RESOURCE LIBRARY
Know more. Worry less.
Our newsletter, practical checklists, and a plain-English glossary, so you can walk into any conversation about your family’s plan feeling prepared.
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
Wills, Ways & Wisdom
A new issue the first Tuesday of every month. Clear, warm, and grounded in Florida law.
LATEST · Issue No. 1 · October 2026
You Already Have an Estate Plan. Florida Wrote It.
If you never sign a will, Chapter 732 of the Florida Statutes decides who inherits. We walk through the plan the state already wrote for you, the homestead twist that surprises families, and the planning gap that guardianship fills.
Estate Planning
Probate
Guardianship
COMING SOON
November 2026 — Blended Families, Holiday Tables & Who Gets Grandma’s Ring
December 2026 — Who Gets the Dogs? Pet Trusts & Beneficiary Designations
January 2027 — Will or Trust? A New Year’s Decision Guide
CHECKLISTS
Simple steps, ready when you are
How to prepare for our first consultation
Most of our consultations take place over Zoom, so having these items within reach when we connect would be a great idea. Gather what you can; if something is missing, we can still begin.
Getting ready for Zoom
— A computer, tablet, or phone with a camera and microphone, plus the Zoom link from your confirmation
— A quiet, private space where you can speak freely
If you are beginning or updating your estate plan
— A list of what you own: home, bank and investment accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance, vehicles, business interests
— Copies of any existing wills, trusts, powers of attorney, or health care documents
— Names of family members and anyone you are considering as a personal representative, trustee, guardian, or agent
If you are settling an estate
— The death certificate
— The original will, if there is one
— A list of known debts and assets
If you are considering a guardianship
— Knowledge of the type and location of the potential Ward
— A determination of whether this is an emergency situation
— A list of names and addresses of the next of kin
— A summary of the person’s medical situation
— Knowledge of whether the potential Ward had advance directives
— Your questions. Write them down; no question is too small.
Please don’t email documents before your consultation. If we need copies, we will tell you the best way to share them.
After a loved one dies: the first 30 days
— Order several certified copies of the death certificate
— Find the original will. Whoever has it must deposit it with the clerk of court within 10 days of learning of the death.
— Secure the home, vehicles, and valuables, and keep insurance in place
— Gather recent statements, deeds, insurance policies, and bills
— Hold off on paying debts from your own funds or giving away property
— Talk with a probate attorney about which path the estate will need
Florida law: Fla. Stat. § 732.901.
GLOSSARY
Legal words, plainly spoken
The terms you are most likely to hear in a planning, probate, or guardianship conversation.
Advance directive — A written or oral statement, made before witnesses, that gives instructions or expresses your wishes about your health care. It includes a health care surrogate designation and a living will.
Agent — The person you name in a power of attorney to act on your behalf, sometimes called an attorney-in-fact.
Beneficiary — A person who receives property from an estate, trust, or account. In Florida probate, it means an heir when there is no will, or a person named in the will when there is one.
Codicil — A written amendment to an existing will. In Florida, it must be signed with the same formalities as a will.
Decedent — The person who has died.
Descendant — Anyone in a later generation of a person’s family line: children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on.
Durable power of attorney — A document naming someone to handle your finances that stays in effect if you become incapacitated.
Elective share — A surviving spouse’s right to claim 30 percent of the “elective estate,” even if the will leaves them less.
Fiduciary — A person legally bound to act in someone else’s best interest, such as a personal representative, trustee, guardian, or agent.
Formal administration — Florida’s standard probate process, in which the court appoints a personal representative to gather assets, pay valid claims, and distribute the estate under court supervision.
Guardianship — A court process that appoints a guardian to make decisions about the person, the property, or both, of someone who cannot manage them, such as a minor or an incapacitated adult.
Health care surrogate — The person you name to make medical decisions when you cannot.
Heir — A person, including a surviving spouse, entitled to inherit under Florida law when someone dies without a will.
Heir property — Land relatives inherit and own together, where the relatives are owners by law but not yet owners of record.
Homestead — Your Florida primary residence, which the Florida Constitution protects and limits who you may leave it to.
Intestate — Dying without a valid will. Florida law then decides who inherits.
Living will — Your written wishes about life-prolonging care at the end of life.
Partition — A court action that divides co-owned property among its owners, or orders it sold and the proceeds shared, when the owners cannot agree.
Per stirpes — Latin for “by the branch.” If a beneficiary dies first, their share passes down to their own descendants.
Personal representative — Florida’s term for the executor: the person the court appoints to settle an estate.
Preneed guardian — The person you name in advance to serve as a guardian for you or your loved one, if one is ever needed.
Probate — The court process for gathering assets, paying valid debts, and distributing what remains.
Residuary clause — The “catch-all” provision in a will that covers property not specifically left to someone.
Revocable trust — A trust you can change during your life that can pass assets without probate administration.
Self-proving affidavit — A notarized statement signed with a will so witnesses need not testify later to prove the will’s validity.
Summary administration — A shorter probate available when the will (if there is one) does not require formal administration, and the Florida estate, less property exempt from creditors’ claims, is worth $150,000 or less, or death was more than two years ago.
Florida law: Fla. Stat. ch. 64 & 733; §§ 64.202, 709.2102, 709.2104, 731.201, 732.2065, 732.502, 735.201, 744.102, 744.3045, 765.101, 765.202; Fla. Const. art. X, § 4.