Updating Your Estate Plan After Divorce, Marriage, or a Move to Florida

Updating your estate plan after divorce, marriage, or a move to Florida means reviewing and revising your will, trusts, beneficiary designations, and powers of attorney so they reflect your current family, your current assets, and the laws of your current state. Each of these three life events changes who has a legal claim to your estate and which rules govern it—and Florida law sometimes makes changes automatically, whether you intended them or not. For professionals and physicians whose estates carry meaningful liability exposure and complexity, treating these transitions as a prompt to rebuild the plan, not just tweak it, is the difference between a plan that works and one that fails at the worst possible moment.

I’ve sat across the table from too many surgeons, partners, and small-business owners who assumed the documents they signed a decade ago in another state still “covered everything.” They rarely do. Below is how I walk clients through each trigger, and what Florida specifically does to a stale plan.

Why Life Events Are the Real Triggers for an Estate Plan Update

People tend to think about estate planning on a calendar—every five years, maybe. That’s the wrong instinct. The events that actually break a plan aren’t dates; they’re changes in relationships, assets, and jurisdiction. Divorce changes a relationship. Marriage adds one, with legal rights attached. A move to Florida changes the jurisdiction that interprets your documents and taxes your estate.

An out-of-date plan doesn’t announce itself. It looks fine sitting in a drawer. The problem surfaces only when someone dies or becomes incapacitated, and by then no one can fix it. For a physician with malpractice exposure, retirement accounts, real property in two states, and minor children, the gap between “what I intended” and “what the document says” can run into seven figures.

Updating Your Estate Plan After Divorce in Florida

Divorce is the event that catches the most people off guard, partly because Florida law tries to help—but only halfway.

What Florida Law Revokes Automatically

Under Florida Statutes § 732.507(2), when a marriage is dissolved, any provision in your will that benefits your former spouse is treated as though the ex-spouse died at the time of the divorce. A parallel rule, § 736.1105, applies to revocable trusts. Florida also addresses other instruments: § 732.703 voids the designation of a former spouse as beneficiary on certain assets—like life insurance, annuities, and payable-on-death accounts—upon divorce, with specific exceptions.

So the law catches some things. But relying on the statute alone is a mistake, for several reasons.

What the Statute Does Not Fix

• Federal preemption. Employer-sponsored retirement plans governed by ERISA—your 401(k), most pension plans—are controlled by federal law, not Florida’s revocation statute. The U.S. Supreme Court made this clear in Egelhoff v. Egelhoff. If your ex-spouse is still named on your 401(k), that beneficiary designation generally controls, divorce decree or not.
• The gap it leaves behind. Removing your ex doesn’t name a replacement. If your will left everything to your spouse with no contingent beneficiary, the statute simply deletes that gift—it doesn’t redirect it sensibly. The result can be partial intestacy.
• Fiduciary roles. If your former spouse is your named executor (personal representative), trustee, health care surrogate, or agent under a power of attorney, those appointments need direct attention.
• The in-between period. Separation is not divorce. Until a final judgment of dissolution is entered, your spouse retains every right the documents grant. If you’re separated, update now—don’t wait for the decree.

The clean approach after divorce is to revoke and replace, not amend. New will, new trust restatement, fresh beneficiary forms filed directly with each institution, and new powers of attorney and a new health care surrogate designation. A short list of “patches” almost always leaves a gap.

Updating Your Estate Plan After Marriage

Marriage is the mirror image of divorce: instead of stripping rights out, it adds a person with strong legal claims to your estate.

Florida’s Protections for a Surviving Spouse

Florida gives spouses rights you cannot accidentally write around. Two matter most:

• The elective share. Under Florida Statutes § 732.201 and the sections that follow, a surviving spouse is entitled to 30% of the elective estate—a broad calculation that reaches well beyond the probate estate to include certain trusts, jointly held property, and other transfers. You cannot disinherit a spouse in Florida simply by leaving them out of your will.
• The pretermitted spouse. Under § 732.301, if you marry after signing your will and don’t update it, your new spouse may take an intestate share—roughly what they’d receive if you’d died with no will at all—unless the will provided for the spouse, addressed the possibility, or a valid prenuptial agreement waived the right.

