Updating your estate plan after divorce, marriage, or a move to Florida means reviewing and revising your will, trust, beneficiary designations, and powers of attorney so they reflect your current family and your new home state’s laws. A major life change can quietly invalidate parts of an old plan, leave the wrong person in charge, or send money to an ex-spouse you never intended to benefit. The safest approach is to treat any one of these three events as a trigger to sit down with a Florida estate planning attorney and refresh the whole package.
I have seen too many families learn the hard way that the document sitting in a drawer no longer says what they think it says. A man remarries but never updates the IRA his first wife is still named on. A young couple moves down from New Jersey and assumes their out-of-state trust still works the same way. A newly divorced parent forgets that their ex is still listed as the guardian of their kids. None of these people did anything wrong, exactly. Life just moved faster than the paperwork. This article walks through what actually changes after each of these three events, and what you should do about it.
Why Divorce, Marriage, and Moving Are the Big Three
Estate planners talk about “trigger events,” and these three top the list for a reason. Each one alters the two things an estate plan is built around: who you want to provide for, and who you trust to act for you. Marriage adds a spouse. Divorce removes one. A move changes the legal rules that govern every document you signed.
Florida law tries to protect you from some of the fallout automatically, but those automatic rules are blunt instruments. They fix a few obvious problems and leave a lot of sharp edges. Relying on them instead of updating your documents is a gamble, and the person who loses the bet is usually not around to complain about it.
Updating Your Estate Plan After Divorce
Divorce is the event most likely to leave dangerous gaps, partly because people are exhausted by the time it ends and the last thing they want is more legal paperwork. But this is exactly when your documents need attention.
What Florida law revokes automatically
Florida has built-in safeguards, and it helps to know their boundaries:
- Wills. Under Florida Statutes section 732.507, when a marriage is dissolved, any provision in your will that affects your former spouse is read as though the ex-spouse died at the moment of divorce. A bequest to them is void, and their appointment as personal representative is canceled.
- Revocable trusts. Section 736.1105 applies the same idea to revocable living trusts. Provisions favoring the former spouse are treated as if that person predeceased you, unless the trust or a court order clearly says otherwise.
- Beneficiary designations. Section 732.703 voids a former spouse’s designation on assets like life insurance, IRAs, and pay-on-death accounts as of the date the divorce becomes final, if the designation was made before the divorce.
That sounds like the law has you covered. It does not, fully.
The gaps the statutes leave wide open
Here is where people get hurt. The automatic-revocation statutes treat the ex-spouse as deceased, but they do not name a replacement. If your will left everything to your spouse and named no contingent beneficiary, that property may now pass under Florida’s intestacy rules, possibly to people you would not have chosen. The same goes for a personal representative or trustee role left suddenly empty.
Two bigger traps deserve a sentence in bold:
ERISA-governed retirement plans and employer life insurance are often exempt from Florida’s revocation statute. Because of federal law, your 401(k) or employer-provided group life policy will generally pay whoever is named on the form on file, even an ex-spouse, regardless of what section 732.703 says. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Egelhoff v. Egelhoff made this clear. If you do not personally submit a new beneficiary form to the plan administrator after your divorce, your former spouse may legally collect.
Powers of attorney and health care designations are not always cleaned up by the divorce. Do you really want your ex-spouse holding your durable power of attorney or making your medical decisions? Revoke those documents and sign new ones naming someone you trust today.
A practical post-divorce checklist looks like this:
- Sign a new will and, if you have one, restate your revocable trust.
- Submit fresh beneficiary forms directly to every life insurance company, IRA custodian, and retirement plan, especially any ERISA plan through work.
- Revoke and replace your durable power of attorney, health care surrogate, and any living will.
- Update guardianship nominations for minor children.
- Check the titling and beneficiary clauses on any deeds, including a Florida enhanced life estate (lady bird) deed.
If your divorce decree requires you to maintain life insurance or a beneficiary designation to secure alimony or child support, that obligation overrides the default revocation rules. Honor it, and make sure your new documents do not accidentally contradict the court order.
Updating Your Estate Plan After Marriage
Marriage is the happier trigger, but it is no less important. A new spouse does not automatically appear in a will you signed years earlier, and Florida grants spouses rights that can quietly reshape your plan whether you account for them or not.
Florida’s spousal rights you can’t ignore
Florida is generous to surviving spouses, and these protections exist even if your old documents say nothing about your new partner:
- The elective share. A surviving spouse can claim roughly 30% of the deceased spouse’s elective estate, which reaches well beyond the probate estate into many trust and non-probate assets. You cannot accidentally disinherit a spouse in Florida without a valid waiver.
- Homestead protection. Florida’s constitution restricts how you can leave your homestead when you are survived by a spouse or minor child. A clause in your will trying to give the house elsewhere can be overridden, sometimes producing results no one intended.
