The 23 Florida rules a working estate plan answers to

A will signed before the current marriageFla. Stat. § 732.301

Florida law treats a spouse married after the will was signed as a "pretermitted spouse" who receives an intestate share unless the will or a marital agreement provides otherwise. When that rule applies, an estate passes differently from how the will reads. Wills that address a later marriage commonly do so by naming the current spouse or by stating that the omission is intentional.

What changes the picture: A marital agreement, a will made in contemplation of the marriage, or provision already made for the spouse each changes how § 732.301 operates — facts a licensed attorney would confirm.

A child born or adopted after the will was signedFla. Stat. § 732.302

A child born or adopted after a will is signed is a "pretermitted child" under Florida law and generally receives an intestate share unless the will shows the omission was intentional. Wills commonly address after-born children with a class gift ("my children") or an express statement about future children.

What changes the picture: A will that provided for the child in advance, used a class gift that includes them, or stated the omission was intentional changes how § 732.302 operates.

A remarriage with children from a prior relationshipFla. Stat. § 732.301Fla. Stat. § 732.302

This is the fact pattern where Florida's pretermitted-spouse and pretermitted-child rules most often collide with what a plan says. How the documents treat the current spouse and each child is what determines whether those rules operate.

What changes the picture: Documents that address the current spouse and every child explicitly — or a marital agreement — take the pretermitted rules out of play.

An outright distribution to a minorFla. Stat. § 744.301Fla. Stat. § 710.106

Money left outright to a minor is handled by a court-supervised guardianship until age 18, then paid in full at that age. Florida's Uniform Transfers to Minors Act is the mechanism that lets a will or trust route a minor's share to a custodian instead — and trusts commonly hold a minor's share to a later age the instrument sets.

What changes the picture: Distribution terms that hold shares in trust or under a UTMA custodianship take the guardianship default out of play; whether yours do is a reading of the documents themselves.

An outright share to a beneficiary with special needsFla. Stat. § 736.0402

An outright inheritance counts as the beneficiary's own resources under needs-based benefit rules (SSI/Medicaid), and receiving one can end eligibility. A special-needs trust is the structure that holds a share without entering the eligibility math — it is attorney-drafted work by nature.

What changes the picture: Whether benefits are actually needs-based, the size of the share, and the availability of ABLE accounts or a properly drafted special-needs trust all change the picture — this finding is where licensed advice matters most.

A spouse who is not a U.S. citizenIRC § 2056

Property passing to a non-citizen spouse generally does not qualify for the unlimited federal estate-tax marital deduction unless it passes through a qualified domestic trust (QDOT). Estates large enough to be taxable are where this distinction carries real dollars — attorney/CPA territory.

What changes the picture: The spouse becoming a citizen before the estate-tax return is due, an estate below the exemption, or a QDOT in the plan each changes how IRC § 2056 operates.

A homestead devised while a minor child survivesFla. Stat. § 732.4015Fla. Stat. § 732.401

The Florida Constitution and § 732.4015 bar devising a homestead while a minor child survives. A devise the statute bars does not operate; the home instead descends under § 732.401 — a life estate to the surviving spouse (or, by timely election, an undivided one-half interest), with the remainder to the descendants. A plan whose homestead treatment collides with these rules is squarely attorney-review territory.

What changes the picture: Whether the property actually qualifies as homestead, how it is titled, and a valid spousal waiver each changes how the restriction operates.

A homestead devised to someone other than the surviving spouseFla. Stat. § 732.4015Fla. Stat. § 732.401

With a surviving spouse and no minor child, Florida law permits devising the homestead only to that spouse. Under § 732.4015, a devise to anyone else does not operate, and the home descends under § 732.401 instead — life estate to the spouse (or the one-half election), remainder to the descendants.

What changes the picture: A valid spousal waiver (a marital-agreement provision is the common form), the property not qualifying as homestead, or title held outside the individual name each changes the outcome — attorney-confirmed facts.

A homestead the plan does not addressFla. Stat. § 732.401

Florida restricts who a homestead can be left to when a spouse or minor child survives, and the descent rules override documents that ignore them. How the home is titled and what each document says about it are the facts that decide which rule operates.

What changes the picture: Survivorship titling, a trust deed, or an enhanced-life-estate deed each takes the home outside the will entirely — the recorded deed is the fact that controls.

Digital assets without a Chapter 740 grant of authorityFla. Stat. § 740.003

Florida's Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act lets an agent or personal representative reach online accounts and digital assets only when a document grants that authority expressly. Documents without the grant leave crypto and online accounts beyond the fiduciary's reach — locked away or lost is the common outcome. POAs and wills carry the grant as an express digital-asset clause.

