When to update a Florida estate plan: marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, a move, new assets and incapacity, what Florida law changes automatically and which documents to review after each event
The events that call for a new will, trust, power of attorney or beneficiary form in Florida: marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, a move, new assets and incapacity, with what Florida law changes automatically and what it leaves alone.
Update a Florida estate plan after a marriage, a divorce, a birth or adoption, the death of a beneficiary or of a person named to serve, a move into or out of Florida, a large change in assets, or a diagnosis that threatens capacity. A Florida will stays in force until a later will or other writing signed with will formalities revokes it (§ 732.505, Fla. Stat. (2026)) or the testator revokes it by burning, tearing, canceling, defacing, obliterating or destroying it with the intent to revoke (§ 732.506).
The statutes attach consequences to events, not to the age of a document. The first table lists what Florida law changes without any action and what it leaves alone. The second table lists the documents to check after each event. The Sources section lists every statute, last checked October 17, 2026.
Law that applies after each event
Some events change a plan by operation of law. Others change nothing, and the plan must be updated by a signed document. The table separates the two.
| Event | What Florida law does | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Marriage after the will is signed | The will stays in force. A spouse the will does not provide for takes the share the spouse would have received if the testator had died without a will, unless a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement provided for or waived the share, the will provides for the spouse, or the will shows an intent not to provide for the spouse. A revocable trust is also not revoked by marriage. | § 732.507(1), § 732.301, § 736.1105(1) |
| Birth or adoption after the will is signed | The will stays in force. A child born or adopted after the will and not provided for in it takes the share the child would have received if the testator had died without a will, unless the will shows the omission was intentional, or the testator already had a child and left substantially all of the estate to the other parent of the omitted child, who survives and takes under the will. | § 732.302, § 732.507(1) |
| Divorce: will and revocable trust | Any provision of a will or revocable trust that affects the spouse is void on dissolution of the marriage, and the document is read as if the spouse died at the time of the dissolution. The rule does not void a provision in a document signed after the dissolution, a provision that states a contrary intent, or a provision the dissolution judgment expressly preserves. The will rule applies to wills of decedents who die on or after June 29, 2021. | § 732.507(2) and (3), § 736.1105(2) and (3) |
| Divorce: life insurance, annuities, retirement plans, IRAs, POD and TOD accounts | A designation of the former spouse made before the dissolution is void as of the dissolution, and the asset passes as if the former spouse died before the decedent. The rule does not apply to the extent controlling federal law provides otherwise, to a governing instrument governed by another state's law, to a designation signed after the dissolution that expressly names the former spouse, or in the other cases listed in subsection (4). A payor that pays in the circumstances in subsections (5) and (6) is not liable, so the change belongs on the payor's own form. | § 732.703(2) to (6) |
| Divorce: power of attorney | An agent's authority ends when an action is filed for dissolution or annulment of the agent's marriage to the principal, or for legal separation, unless the power of attorney provides otherwise. | § 709.2109(2)(b) |
| Death of a beneficiary | If a devisee who is a grandparent, or a descendant of a grandparent, of the testator dies before the testator, a substitute gift passes to the devisee's surviving descendants per stirpes, unless the will shows a contrary intent. Words of survivorship such as “if he survives me” show a contrary intent. The rule covers outright devises only; a devisee outside the grandparent group has no statutory substitute. | § 732.603(1), (3) and (4) |
| Death or disqualification of the named personal representative | Letters go to the will's nominee or successor, then to the person a majority in interest of those entitled to the estate selects, then to a devisee. A person who has been convicted of a felony, is under 18, or is unable to perform the duties is not qualified. | § 733.301(1)(a), § 733.303 |
| Move to Florida | A will other than a holographic or nuncupative will, executed by a nonresident of Florida, is valid in Florida if valid under the law of the place where it was executed. Spousal rights that depend on domicile, including the elective share, apply to a person who dies domiciled in Florida. A person who has established a Florida domicile may file a sworn statement of domicile with the clerk. | § 732.502(2), § 732.201, § 222.17 |
| Move out of Florida | Section 732.201 gives the elective share to the surviving spouse of a person who dies domiciled in Florida. The spousal rules of the new state of domicile need their own review. | § 732.201 |
| Loss of capacity | A power of attorney is exercisable when executed, and with limited exceptions a power of attorney that takes effect at a future date or on a future event is ineffective. It is durable if it contains the statutory durability words or similar words; one that is not durable ends on the principal's incapacity. A competent adult may name a preneed guardian by a declaration signed before two witnesses. | § 709.2108, § 709.2104, § 709.2109(1)(b), § 744.3045 |
Sources: the 2026 Florida Statutes on the Florida Senate site, as linked in each row. A designation that falls outside these rules, or a plan with several triggers at once, needs the full text of each section.
