When it comes to planning your estate, the conversations can be daunting. But they’re important to protect your future as well as your loved ones. While it’s not easy to predict the future, putting time into your estate planning can save relationships, resources, and ensure you leave a lasting legacy.
Essential Florida Estate Planning Documents
The key documents required in estate planning are:
- Your will, that details your executor and to whom your assets go
- Power of attorney, naming someone to look after your finances
- Health care surrogate designation, naming someone who will honor your health care wishes, or make sure they are carried out accordingly
- A living will that details your end-of-life medical care wishes
You should also consider taking steps to avoid probate after you pass away.
Probate is a court proceeding where your executor gets the authority to settle your taxes and debts and transfer your assets to the necessary people.
It’s an expensive process, and many people would rather not put their families through the hassle or expense of probate.
Fortunately, it’s easy enough to avoid probate with a living trust, provided you act now. Once you’re gone, your family can’t take steps to avoid probate.
Your Will
A basic Will gives you the opportunity to name beneficiaries, the people that will inherit your assets when you die. If you don’t name your beneficiaries, the state of Florida does it for you.
Whether you’ve been divorced, are single with no children, or have children from previous relationships, it may just surprise you who will get what under Florida law.
An expertly drafted Will ensures you get to make these important decisions while you’re still here. You can also detail who should administer your estate and name a guardian if you have minors.
Power of Attorney
Our state has several interesting requirements for power of attorney. For instance, the agent you name in this document may only exercise the authority specifically granted to him or her. What’s more, general provisions don’t grant authority to the agent at all.
So, a power of attorney that bestows all legal authority upon your agent, but doesn’t specifically state the powers, aren’t valid.
Furthermore, some types of powers given to an agent, like changing beneficiaries or creating trusts, need to be initialed separately or signed by yourself.
Designated Health Care Surrogate
Residents in Florida can prepare their estate by choosing a health care surrogate. This is someone you trust to make health-related decisions on your behalf when you’re not able to do so.
Once you have appointed a surrogate, he or she has permission to carry out your medical wishes, including decisions on life-sustaining treatments.
A Living Will
This document details whether you’d like to withdraw or withhold any life-prolonging procedures should you acquire a terminal condition, fall into a vegetative state, or you have an end of life medical condition.
Procedures that prolong life include any type of intervention, treatment or procedure (including hydration and sustenance) that restores or sustains vital functions.
Estate Planning In Florida
Estate planning laws vary from one state to the next. When you move states, you need to ensure your estate plan is valid. In Florida, we recognize a typed Will as valid, provided it was considered valid in the state in which it was drawn up.
Below, we’ve outlined the most important steps to estate planning to help you get started.
- Choose your health care surrogate
- Choose a financial surrogate to look after your finances
- Make a list of your personal property and assets
- Choose estate beneficiaries
- Draft an estate distribution document detailing your end-of-life wishes, including a will and living will
Keep Your Documents Safe
Once you’ve prepared your estate documents, you need to keep them safe, preferably somewhere where they can be accessed by a trusted party or agent.
The easiest is to keep your documents with the parties that help you with your estate planning, such as your attorney, with your spouse, children or one of your beneficiaries.
The best and safest practice is to have a Florida estate planning attorney review your documents to ensure they comply with the law in Florida.
Let us help you draft your estate planning documents. Book a consultation with Principal Law Firm today.
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