DIY vs. Attorney: Estate Planning Done Right in Key West
A Key West first-timer’s look at DIY wills vs. hiring a Florida attorney, including witness rules, homestead traps, and where templates fail.
January 4, 2025
A Key West first-timer’s look at DIY wills vs. hiring a Florida attorney, including witness rules, homestead traps, and where templates fail.
How Florida trust administration works after the grantor dies: trustee duties, beneficiary notice, creditor handling, and blended-family pitfalls.
When and why to review your Florida estate plan: life triggers, the 3-5 year rule, and what blended families and second marriages must watch for.
How Florida health care surrogate designations and living wills work under Chapter 765 — and why blended families and second marriages need them.
Unmarried partners in Key West have no automatic legal rights under Florida law. Learn how wills, POA, and deeds protect each other.
Single in Key West? Florida’s default laws may not match your wishes. A plain-English guide to wills, POA, and beneficiaries.
What drives estate planning costs in Key West, FL, and why a plan almost always costs less than Florida probate without one.
A Key West guide to Florida spousal rights: the 30% elective share, homestead protection, and why a spouse cannot be quietly cut out.
The estate planning mistakes that trip up Key West families, from invalid wills to forgotten beneficiaries, and how Florida law treats each.
Florida estate planning for snowbirds and dual-state residents: domicile, homestead, probate, and protecting blended families across two states.
Married, divorced, or welcomed a baby in Key West? Here is how Florida law changes your estate plan and what to update right away.
Key West business owners: protect your shop, charter, or rental with a Florida succession plan, POA, and trust. Plain-English guide.
A plain-English Key West checklist for when to review your Florida estate plan, from marriage and moves to new homestead and outdated documents.
In Florida, beneficiary designations on life insurance, IRAs, and POD accounts override your will. Here’s why that matters for blended families.
How charitable giving and trusts work in a Florida estate plan, including CRTs, CLTs, and tips for blended families and second marriages.
A Florida estate attorney explains how to avoid probate using trusts, beneficiary designations, lady bird deeds, and joint ownership — plus blended-family pitfalls.
How Florida couples in second marriages coordinate prenups with wills, trusts, and elective share rules to protect children and a new spouse.
Why beneficiary designations override your will in Florida, and how Key West families can keep retirement accounts and life insurance on track.
How Florida Lady Bird (enhanced life estate) deeds avoid probate, protect homestead, and help second marriages and blended families pass on a home.
From the Key West reef to local causes, learn plain-English ways to build charitable giving into a Florida estate plan that fits your family.
How Florida’s 30% elective share protects a surviving spouse, what counts in the estate, and how blended families can plan around it. Key West estate planning.
Divorced, remarried, or moved to Florida? Learn how FL law (homestead, elective share, beneficiary rules) changes your estate plan and what to update now.
Key West runs on the energy of people who came from somewhere else. Walk down Duval Street or visit the harbor and you will find
How Key West families use Florida trusts and spendthrift provisions to protect an inheritance for young, struggling, or impulsive heirs.
How Florida blended families and second marriages can plan with trusts, elective share rules, and homestead law to protect a spouse and children from a prior marriage.
Second marriages and stepchildren make Florida estate planning tricky. A plain-English guide for blended families in Key West, FL.
A plain-English Key West guide to pour-over wills: how they pair with a Florida revocable trust, what they catch, and why probate may still apply.
How to fund a revocable trust correctly in Florida, retitle assets, handle homestead, and avoid the mistakes that derail blended-family estate plans.
How Florida homestead law protects the family home in your estate plan, plus the inheritance traps blended families and second marriages must avoid.
Avoid the costly Florida estate planning mistakes that derail wills, trusts, and blended-family inheritances. A Key West attorney explains the fixes.
