Updating Your Estate Plan After Divorce, Marriage, or a Move to Florida

If you have divorced, married, or relocated to Florida, your estate plan should be reviewed and, in most cases, updated, because each of these events can quietly change who inherits, who has legal authority, and whether your documents still hold up. Florida law automatically voids certain gifts to a former spouse after divorce, but it leaves dangerous gaps elsewhere, and a will drafted in another state may use language or formalities that Florida treats differently. The practical answer is simple: after any of these three milestones, sit down with the actual documents and confirm that names, fiduciaries, and beneficiary designations reflect the life you have now, not the one you had when you signed.

This matters even more when you are an adult child helping an aging parent. A parent who divorced years ago, remarried later, or finally moved down to be closer to family in Miami may be carrying around an estate plan that no longer says what they think it says. The cleanup is rarely complicated. The cost of skipping it can be enormous.

Why these three life events break estate plans

Estate plans are snapshots. They capture your wishes, your relationships, and the law as it existed on the day you signed. Divorce, marriage, and a change of legal residence each move at least one of those three things, and sometimes all three at once.

• Divorce removes a person you almost certainly named as beneficiary, agent, and fiduciary, and replaces a settled set of intentions with new ones.
• Marriage creates new legal rights for a spouse that exist whether or not your documents mention that person.
• A move to Florida changes which state’s law governs your estate, your homestead, and the validity of documents like powers of attorney and health care directives.

None of these events updates your paperwork for you. The law fills some gaps automatically, but it fills them with default rules that may not match what you would have chosen.

Updating your estate plan after divorce in Florida

Florida is more protective than many states when it comes to divorce, but that protection is incomplete, and relying on it instead of doing the work is a mistake I see constantly.

What Florida law revokes automatically

Under Florida Statutes section 732.507, any provision of your will that affects your spouse becomes void when the marriage is judicially dissolved. The will is then read as though the former spouse died at the time of the divorce. That means a gift to your ex, an appointment of your ex as personal representative, and a power of appointment given to your ex all drop out by operation of law.

Beneficiary designations get similar treatment. Under section 732.703, a designation naming your former spouse on assets that pass at death, such as life insurance, annuities, and many payable-on-death accounts, is generally void as of the date the marriage is dissolved, and the asset passes as if the ex-spouse had predeceased you. This rule applies to deaths on or after July 1, 2012.

What Florida law does not fix for you

Here is the part people miss. The automatic revocation statutes have real limits:

1. ERISA-governed retirement plans. Most employer 401(k) and pension plans are governed by federal law, which preempts the Florida statute. If your ex is still the named beneficiary on a 401(k), that plan may pay the ex regardless of section 732.703. You must file a new designation directly with the plan.
2. Trusts and contractual arrangements with carve-outs. Marital settlement agreements, court orders requiring you to keep an ex as an irrevocable beneficiary, and a deliberate post-divorce redesignation all override the default.
3. Powers of attorney and health care documents. A durable power of attorney or designation of health care surrogate naming your former spouse does not automatically vanish in every situation. You do not want your ex holding your power of attorney during a medical crisis. Revoke and replace these promptly.
4. Practical title problems. Jointly titled real estate, vehicles, and accounts need to be retitled. The statute does not pull your ex’s name off a deed.

For a parent who is recently divorced, the cleanest approach is a full reset: a new will or trust, fresh beneficiary forms on every account, and new powers of attorney and health care designations. Patching one document while leaving three others stale is how families end up in probate litigation.

Updating your estate plan after marriage or remarriage

Marriage gives your new spouse rights under Florida law that do not depend on whether you ever update your will. Two of them deserve special attention, especially in blended families where adult children from a first marriage are in the picture.

The elective share

Florida grants a surviving spouse an elective share equal to 30 percent of the elective estate under section 732.2065. A spouse can claim this share even if your will leaves them nothing. The elective estate is broad and can reach assets beyond the probate estate, including certain trusts and transfers. If your plan was built to leave everything to your children, a later marriage can hand nearly a third of your estate to a new spouse unless you plan around it, often with a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement.

Homestead protections

Florida’s homestead rules under section 732.401 sharply limit how you can leave your primary residence if you are married and have a surviving spouse or minor child. You generally cannot simply will the homestead to your adult children outright. Without proper planning, the surviving spouse may receive a life estate or a half interest, regardless of what your will says. This is one of the most common surprises for newcomers who assume a Florida home passes like any other asset.

Pretermitted spouse

If you marry after signing your will and never update it, Florida may treat your new spouse as a “pretermitted spouse” entitled to an intestate share, unless the omission was intentional and provided for. The point is the same throughout: marriage rewrites the default outcome whether or not your documents acknowledge it.

Couples blending families should also revisit who serves as personal representative and trustee, and how assets are structured so that both the surviving spouse and the children from a prior marriage are provided for without forcing them into conflict. Many of the same tradeoffs apply to high-value homes elsewhere; our New York colleagues handle these tensions through tools like , which can be adapted in concept to a Florida homestead situation with the right counsel.

