A Practical Estate Planning Checklist for Palm Beach

Most estate plans stall not because the documents are hard, but because no one breaks the work into steps. This is a practical, ordered checklist for Palm Beach residents, built around Florida law and how long each piece actually takes. Work through it once and your family avoids the slow, expensive surprises that probate court delivers.

Step 1: Inventory what you own

Before any document is drafted, list your assets: your Palm Beach home, bank and brokerage accounts, retirement plans, life insurance, business interests, and vehicles. Note how each is titled and who the named beneficiaries are. This inventory drives every decision that follows, and it is the part you can finish this week with no attorney involved.

Step 2: Build the core documents

Four documents form the foundation of a Florida plan:

• Will meeting Fla. Stat. §732.502 (signed before two witnesses), naming your personal representative and guardians for minor children.
• Durable power of attorney under Chapter 709, so someone can handle finances if you are incapacitated.
• Designation of health care surrogate for medical decisions.
• Living will stating your end-of-life wishes.

For many families a revocable trust (Chapter 736) is added to avoid probate. These typically take two to four weeks to draft, revise, and sign.

Step 3: Address your Florida homestead

Your primary Palm Beach residence is protected as homestead under Art. X, §4, which both shields it from most creditors and restricts how you can leave it if you have a spouse or minor child. Some owners use a Lady Bird (enhanced life estate) deed to pass the home automatically at death while keeping full control during life, including the right to sell or mortgage it. This is a Florida-specific tool worth discussing.

Step 4: Check every beneficiary designation

Retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death accounts pass by beneficiary designation, not by your will. A stale beneficiary, such as an ex-spouse, overrides whatever your will says. Reviewing these forms costs nothing and prevents one of the most common and avoidable estate mistakes.

Step 5: Fund the trust

If you create a revocable trust, it only avoids probate for assets actually titled in its name. Retitle your accounts and record a deed moving your home into the trust where appropriate. An unfunded trust sends your estate straight into formal administration, the months-long court process the trust was meant to avoid.

Step 6: Store and review

Keep originals safe and tell your personal representative where they are. Then revisit the plan after major life events: marriage, divorce, a new child, a move, or a large change in assets. A plan reviewed every few years stays current with both your life and Florida law.

What skipping the list costs

Without a plan, Florida’s intestacy statutes decide who inherits, and your estate likely goes through formal administration with attorney’s fees, court costs, and months of delay. The checklist above is the difference between a quick, private transfer and a slow, public one.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Your situation may call for additional documents or strategies. Consult a licensed Florida estate planning attorney to complete your plan correctly.