The Senior Desk · Florida facts, each one cited
Florida facts worth knowing about wills, deeds, and documents
Plain-language Florida education, with a citation on every fact: how homestead limits what a will can do, what a Lady Bird deed is, what makes a will self-proving, that Florida has no state estate tax, and what five common documents each do. Education only — not legal advice, and not a statement of what anyone needs.
Homestead can limit what a will does
Florida protects the family home in a way that surprises people: the constitution can override what a will tries to do with a homestead. We explain that the restriction exists — we do not apply it to anyone's family, because how it lands depends entirely on the facts.
Florida's constitution restricts how a homestead can be left in a will when the owner is survived by a spouse or a minor child (Fla. Const. Art. X, s. 4(c); Fla. Stat. 732.4015 and 732.401). In that situation the law, not the will, can decide who takes the home. Whether it applies and how depends entirely on the family, so this is only that the restriction exists.
Source: Fla. Const. Art. X, s. 4(c) (homestead; restrictions on devise), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Constitution; Fla. Stat. ch. 732 (Probate Code / Intestate Succession and Wills), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/Chapter732/All
The Lady Bird deed — a Florida tool most people have never heard of
This one is genuinely useful and largely unknown. It is a Florida way to pass a home at death without probate, while keeping full control during life.
A Lady Bird deed, also called an enhanced life estate deed, lets an owner keep full control of a home during life, including the right to sell it or change their mind, while naming who receives it automatically at death so that home avoids probate. It is a recognized Florida real-property tool, is not created by any single statute, and must be prepared by a lawyer.
Source: General non-probate transfer law: a beneficiary designation or pay-on-death/transfer-on-death registration is a contract with the institution that passes the asset outside the will.
What makes a Florida will “self-proving”
A self-proving will can be admitted to probate without hunting down the witnesses years later. Here is what Florida requires for it.
A Florida will is 'self-proving' when it is signed by the maker and two witnesses who are all present together, and the maker and both witnesses then sign a sworn affidavit before a notary public. A self-proved will can be admitted to probate without tracking down the witnesses years later (Fla. Stat. 732.502 and 732.503).
Source: Fla. Stat. ch. 732 (Probate Code / Intestate Succession and Wills), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/Chapter732/All
Florida has no state estate tax
Florida has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax (Fla. Const. Art. VII, s. 5; Florida Department of Revenue). A separate federal estate tax still exists, but it reaches only a very small number of estates.
Source: Fla. Const. Art. VII, s. 5 (estate, inheritance, and income taxes), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Constitution; Florida Department of Revenue, Florida Estate Tax, https://floridarevenue.com/taxes/taxesfees/Pages/estate_tax.aspx
Five documents worth knowing exist
These five come up again and again for Florida families. Below is what each one does — nothing here says which, if any, a person needs. That is a decision for you and your own attorney.
Will. A will directs who receives your probate assets and names a personal representative to carry it out. It controls only the assets that do not already pass by beneficiary designation or joint title, and it takes effect through the probate court (Fla. Stat. ch. 732).
Source: Fla. Stat. ch. 732 (Probate Code / Intestate Succession and Wills), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/Chapter732/All
Durable power of attorney. A durable power of attorney lets a person you name handle your financial and legal affairs, and 'durable' means it keeps working if you later become unable to act for yourself (Fla. Stat. ch. 709, the Florida Power of Attorney Act).
Source: Fla. Stat. ch. 709 (Florida Power of Attorney Act), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/Chapter709/All
Health care surrogate designation. A health care surrogate designation names a person to make medical decisions for you if a doctor determines you cannot make them yourself (Fla. Stat. 765.202).
Source: Fla. Stat. ch. 765 (Health Care Advance Directives), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/Chapter765/All
Living will. A living will states in advance what life-prolonging treatment you would or would not want if you were terminally ill, end-stage, or in a persistent vegetative state (Fla. Stat. 765.302).
Source: Fla. Stat. ch. 765 (Health Care Advance Directives), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/Chapter765/All
Revocable living trust. A revocable living trust holds assets you transfer into it and can let those assets pass without probate; you can change or revoke it while you are alive and competent (Fla. Stat. ch. 736, the Florida Trust Code).
Source: Fla. Stat. ch. 736 (Florida Trust Code), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/Chapter736/All
When you need documents drawn up
Preparing or reviewing a will, a trust, a power of attorney, or a deed is legal work, and it belongs to a licensed Florida attorney. If you do not have one, The Florida Bar runs a free Lawyer Referral Service that points the public to Florida lawyers: floridabar.org or 800-342-8011.
We receive nothing for pointing you there — no payment, no commission, no share of anything the attorney charges. Florida's rules forbid a lawyer from splitting a client's payment with a non-lawyer, and we would not take it in any case. The referral is free, and it stays free of us.
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— The Senior Desk