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 re-executing your will, trust, powers of attorney, health care documents, and beneficiary designations so they reflect your new family situation and comply with Florida law. A major life change does not automatically rewrite these documents for you, and an out-of-state plan that was perfectly valid up north can behave unexpectedly once you become a Florida resident. The safest approach is to treat divorce, marriage, and relocation each as a trigger for a full, document-by-document review.

I have sat across the desk from many Palm Beach retirees and snowbirds who assumed their twenty-year-old New York will would simply “carry over.” Sometimes it mostly does. Often it does not, and the gaps surface at the worst possible moment, after someone has passed and the family is left untangling stale beneficiary forms and an ex-spouse still named as executor. This guide walks through what actually changes, and what you should do about it.

Why a Move to Florida Changes Your Estate Plan

Florida is one of the most relocation-friendly states in the country for estate planning, but “friendly” is not the same as “automatic.” When you establish Florida residency, several rules of the road change at once.

Your will may be valid, but it can still misfire

Under Florida Statutes § 732.502, a will is generally valid in Florida if it was executed in compliance with the law of the state where it was signed. So your properly witnessed New York or New Jersey will is usually still a valid will here. The trap is the self-proving affidavit. Florida law (§ 732.503) lets a will be admitted to probate quickly when it carries a notarized self-proving affidavit in the specific Florida form. Out-of-state affidavits frequently do not match, which means your witnesses may have to be located and deposed years later. That alone is a reason to re-execute the document in Florida.

Holographic and oral wills do not work here

Florida does not recognize handwritten (holographic) wills that lack proper witnesses, nor oral wills, even if your prior state allowed them (§ 732.502(2)). If your old plan leaned on an informal document, it likely fails in Florida.

Homestead changes everything

This is the single most important concept for new Florida residents, and the one most out-of-state plans ignore. Florida’s constitutional homestead protection (Article X, Section 4) does two very different things. It shields your primary residence from most creditors, and it sharply restricts how you can leave that home in your will. If you are married or have a minor child, you generally cannot simply leave your homestead to anyone you choose. A surviving spouse is entitled to a life estate, or may elect a one-half tenancy in common with your descendants. A will provision that tries to override this is partly void as to the homestead.

Snowbirds who keep a northern home and a Palm Beach condo need to think carefully about which property is the homestead and how each transfers. For some clients, holding the residence in a trust or using a life-estate structure makes sense; for others it creates problems. The right answer is fact-specific, which is exactly why a relocation should trigger a sit-down review rather than a do-it-yourself patch.

Elective share and spousal rights differ

Florida grants a surviving spouse an elective share equal to 30% of the elective estate (§ 732.201 et seq.), and that estate is defined broadly to include many non-probate and trust assets. If your plan was built around another state’s spousal rules, the math no longer holds.

Updating Your Estate Plan After Marriage

Marriage, including a second or later-in-life marriage, is one of the most common reasons Palm Beach clients come in. Blended families and prior children make these the plans most likely to go wrong if left alone.

The “pretermitted spouse” surprise

If you made your will before the marriage and did not provide for your new spouse, Florida’s pretermitted-spouse statute (§ 732.301) may give that spouse an intestate share, as if you had died without a will, unless the will contemplated the marriage or a valid prenuptial agreement waived the right. In plain terms: getting married can partially override an old will in ways you never intended.

What to revisit after marriage

• Your will and trust: decide deliberately what the new spouse receives versus children from a prior relationship.
• Beneficiary designations: life insurance, IRAs, 401(k)s, and annuities pass by contract, not by your will. These are the most commonly forgotten documents.
• Prenuptial or postnuptial agreements: coordinate them with the elective share and homestead rules above.
• Powers of attorney and health care surrogate: most newlyweds want their spouse named, but Florida requires specific statutory language for a durable power of attorney to function.

For larger or income-sensitive estates, marriage is also a good moment to evaluate trust strategies that protect assets while preserving benefits. Clients with family ties to New York sometimes use specialized vehicles there; if that describes you, it is worth understanding how a works alongside your Florida documents before you decide.

Updating Your Estate Plan After Divorce

Divorce is the trigger people most often assume is “handled automatically.” It is partly handled, and the gaps are dangerous precisely because they are invisible.

What Florida law revokes automatically

Under Florida Statutes § 732.507(2), a final judgment of divorce or annulment automatically voids any provision in your will that benefits your former spouse, treating the ex-spouse as if they had predeceased you. A parallel statute (§ 732.703) applies the same logic to many beneficiary designations and certain non-probate assets, including life insurance and retirement accounts governed by Florida law.