Updating your estate plan after moving to Florida

A move across state lines is the change adult children most often overlook, because the documents “still exist” and nothing feels broken. But Florida residency reshapes how your estate is administered and which documents actually work here.

Will validity and formalities

A will validly executed in another state is generally honored in Florida if it met that state’s formalities, with one significant exception: holographic (handwritten, unwitnessed) wills and certain oral wills are not valid in Florida, even if they were valid where signed. More importantly, a self-proving affidavit done the out-of-state way may not match Florida’s procedure, which can slow probate. Re-executing the will in Florida with two witnesses and a proper self-proving affidavit avoids this friction. The basic anatomy of a valid will is the same concept our network explains for a , but the execution requirements are state-specific and must be confirmed under Florida law.

Powers of attorney and health care directives

Florida has its own statutory durable power of attorney requirements, and Florida financial institutions and hospitals are far more comfortable honoring Florida-compliant documents. An out-of-state durable power of attorney or health care surrogate designation may be technically recognized yet rejected in practice by a Florida bank or care facility. For an aging parent, replacing these with Florida forms is one of the highest-value, lowest-cost steps you can take.

Homestead, taxes, and trust funding

• Homestead. Establishing Florida residency unlocks valuable creditor protection and tax benefits for the primary home, but it also pulls the property under Florida’s homestead devise restrictions discussed above.
• No state estate or inheritance tax. Florida imposes neither, which is a genuine advantage, though federal estate tax rules still apply to large estates.
• Re-fund the trust. If your parent moved with a revocable living trust, the Florida home and any new Florida accounts must be retitled into the trust. A trust that owns nothing avoids nothing.

If the move involves keeping property in a former state, coordination matters. Florida counsel and the firm’s can work alongside out-of-state attorneys so that the homestead, the trust, and any remaining out-of-state real estate all line up.

A practical checklist for adult children helping a parent

When you sit down with a parent after any of these events, work through this list:

1. Locate the will, trust, powers of attorney, and health care directives, and note where the originals are kept.
2. Pull beneficiary designations on every life insurance policy, annuity, IRA, and 401(k), and confirm the named people are still correct.
3. Check the deed to the Florida home and the title on every significant account for outdated names, especially a former spouse.
4. Confirm the named personal representative, trustee, agent under power of attorney, and health care surrogate are still appropriate and willing.
5. Re-execute key documents under Florida law if the parent has become a Florida resident.
6. Re-fund the revocable trust with any Florida-acquired assets.

You can start the conversation today, and if you want help mapping it out, our Miami estate planning attorneys regularly guide families through exactly this review. For background on the documents themselves, see our overview pages on Florida wills and Florida probate.

The bottom line

Divorce, marriage, and a move to Florida each change the legal reality around your estate, and Florida’s automatic protections only cover part of the gap. The fix is almost always faster and cheaper than the litigation, family conflict, or unintended inheritance that follows a stale plan. If your parent has experienced any of these milestones, treat an estate plan review not as a someday task but as a now task, while everyone can still talk it through together.

Frequently Asked Questions

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

Yes, in large part. Under Florida Statutes section 732.507, provisions of your will that benefit or empower a former spouse become void upon dissolution of the marriage, and the will is read as if the ex predeceased you. However, this does not fix ERISA-governed retirement plans, deeds, powers of attorney, or arrangements protected by a marital settlement agreement, so you should still update those directly.

Will my ex-spouse still receive my life insurance after divorce in Florida?

Generally no for deaths on or after July 1, 2012. Florida Statutes section 732.703 voids a beneficiary designation naming a former spouse on death-payable assets like life insurance and annuities, and the asset passes as if the ex had predeceased you. Important exceptions include ERISA-governed employer plans, court orders requiring an irrevocable beneficiary, and a deliberate post-divorce redesignation, so confirm each policy and account in writing.

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

Usually yes if it met the formalities of the state where it was signed, but with caveats. Florida does not recognize handwritten unwitnessed (holographic) wills or oral wills, and an out-of-state self-proving affidavit may not match Florida’s procedure, which can slow probate. Re-executing the will under Florida law with proper witnesses is the safest approach, and your powers of attorney and health care directives should also be replaced with Florida-compliant versions.

What rights does a new spouse have if I do not update my will after marrying?

Significant ones. Florida grants a surviving spouse an elective share of 30 percent of the elective estate under section 732.2065, claimable even if the will leaves the spouse nothing. Florida homestead rules under section 732.401 also restrict how you can leave your primary residence, and an unmentioned new spouse may qualify as a pretermitted spouse entitled to an intestate share. Planning around these rights often requires a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement.

How soon should I update an estate plan after divorce, marriage, or a move?

As soon as practical, ideally within a few weeks. The highest-priority items are powers of attorney and health care directives, which control decisions while you are alive, and beneficiary designations, which often pass assets outside the will. After those, address the will or trust, retitle real estate and accounts, and re-fund any revocable trust with newly acquired Florida assets.