An estate plan is not a one-time document; it is a snapshot of your life and the law on the day you signed it. Both change. The real question for Palm Beach residents is which review strategy to follow. Compare three approaches: never reviewing, reviewing on a fixed calendar, and reviewing whenever a triggering event occurs.
Approach One: Set It and Forget It
The most common and most dangerous approach is signing documents and never looking back. Plans drafted a decade ago may name a deceased trustee, leave assets to an ex-spouse, or rely on outdated Florida statutes. Beneficiary designations on accounts and life insurance, which override your will, are especially prone to going stale. For seasonal residents who recently moved to Palm Beach from another state, an out-of-state plan may not align with Florida’s homestead and elective share rules at all.
Approach Two: Review on a Fixed Calendar
A simple discipline is to review your plan every three to five years even if nothing obvious has changed. This catches drift: a durable power of attorney under Florida Chapter 709 that banks may now treat as outdated, a health care surrogate who has moved away, or new family additions you meant to address. A scheduled review is predictable and prevents the worst surprises, though it can miss a major event that happens between cycles.
Approach Three: Review on Life and Law Triggers
The strongest approach combines a calendar with event-based triggers. Schedule a refresh whenever:
- You marry, divorce, or are widowed, which directly affects Florida spousal and elective share rights.
- You have a child or grandchild, or a beneficiary dies.
- You buy or sell real estate, especially a Palm Beach homestead, where a Lady Bird deed might newly make sense.
- Your net worth changes substantially or you start a business.
- You move to or from Florida, since validity and homestead protections are state-specific.
- A named executor, trustee, or agent can no longer serve.
Why Florida Residents Have Extra Reasons
Florida’s constitutional homestead rules (Article X, Section 4) and elective share statute (Section 732.2065+) can reshape a plan that was perfectly valid in another state. New Palm Beach arrivals often need fresh durable powers of attorney and health care surrogate designations that comply with Florida formalities so local institutions will honor them. The good news: Florida has no state estate or inheritance tax, so reviews focus on family changes and document validity rather than chasing a shifting state tax.
Which Strategy Wins
Doing nothing courts the costliest mistakes. A fixed calendar is far better. But the combined calendar-plus-trigger approach is the gold standard, because the events that most damage a plan rarely wait for a convenient review date.
Consult a Florida Attorney
Whether your existing plan still works depends on current Florida law and your specific circumstances. A licensed Florida estate planning attorney in Palm Beach can review your documents and tell you what, if anything, needs updating.
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For more on our Florida practice, see our overview of Florida estate planning. Morgan Legal Group's affiliated New York office also handles .
