Everyone needs an estate plan. Without the proper legal documents, the state of Florida will make all decisions for you – the distribution of your assets when you die, who will handle your finances if you’re incapacitated and guardians for your children.
Whether you’ve already created your estate plan or are preparing to, you will want to avoid these three common mistakes:
1. Thinking a will is enough
Your will is the foundation of your estate plan. With it, you determine how your assets will be distributed and bequeath sentimental objects to certain people. You can also name guardians for minor children or a disabled adult.
However, your will doesn’t address your incapacity. A durable power of attorney (POA) allows you to give a trusted person the authorization to handle your financial affairs if you cannot. You can allow them to handle all your finances, such as buying or selling real estate on your behalf. Or you can limit their powers to specific tasks like paying your bills.
You should also have advance directives and a healthcare proxy. An advance directive typically outlines what end-of-life measures you want in place, including a “do not resuscitate,” “do not intubate,” or “no feeding tubes”. A healthcare proxy can make healthcare decisions for you if you are incapacitated, such as starting or stopping life-support, medical treatments, surgery or transfusions.
2. Not considering your digital assets
Take a moment and think about how much time you spend online. If you’re like most people, you bank and shop online, correspond via email or messaging apps and upload pictures and posts on social media. It’s important that you have documentation that includes your username, password and if a login requires multi-authentication. You also need to decide what you want done with some of your accounts, such as deactivating them or turning your profile into a memorial account.
Along with your digital estate plan, you will want to name someone with some technical knowledge as your digital asset executor.
3. Not updating your estate plan
Your life constantly goes through changes. Marriage, divorce, addition of children or grandchildren, selling a business or receiving an inheritance are all reasons to review and update your estate plan.
Laws also consistently change, so you will want to ensure that your estate plan complies with any new state or federal regulations. For example, the estate tax exemption is currently $13.99 million. That number is expected to change to $7 million at the beginning of 2026.
You will want to discuss estate planning with a legal professional to ensure that your plan meets all of your goals.