What changes the picture: An express Chapter-740 clause in any governing document, or a provider's own online tool designation (which § 740.003 respects first), changes what the fiduciary can reach.

A retirement account listed for retitling into a trust

Retitling a 401(k)/IRA into a trust is generally treated as a change of owner — a distribution, with immediate income tax as the common result. Beneficiary designations, not retitling, are how retirement accounts are coordinated with a plan: individuals named directly, or the trust named as beneficiary only with professional tax advice first.

What changes the picture: Plan type matters — the distribution treatment and the see-through-trust rules differ by account and by who the beneficiary is; a tax professional's reading of your accounts is the fact that settles it.

A trustee who is also the sole beneficiaryFla. Stat. § 736.0802

Legal and common (a surviving spouse, for example) — and the duty of loyalty applies to a sole-beneficiary trustee all the same. Plans in this shape commonly carry an independent successor or co-trustee for contested situations, because a sole-beneficiary trustee with no independent backstop is where disputes with remainder takers start.

What changes the picture: An independent successor trustee in the chain, or remainder beneficiaries with aligned interests, changes how much this structure invites dispute.

A personal representative with a felony convictionFla. Stat. § 733.303

Florida law disqualifies a person convicted of a felony from serving as personal representative (§ 733.303). A will that names only a disqualified person leaves the appointment to the statute's fallback order — the nomination itself cannot carry the appointment.

What changes the picture: Restoration of civil rights and the conviction's classification are facts an attorney would examine; a qualified alternate named in the will keeps the choice inside the document.

An out-of-state personal representative outside the statutory categoriesFla. Stat. § 733.304

Florida limits nonresident service as personal representative to relatives within § 733.304's categories (spouse, child, parent, sibling, and certain others). A nomination outside those categories operates as if no qualified person were named — the appointment falls to the statute's order instead of the will's choice.

What changes the picture: Florida residency at the time of appointment, or a relationship inside the statute's categories, qualifies the person; the categories are broader than they look and worth an attorney's reading.

A beneficiary designation that still names a former spouseFla. Stat. § 732.703

Florida law voids many ex-spouse designations at death after a dissolution — with exceptions, and the statute does not bind out-of-state administrators or ERISA plans. Until a designation is changed, the designation on file is what the account pays; the statute is the fallback people end up litigating, not the mechanism plans rely on.

What changes the picture: A designation re-affirmed after the divorce, a court order requiring the coverage, or an ERISA-governed plan each changes whether § 732.703 reaches this account.

A designation that names someone other than the documents doFla. Stat. § 732.2035

The designation controls — this asset passes outside the will and trust, to whoever the account names, regardless of what the documents say. (Designation-passing assets can also enter the elective-estate math for a surviving spouse.) The two sources point at different people right now; which one reflects the intent is a fact only you know.

What changes the picture: Either instrument changing — the designation on file with the institution, or the documents — resolves the conflict; until one does, the designation is what pays.

A designation with no contingent beneficiary

An account with no contingent falls into the probate estate if the primary beneficiary dies first — usually the exact outcome the designation was meant to avoid. Designations commonly carry a contingent for that reason.

What changes the picture: The primary surviving, or the institution's own default-succession terms, changes whether this gap ever matters.

Beneficiary designations not confirmed after a divorceFla. Stat. § 732.703

After a divorce, stale designations are the classic plan-defeating fact pattern. Florida voids many ex-spouse designations, with exceptions that do not reach every account type — and each account pays whatever its designation says until the designation changes.

What changes the picture: Designations reviewed and confirmed current after the divorce take this risk off the table account by account.

A name spelled two ways across the documents

If these are the same person, a mismatch across documents is the kind of defect that stalls probate or invites a challenge — identical spelling in every document is what avoids it. If they are different people, this finding does not apply.

No backup fiduciary named

When the only named executor / trustee / financial agent cannot serve, the appointment falls to a court under the statute's order — a stranger to the plan is the common result. Working plans carry an alternate for exactly that reason.

Minor children with no nominated guardian

Without a nominated guardian, a court chooses who raises the children using the statute's standards — the one decision most parents least want left open. Wills are where the nomination (and an alternate) lives.

No named health care decision-maker

A healthcare directive is the document that names who speaks when you cannot; without one, Florida's proxy statute works down a fixed list of relatives. Plans commonly carry a named agent plus a backup.

A trust with nothing titled to it

A trust controls only what is titled to it — an unfunded trust controls nothing, and the estate passes as if the trust did not exist. Funding lists commonly start with the home and the primary accounts.