Homestead, Blended Families, and the Traps

Florida’s constitutional homestead protection (Article X, Section 4) adds another layer. If you’re married or have minor children, you cannot freely devise your homestead. Leaving the house outright to anyone other than your spouse, when a spouse survives you, can be invalid—your spouse may instead take a life estate or, by election, a half-interest as tenant in common. For second marriages especially, this quietly upends the “the house goes to my kids” plan people assume they’ve made.

Blended families are where I spend the most time. A physician remarrying with children from a first marriage usually wants two things that pull in opposite directions: provide for the new spouse, and preserve an inheritance for the kids. A well-drafted plan—often a QTIP marital trust or a properly funded revocable trust—can do both. A do-it-yourself will signed after the wedding usually does neither.

If you have a child with special needs, marriage is also the moment to confirm that any inheritance flows through a properly structured vehicle rather than directly to the child, where it could disqualify them from needs-based benefits. The mechanics mirror what attorneys use elsewhere; this overview of a explains the core structure, and Florida law allows a comparable supplemental needs trust.

One more often-overlooked point: getting married is the right time to sign or revisit a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement. Done correctly, it can waive the elective share and homestead rights and let your estate plan say what you actually intend.

Updating Your Estate Plan After a Move to Florida

This is the trigger high-earning professionals underestimate most. Your old documents don’t dissolve when you cross the state line, but Florida won’t read them the way your former state did.

Will Validity and Execution Formalities

Florida generally honors a will validly executed under the law of the state where it was signed. The catch is in the details. Florida has strict witnessing requirements under § 732.502—two witnesses, present together. Florida also does not recognize holographic (handwritten, unwitnessed) wills or nuncupative (oral) wills, even if they were valid where you used to live. A handwritten will that was perfectly enforceable in another state can be worthless here.

There’s also a procedural snag that delays probate: a will is “self-proved”—admissible without tracking down witnesses—only if it includes the specific self-proving affidavit under § 732.503. Many out-of-state wills don’t have Florida’s version, which means extra cost and delay for your family. Re-executing the will in Florida solves it.

The Personal Representative Residency Rule

Here’s the one that trips up nearly everyone moving from the Northeast. Under § 733.304, a person who is not a Florida resident can serve as your personal representative only if they are a close blood relative (or the spouse of one) as defined by statute. The trusted college roommate or business partner up north who you named as executor years ago? In Florida, they’re likely disqualified. Your plan names a fiduciary who legally cannot serve. This needs to be caught and corrected on arrival, not discovered in probate court.

Estate Tax, Homestead, and Asset Protection Upgrades

Florida is one of the most favorable estate-planning jurisdictions in the country, and a move is your chance to capitalize:

• No state estate or inheritance tax. Florida imposes neither. Establishing genuine Florida domicile—voter registration, driver’s license, declaration of domicile under § 222.17, and where you actually live—can meaningfully reduce the tax exposure you carried in a high-tax state. Federal estate tax still applies above the federal exemption, so coordinate this with a tax advisor.
• Unlimited homestead creditor protection. Florida’s homestead exemption shields your primary residence from most creditors without a dollar cap (subject to acreage limits and timing rules). For a physician carrying liability risk, this is a genuine asset-protection tool—but only if your plan and your titling are structured to preserve it.
• Tenancy by the entireties and other protections. Married couples in Florida can hold assets as tenants by the entireties, insulating them from the individual creditors of one spouse. This deserves a deliberate review when you arrive.

If you still hold real property, a business interest, or accounts in your former state, your plan also needs to address ancillary probate—a second probate proceeding in that state—often best avoided by retitling those assets into a revocable trust. To see how a foundational document like the will fits into the larger plan, this primer on the is a useful starting point before you sit down with Florida counsel to localize everything.