Documents to review after an event
Each document below has its own signing rule and its own failure points. A change to one does not change the others.
| Document | What to check | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Will | Whether the named personal representative and the successors are alive, qualified and willing. Whether each beneficiary is alive. Whether a codicil was signed with the same formalities as a will. Whether a signed list of tangible personal property exists and describes each item and recipient with reasonable certainty. Whether the will is self-proved. | § 733.302 to 733.304, § 732.502(5), § 732.515, § 732.503 |
| Revocable trust | Whether each account, deed and policy is titled in the trust or names the trust. The estate is “the property of a decedent that is the subject of administration,” so titling decides what is left in it. Whether each amendment followed the method in the trust; if the trust has none, a later will or codicil that expressly refers to the trust, or another method showing clear and convincing evidence of intent, also works. | § 731.201(14), § 736.0602(3) |
| Beneficiary designations | Whether each insurance policy, annuity, retirement account, POD account and TOD account names a living person or a trust that still exists. A beneficiary designation is a governing instrument separate from the will. | § 732.703(1)(e) and (3) |
| Durable power of attorney | Whether it was signed by the principal and two subscribing witnesses and acknowledged before a notary, whether it has durability language, and whether the agent is still living, willing and married to the principal. A third person must accept or reject a power of attorney within a reasonable time; four business days is presumed reasonable for a bank or broker-dealer when the document expressly covers banking or investment transactions. | § 709.2105(2), § 709.2104, § 709.2120(1) |
| Health care surrogate and living will | Whether each was signed before two witnesses, at least one of whom is neither the spouse nor a blood relative, whether an alternate surrogate is named, and whether the surrogate's authority is stated to apply immediately or only on incapacity. | § 765.202(1) to (3), (6), § 765.302(1) |
| Guardian for a minor child; preneed guardian for the adult | Both parents, or the surviving parent, may name a preneed guardian for a minor child by a written declaration signed before two witnesses and filed with the clerk. A competent adult may name a preneed guardian for himself or herself by a declaration signed before two witnesses. | § 744.3046(1) to (3), § 744.3045(1) to (3) |
| Homestead | The homestead cannot be devised if the owner is survived by a spouse or a minor child, except to the spouse when there is no minor child. A new marriage or a new child changes who the homestead can be left to. | Art. X, § 4(c), Fla. Const., § 732.4015(1) |
| Digital accounts | A direction given through a custodian's online tool overrides a contrary direction in a will, trust or power of attorney, if the tool lets the user modify or delete the direction at all times. Without an online tool, the user may allow or prohibit disclosure to a fiduciary in a will, trust, power of attorney or other record. | § 740.003(1) and (2) |
| Funeral and burial instructions | Before letters issue, any person may carry out the decedent's written instructions about the body and funeral and burial arrangements. | § 732.804 |
Sources: the 2026 Florida Statutes and Art. X, § 4, Fla. Const., as linked in each row. The free will checklist covers the signing rules in more detail.
Estate tax figures
The federal basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000 (26 U.S.C. § 2010(c)(3)). The IRS lists $15,000,000 as the filing threshold for a death in 2026 (IRS, Estate tax, accessed October 17, 2026). A will or trust drafted when the exclusion amount was lower may contain a formula clause that refers to it, and such a clause is read against the current figure.
Florida has no estate tax on a person who died after December 31, 2004, and personal representatives need not file Form DR-312 or DR-313 beginning July 1, 2023 (Florida Department of Revenue, Estate Tax, accessed October 17, 2026; ch. 198, Fla. Stat.).
To elect portability of the first spouse's unused exclusion, the estate's representative must file a timely Form 706. The return is due nine months after death, and Form 4768 gives an automatic six-month extension (IRS, Frequently asked questions on estate taxes, accessed October 17, 2026).
