the most favorable jurisdictions for wealth transfer. The federal estate tax still applies to very large estates, but the exemption is $15 million per person ($30 million for married couples) as of 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which means fewer than 0.1% of estates nationwide owe any federal estate tax.

Cost of Estate Planning in Florida

The cost of estate planning in Florida depends on the complexity of the plan.

| Plan Type | Typical Cost | What’s Included || Simple will | $250 to $600 | Will, possibly health care directive || Lady bird deed | $400 to $1,000 | Deed preparation and recording || Living trust package | $1,500 to $4,500 | Trust, pour-over will, power of attorney, health care surrogate, living will |

A simple will is appropriate for individuals with straightforward situations where most assets pass through beneficiary designations or joint ownership. A lady bird deed addresses a single property. A living trust package is the comprehensive solution for anyone with multiple assets, out-of-state property, or complex family situations. The upfront cost of a living trust is substantially less than the probate fees it eliminates.

What an Estate Plan Does Not Do

A standard estate plan does not protect assets from your own creditors during your lifetime. A revocable living trust, will, and lady bird deed are all accessible to judgment creditors while you are alive. Asset protection during life requires different tools, including Florida’s statutory exemptions, domestic asset protection trusts, or offshore trust structures depending on the level of protection needed.

A standard estate plan also does not reduce income taxes. A revocable living trust is a grantor trust for income tax purposes, meaning all trust income is reported on your personal tax return. The trust provides no income tax advantage during your lifetime.