A Practical Update Checklist for Each Life Event

Whatever the trigger, work through these systematically rather than fixing one document and stopping:

1. The will — gifts, guardians for minor children, and your personal representative.
2. Revocable and irrevocable trusts — beneficiaries, trustees, and successor trustees; confirm assets are actually titled into the trust (funding is where plans quietly fail).
3. Beneficiary designations — life insurance, 401(k)/IRA, annuities, and payable-on-death accounts. File new forms directly with each institution; never assume the will controls these.
4. Durable power of attorney — Florida’s POA statute (Chapter 709) has its own execution and specificity requirements; out-of-state forms may not be honored by Florida banks.
5. Health care surrogate and living will — Florida has its own statutory forms under Chapter 765.
6. Homestead and titling — confirm the deed, tenancy, and any trust ownership align with both your wishes and Florida’s homestead rules.
7. Prenuptial or postnuptial agreement — sign or revisit on marriage; confirm it survives the move.

Florida-specific drafting matters at every step, which is why a local review is worth the hour. Our Florida team handles exactly these transitions through its , and you can schedule a consultation to start the review.

Common Mistakes Professionals Make

• Trusting the automatic divorce revocation completely. It misses ERISA accounts and leaves gaps. Re-execute.
• Signing a quick will after marriage without addressing homestead or the elective share. The result is rarely what the couple intended.
• Moving to Florida and changing nothing. A disqualified out-of-state executor and a non-self-proved will are common, avoidable problems.
• Updating the will but not beneficiary forms. Those forms govern the largest assets most professionals own.
• Waiting. Separation, engagement, and the closing on the new house are all good reasons to update now—not after the event is final.

Estate planning isn’t a one-time signing; it’s a plan that has to keep pace with your life. Divorce, marriage, and a move to Florida are the three loudest signals to revisit it. For a fuller walkthrough of the underlying documents, see our overview of wills and trusts—then bring it to a Florida attorney to make sure the plan matches both your intentions and Florida law.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does divorce automatically remove my ex-spouse from my will in Florida?

Yes, in part. Florida Statutes § 732.507(2) treats your ex-spouse as having predeceased you for purposes of your will after a divorce, and § 732.703 voids many ex-spouse beneficiary designations. But the statute does not reach ERISA-governed retirement accounts like a 401(k), and it doesn’t name a replacement beneficiary. The safest approach is to revoke and replace your documents and file fresh beneficiary forms with each institution.

Can I disinherit my spouse in Florida by leaving them out of my will?

No. Florida’s elective share (§ 732.201) entitles a surviving spouse to 30% of the elective estate, which reaches beyond the probate estate. Florida’s pretermitted spouse rule (§ 732.301) and constitutional homestead protections add further rights. The main way to limit these is a valid prenuptial or postnuptial agreement that waives them.

Is my out-of-state will still valid after I move to Florida?

Often yes, if it was validly executed where you signed it—but with caveats. Florida does not recognize handwritten (holographic) or oral wills, may require its own self-proving affidavit under § 732.503 to avoid probate delays, and under § 733.304 may disqualify a non-relative, out-of-state personal representative. Re-executing your will in Florida is usually the cleanest fix.

Do I need to update my estate plan when I get married, or only after I have children?

Update it when you marry. Marriage immediately grants your new spouse elective-share, homestead, and pretermitted-spouse rights in Florida. Waiting until children arrive can leave your spouse taking an unintended share and can invalidate how your homestead passes—especially in second marriages with children from a prior relationship.

Which documents should I review after a major life event?

Review your will, any revocable or irrevocable trusts (including whether assets are actually titled into them), all beneficiary designations, your durable power of attorney, your health care surrogate and living will, and your property titling and homestead status. Fixing only the will and stopping is the most common and costly mistake.