Do You Need an Estate Plan?
Yes! Everyone needs an estate plan, so much so that every state has enacted laws that specify where your property goes when you die if you did not make your own plan (these are called intestacy laws). That’s right–whether or not you realize it, you have an estate plan, it just may not be what you intended. Learn more about Florida’s intestacy laws here.
Intentional estate plans differ greatly depending on your current circumstances, and these plans can and should change as you experience changes in your life. A single person without any children, with all of their money in a single bank account, will likely need only a simple plan. On the other hand, a divorced and remarried person with children from multiple relationships, who wants to provide for multiple people when they pass away may need more involved planning. Parents of young children–and even young adult children–need to consider whether they want their children to be able to inherit a substantial amount of assets with no strings attached or if they should set up a trust to ensure an inheritance can only be used for certain things, like health care and education expenses. And for those who support family members with special needs, careful planning is needed to help ensure that these loved ones are provided for without losing access to potentially life-changing government benefits.
Laws are slow to catch up to the times. “Nontraditional” and blended families are often a blindspot in the law. For those that choose to never marry but have a life partner, Florida law does not provide any benefits. Even if the couple held themselves out as married but never formally tied the knot, Florida does not acknowledge common law marriage. This means if one partner dies, the other stands to get nothing under Florida’s intestacy laws. And while it is not uncommon for people in blended families to view their stepchildren as their own, Florida law does not provide any inheritance rights to unadopted stepchildren. Based on this, you probably guessed that Florida law is nowhere close to being able to appropriately handle a throuple.
Intestacy laws do not take into consideration your unique circumstances–they are designed to accomplish what lawmakers thought an average person would want in a typical situation based on a nuclear family arrangement. But as we all know, few people live in a “typical” situation. By creating an intentional, thoughtful estate plan, you can help ensure you have a say in the process, your wishes are followed, and loved ones are provided for after you pass.