The most common estate planning mistake is not failing to make a plan, it is making one and never looking at it again. A Boca Raton estate plan drafted a decade ago may name the wrong people, miss new assets, or rely on outdated Florida rules. Here are the review triggers people most often miss.
Mistake 1: Treating the Plan as ‘Done’
A will, trust, and powers of attorney are snapshots of your life and the law at signing. As a rule of thumb, review your documents every three to five years even if nothing dramatic has changed. Many Boca Raton residents who moved here from New York, New Jersey, or the Northeast are still relying on documents executed under another state’s law that may not satisfy Florida’s formalities.
Mistake 2: Ignoring Your Move to Florida
If you relocated to Boca Raton, your out-of-state will may still be valid, but it may not take advantage of Florida-specific tools. Florida requires two witnesses for a will (Fla. Stat. §732.502), recognizes self-proving affidavits to streamline probate, and offers Lady Bird (enhanced life estate) deeds and homestead protections that other states lack. A review confirms your plan is built for where you actually live.
Mistake 3: Skipping Updates After Family Changes
Marriage, divorce, a new child or grandchild, or the death of a named executor, trustee, or beneficiary should all trigger a review. Florida’s pretermitted spouse and child rules, and the effect of divorce on certain provisions, can reshape your plan automatically and not always the way you would want.
Mistake 4: Letting Fiduciary Choices Go Stale
The friend you named as personal representative or trustee years ago may have moved, aged, or fallen out of touch. Note that Florida restricts who can serve as a personal representative: generally a Florida resident, or a close relative such as a spouse or child if out of state. A non-relative living outside Florida cannot serve, so a snowbird’s choice of an out-of-state friend may quietly disqualify them.
Mistake 5: Forgetting About New Assets
A new Boca Raton condo, a brokerage account, a business interest, or digital assets may not be addressed by an older plan. Unfunded revocable trusts (Ch. 736) are especially common: the trust exists on paper, but assets were never retitled into it, so probate happens anyway.
Mistake 6: Overlooking Incapacity Documents
Estate plans are not only about death. A durable power of attorney (Ch. 709), health care surrogate, and living will let trusted people act if you become incapacitated. Florida’s durable POA statute has strict execution and authority rules, and older or generic forms may be rejected by banks. These documents deserve the same regular review as your will.
Consult a Florida Attorney
A periodic review is far cheaper than a contested probate. If any of these triggers apply to you, have a Florida-licensed estate planning attorney serving the Boca Raton area review your documents to confirm they still work under current Florida law.
For more on our Florida practice, see our overview of Florida estate planning. Morgan Legal Group's affiliated New York office also handles Medicaid asset protection trusts.