What Florida law does NOT fix for you

This is where families get hurt. The automatic-revocation statutes have real limits:

1. Federal accounts win. Employer retirement plans governed by ERISA, and federal benefits, follow the named beneficiary on file regardless of Florida law. If your ex is still listed on a 401(k), they may legally collect it. Update the form directly with the plan administrator.
2. Remarrying the same person undoes the revocation. If you reconcile and remarry, the old provisions can spring back.
3. Trusts need attention. A revocable trust naming an ex-spouse as trustee or beneficiary should be amended explicitly; do not rely on assumptions.
4. Fiduciary roles linger. Your ex may still be named as agent under a power of attorney or as health care surrogate. Florida revokes a spouse’s authority as health care surrogate on divorce, but you should still execute fresh documents naming someone you actually trust.

Practically, after a divorce you want to rebuild the plan from scratch: new will or trust amendment, new beneficiary forms on every account, new power of attorney, new health care surrogate, and a new guardianship designation if you have minor children.

Snowbirds and Dual-State Residents: Special Considerations

Many of our Palm Beach clients split the year between Florida and a northern state. That dual life creates planning questions that single-state residents never face.

• Domicile matters for taxes and probate. Florida has no state income tax and no state estate tax. Declaring and proving Florida domicile, through your driver’s license, voter registration, homestead filing, and where you actually spend time, can produce meaningful savings, but it must be done deliberately.
• Out-of-state real estate triggers ancillary probate. If you keep the northern house in your individual name, your estate may face a second probate in that state. A revocable living trust often avoids this. Transferring a residence while keeping the right to live in it is a common tool; understand the tradeoffs of before signing anything that moves real property.
• Coordinate, do not duplicate. You should have one master plan, not two competing wills. Conflicting documents from two states are a recipe for litigation.

A Practical Checklist When Life Changes

Whenever you divorce, marry, or relocate to Florida, work through this list with an attorney rather than piecemeal:

• Re-execute your will in Florida with a compliant self-proving affidavit.
• Review your revocable trust and re-title assets as needed.
• Update every beneficiary designation, life insurance, IRA, 401(k), annuity, and payable-on-death account.
• Sign a new Florida durable power of attorney and health care surrogate designation.
• Address homestead status for your Palm Beach residence and any northern home.
• Confirm your executor (personal representative) is eligible; Florida limits who may serve.
• Revisit guardianship designations for minor children.

For a fuller breakdown of the documents themselves, see our overview of Florida wills and our guide to how Florida probate works. If you want a single team to coordinate the Florida side, the firm’s Florida estate planning practice handles relocations, blended families, and post-divorce rebuilds regularly.

When to Call a Florida Estate Planning Attorney

You do not need a lawyer for every minor change, but you should call one when any of these are true: you have become or are becoming a Florida resident; you have married, divorced, or lost a spouse; you own real estate in more than one state; you have children from a prior relationship; or your existing documents were drafted outside Florida and have not been reviewed since. These are the situations where a stale plan quietly stops doing what you think it does, and a short review now can spare your family a long, expensive probate later. Our Palm Beach office is happy to look over what you already have; reach out to schedule a review.

Frequently Asked Questions

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

Usually yes. Under Florida Statutes § 732.502, a will validly executed under the law of the state where you signed it is generally honored in Florida. The common problem is the self-proving affidavit, which often does not match Florida’s required form, slowing probate. Re-executing the will in Florida fixes this and lets you address homestead and spousal rules at the same time.

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

Partly. Florida Statutes §§ 732.507 and 732.703 automatically void most will provisions and many beneficiary designations favoring a former spouse, treating them as having predeceased you. But ERISA-governed retirement accounts follow the named beneficiary regardless, so you must update those forms directly. You should also execute new powers of attorney and a new health care surrogate.

Do I need to update my plan if I get married later in life?

Yes. Florida’s pretermitted-spouse statute (§ 732.301) can give a new spouse an intestate share if your pre-marriage will did not provide for them, and the elective share entitles a surviving spouse to 30% of the elective estate. For blended families, deliberate planning, often with a trust and a prenuptial agreement, is essential to balance a new spouse and children from a prior relationship.

What is homestead and why does it matter for snowbirds?

Florida’s constitutional homestead (Article X, Section 4) protects your primary residence from most creditors and restricts how you can leave it if you have a spouse or minor child. Snowbirds with both a Florida and a northern home must decide which is the homestead and how each transfers, since out-of-state real estate kept in your own name can trigger a second, ancillary probate.

How soon after moving to Florida should I review my estate plan?

Ideally within the first few months of establishing residency, and before you file for homestead exemption or update your driver’s license and voter registration. Doing the review early lets your attorney align your documents with Florida’s self-proving, homestead, and elective-share rules and helps establish Florida domicile for tax purposes.