- Pretermitted spouse rules. If you married after signing your will and did not provide for your new spouse, Florida law may grant them an intestate share anyway.
For couples blending families, especially a second marriage with children from a prior relationship, these rules can collide. You may want to provide for a new spouse and still protect an inheritance for your kids. That balance is achievable, but it takes deliberate drafting, often through a trust, rather than hoping the defaults land in the right place.
What newlyweds should actually do
Beyond the will and trust, marriage is the moment to align your beneficiary designations and your fiduciary choices with your new reality. Add or remove your spouse on life insurance and retirement accounts on purpose, not by inertia. Decide together who serves as personal representative, trustee, health care surrogate, and agent under a power of attorney. If you are bringing significant separate assets into the marriage, a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement can clarify expectations and, where appropriate, waive elective-share rights. Couples just starting out should read our overview of wills and basic planning to see how the pieces fit together.
Updating Your Estate Plan After Moving to Florida
Welcome to the Sunshine State. Your existing will is probably still valid here, but “valid” and “optimal” are not the same word.
Will an out-of-state will still work?
Generally, Florida honors a will that was validly executed under the laws of the state where you signed it. There is one notable exception worth flagging: Florida does not recognize holographic (handwritten, unwitnessed) wills, even if your prior state did. And a foreign will that was self-proved elsewhere may not satisfy Florida’s specific self-proving affidavit requirements, which can slow down probate later. A Florida-executed will avoids these snags.
The Florida-specific tools you’re now missing
Moving here opens up planning options your old documents likely do not use:
- Enhanced life estate (lady bird) deeds. Florida allows this deed to pass real estate to heirs outside probate while you keep full control and homestead benefits during your life.
- Florida homestead and creditor protections. Florida’s homestead exemption is among the strongest in the country, but it carries devise restrictions that must be drafted around carefully.
- Updated powers of attorney. Florida’s power of attorney statute has strict formality and “superpowers” rules. An out-of-state POA may be honored, but Florida banks and title companies frequently balk at unfamiliar forms. A Florida durable power of attorney is far smoother in practice.
If real estate is part of your move or your plan, the way you title and transfer property matters enormously. Strategies that retain control during life while easing the transfer at death, such as retained life estates, are worth understanding before you sign anything. Morgan Legal’s attorneys explain how work, and many of the same principles inform Florida’s lady bird deed approach. For New York transplants who left assets or beneficiaries behind, specialized vehicles like a may still be part of your overall picture and should be coordinated with your new Florida documents rather than left to run on separate tracks.
You should also confirm any existing trust still names the right successor trustee, that real property has actually been deeded into the trust, and that your beneficiary designations were not quietly governed by your old state’s rules. A clean Florida restatement removes the guesswork.
How Often Should You Revisit the Plan?
Outside of these three big triggers, a good rule of thumb is to review your documents every three to five years, and immediately after any birth, death, large financial change, or change in the health of a named fiduciary. Estate planning is not a one-and-done errand. It is a living reflection of a life that keeps changing, and the people you love are best protected when the paperwork keeps pace.
If you have been through a divorce, said “I do,” or just unpacked the last moving box in South Florida, now is the time. Our team at our firm and our colleagues at Morgan Legal’s practice can walk through your existing documents and tell you, honestly, what still works and what needs to be rebuilt. You can also review how the process unfolds if a plan is left out of date on our Florida probate page, or simply reach out through our contact page to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does divorce automatically remove my ex-spouse from my will in Florida?
Yes, in most cases. Florida Statutes section 732.507 treats provisions favoring a former spouse as if that spouse died at the time of the divorce, so bequests to them and their appointment as personal representative are void. But the law does not name a replacement, and it generally does not reach ERISA-governed retirement plans or employer life insurance, so you still need to update those beneficiary forms yourself.
Is my out-of-state will still valid after I move to Florida?
Usually yes. Florida honors wills validly executed under the law of the state where they were signed, with a key exception: Florida does not recognize handwritten, unwitnessed (holographic) wills. Even valid foreign wills can lack Florida’s self-proving affidavit and slow down probate, so signing a new Florida will is often worthwhile.
Can I disinherit my spouse in Florida?
Not by accident. Florida gives a surviving spouse an elective share of roughly 30% of the elective estate plus strong homestead protections. Disinheriting a spouse generally requires a valid written waiver, often through a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement signed with proper disclosure.
What should I update first after a major life change?
Start with beneficiary designations on life insurance, IRAs, and retirement plans, since those pass outside your will and are easy to overlook. Then update your will and any revocable trust, and finally revoke and replace your durable power of attorney and health care surrogate so the right person is in charge if you become incapacitated.
How often should I review my Florida estate plan?
Review it every three to five years, and immediately after any divorce, marriage, move, birth, death, major financial change, or change in the health of someone you named as a fiduciary or beneficiary.