Changes effective July 1, 2026
Ch. 2026-57, Laws of Fla. took effect July 1, 2026 (section 14). It raised four thresholds in chapter 735. The summary administration test in § 735.201(2) counts “the entire estate subject to administration in this state, less the value of property exempt from the claims of creditors,” so property that passes outside administration does not count toward it.
| Section | What it covers | Earlier amount | Amount since July 1, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| § 735.201(2) | Summary administration: value of the estate subject to administration | Was $75,000 (before July 1, 2026) | $150,000 |
| § 735.302(1) | Federal income tax overpayment refund to a surviving spouse or child | Was $2,500 (before July 1, 2026) | $5,000 |
| § 735.303(2) | Payment of a decedent's bank accounts to a family member without court proceedings | Was $1,000 (before July 1, 2026) | $2,000 |
| § 735.304(1) | Disposition without administration of intestate personal property | Was $10,000 (before July 1, 2026) | $20,000 |
Sources: §§ 735.201, 735.302, 735.303 and 735.304, Fla. Stat. (2026); ch. 2026-57, Laws of Fla., sections 7 to 10 and 14. The guide on probate costs and the summary administration page apply the amounts.
What an old plan causes
Each item below follows from a statute in the tables above.
- A former spouse stays named. The void-on-divorce rule for beneficiary forms has the exceptions in § 732.703(4), including controlling federal law. A form that still names a former spouse can be paid in the cases in subsections (5) and (6).
- A person named to serve cannot serve. The court then appoints from the order of preference in § 733.301. If no one in that order applies, the court appoints a capable person under subsection (3).
- Assets sit outside the trust. The trust controls only the property titled in it or payable to it. The rest is the estate that is subject to administration (§ 731.201(14)).
- The home is left to the wrong person. A devise of the homestead is limited when a spouse or minor child survives (§ 732.4015(1)).
- A child or spouse is omitted. The omitted child or spouse takes the statutory share under § 732.302 or § 732.301.
- A gift fails. A beneficiary who is a friend, or any devisee outside the grandparent group in § 732.603(1), has no statutory substitute when that beneficiary dies first.
Sources
Last checked: October 17, 2026. Statutes are cited to the 2026 Florida Statutes on the Florida Senate site.
- § 732.301, Fla. Stat. (2026) and § 732.302, Fla. Stat. (2026). Pretermitted spouse; pretermitted children.
- § 732.502, § 732.503, § 732.505, § 732.506 and § 732.507. Execution of wills; self-proof; revocation; effect of marriage, birth, adoption or dissolution of marriage.
- § 732.515. Separate writing identifying devises of tangible property.
- § 732.603. Antilapse; deceased devisee; class gifts.
- § 732.703. Effect of divorce on disposition of certain assets at death.
- § 732.804. Provisions relating to disposition of the body.
- § 732.201 and § 732.4015. Right to elective share; devise of homestead.
- Art. X, § 4, Fla. Const.. Homestead; exemptions.
- § 733.301, § 733.302, § 733.303 and § 733.304. Who may be appointed personal representative.
- § 731.201. General definitions.
- § 736.0602 and § 736.1105. Revocation or amendment of a revocable trust; effect of marriage, birth, adoption or dissolution on a revocable trust.
- § 709.2104, § 709.2105, § 709.2108, § 709.2109 and § 709.2120. Powers of attorney.
- § 744.3045 and § 744.3046. Preneed guardian; preneed guardian for minor.
- § 765.202 and § 765.302. Designation of a health care surrogate; living will.
- § 740.003. User direction for disclosure of digital assets.
- § 222.17. Manifesting and evidencing domicile in Florida.
- §§ 735.201, 735.302, 735.303 and 735.304, Fla. Stat. (2026); ch. 2026-57, Laws of Fla. (CS/HB 1337), effective July 1, 2026.
- 26 U.S.C. § 2010, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. IRS, Estate tax and IRS, Frequently asked questions on estate taxes, accessed October 17, 2026.
- Florida Department of Revenue, Estate Tax, accessed October 17, 2026.
What people ask us about this.
Does a Florida will expire?
Does marriage cancel a will in Florida?
What happens to my ex-spouse's share after a divorce?
I had a baby. What changes in my plan?
I moved to Florida. Is my out-of-state will still valid?
How often should an estate plan be reviewed?
Did Florida law change in 2026 in a way that affects my plan?
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