Category: Estate Planning & ...

A reverse mortgage lets an older homeowner draw on home equity while staying put, but the loan does not vanish when the borrower dies. Families are often surprised that the home and the debt must be resolved on the lender’s timeline. 

How a Reverse Mortgage Comes Due at Death

Most reverse mortgages are federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages, or HECMs, and HUD and FHA rules decide when repayment is triggered. A HECM generally becomes due and payable after the borrower dies once the property is no longer the principal residence of another surviving borrower, subject to deferral rules for an eligible non-borrowing spouse (24 C.F.R. § 206.27).

Federal law also makes an FHA HECM nonrecourse, so no one is personally liable for a shortfall between the debt and what the property recovers. Heirs do not inherit that gap, but the loan still must be addressed. When two spouses are co-borrowers, one spouse’s death usually does not trigger repayment while the other stays.

What Florida Homestead Law Adds

Florida treats a mortgage as a lien on the property, not a transfer of title. An heir may inherit the house, but the reverse mortgage lien rides along, so the inheritance and the debt are analyzed separately. 

Homestead rules also limit who can inherit at all. Where an owner dies leaving a spouse or minor child, section 732.4015restricts how homestead may be devised and generally bars leaving it away from that spouse or those children. Several people can gain interests in the home just as the loan is coming due.

How to Plan the Home Transfer Before It Becomes Urgent

A little preparation spares heirs from guessing later. Useful steps include:

• Confirming whether the loan is an FHA HECM or a proprietary product, since protections differ.
• Identifying every borrower and any non-borrowing spouse named in the loan papers.
• Aligning your will or trust with how the homestead is titled and with Florida’s devise rules.

A record owner or authorized person can also request the payoff figure, which the servicer generally must provide within 10 days of a compliant written request. That number shows whether equity remains.

At Wickersham & Bowers, we can review your reverse mortgage documents, check how your homestead is titled, and coordinate your will or trust so your heirs are not left scrambling. To begin, contact us or call 386-252-3000.

A timeshare can seem like a minor detail in an estate plan, but its assessments do not stop when the owner dies. Heirs who never wanted the property can end up owing fees or facing a lien. This article covers why a timeshare needs planning, what Florida law says about the assessments, and steps that help keep the obligation off the wrong person.

Why a Timeshare Does Not Disappear at Death

The right to a devise generally vests at death, so a timeshare passes through the estate like any other asset. The personal representative must manage and protect it until it is sold, distributed, or resolved.

A will that leaves “all real estate,” or the residue, to the children can quietly place a timeshare in the same stream as far more desirable property. Naming a beneficiary does not make the assessments disappear, and an owner cannot avoid them simply by not using the property.

What the Law Says About Assessments and Disclaimers

Florida’s timesharing statute requires disclosures explaining that assessment obligations continue while an interest is owned and that an heir who inherits it becomes responsible for the payments. A successor is also jointly and severally liable with the predecessor for assessments unpaid as of the transfer date. 

A beneficiary who does not want the timeshare may consider a disclaimer, but this redirects the interest rather than erasing it. Unless the will or trust says otherwise, the disclaimed interest passes as though that beneficiary died first, which can send the timeshare to that person’s own children instead.

Address the Timeshare Before It Becomes a Problem

Bring the deed, purchase contract, current assessment statement, and loan documents to the planning conversation, and ask beneficiaries whether anyone wants the timeshare. Resolving it during the owner’s lifetime is often more manageable, since a developer is typically more willing to process a surrender while the owner can sign directly. If the timeshare stays in the plan, a specific, conditional gift, paired with authority for the personal representative to sell or negotiate an exit, works better than a silent fall into the residuary estate. At Wickersham & Bowers, we help Florida families think through these choices before an unwanted obligation becomes the next generation’s problem. Call us at 386-252-3000 or contact us to talk through your options

It is common for a family caregiver, whether an adult child, a friend, or a hired aide, to also be named in a will or trust. Florida law does not forbid this. But when a caregiver is closely involved in preparing or storing an estate plan, other beneficiaries may later question whether the gift reflects the client’s true wishes. Understanding how these disputes arise and what steps can reduce the risk of a challenge helps protect both the client’s intentions and the caregiver.

Why Caregiver Gifts Draw Extra Scrutiny

A confidential relationship, one where a person trusts and relies on another, can exist between a client and caregiver, whether the arrangement is formal or informal. Florida courts examine whether the caregiver was actively involved in procuring the document.

Relevant facts include whether: 

• Caregiver was present when the will was signed
• Recommended the attorney
• Knew the plan’s contents beforehand
• Kept the original after execution

Florida appellate courts have recognized that a close parent-child relationship, routine assistance, and transportation are not enough by themselves to prove undue influence when the conduct is consistent with a dutiful adult child helping an aging parent.

What Florida Law Requires and Allows

A valid will requires a testator of sound mind who signs in front of two witnesses. A will or trust provision can be voided if procured through fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence, and in a contest, the burden can shift once a presumption of undue influence applies. 

Florida also gives little weight to no-contest clauses; a provision meant to penalize someone for challenging a will or trust is generally unenforceable. Where a caregiver also controls an elderly or disabled client’s funds or documents, the concern can extend into Florida’s elder exploitation statute.

Build Safeguards Into the Plan

Clients who want to leave assets to a caregiver can take practical steps to help the plan withstand later questions. These may include: 

• Meeting privately with an attorney
• Documenting the reasons for the gift
• Using neutral witnesses
• Keeping caregiving compensation separate from inheritance
• Considering a neutral trustee or personal representative when appropriate

At Wickersham & Bowers, we help Florida clients think through these details, so their estate plan reflects their actual intentions and holds up to later scrutiny. If you are weighing how to include a caregiver in your estate plan, call us at 386-252-3000 or contact us to schedule a conversation.

A Florida estate plan works best when every major asset points in the same direction. However, real estate, retirement accounts, and trusts often follow different rules. A will or trust may say one thing, while a deed or beneficiary form says another.

Your Trust Does Not Control Everything Automatically

A revocable trust is a legal arrangement that lets you place assets under trust management while you remain able to change or cancel it. Many people create one to help organize property and reduce probate concerns. Still, the trust only works as intended when asset ownership lines up with the plan.

A revocable trust should work as part of a larger estate plan. The owner must decide which assets belong in the trust, complete the transfers, and review the plan over time.

Signing the trust does not automatically move every asset into it. Real estate may still sit in an individual’s name, a bank account may have a payable-on-death designation, or a retirement account may name a person directly. If those choices conflict, the trust may not control the final result.

Florida Real Estate Can Create Its Own Issues

Under Florida law, homestead property generally cannot be devised away from a surviving spouse or minor child, except in limited circumstances.

A trust might say the home should pass to adult children, but Florida homestead protections may limit that plan if the owner leaves a spouse or minor child. Deeds also matter. Joint ownership, life estates, and trust ownership can each affect what happens after death.

This is why real estate should not sit in a separate mental box from the rest of the estate plan. The home, rental property, land, and trust documents need to work together.

Retirement Accounts Follow Beneficiary Forms

Retirement accounts usually pass by beneficiary designation, not by the terms of a will. A common problem appears after marriage, divorce, a death in the family, or a trust update. Someone changes the trust but forgets the IRA or 401(k) beneficiary form.

The old form may still control the account. That can leave money to the wrong person or create avoidable family conflict.

Review Your Florida Estate Plan Before the Documents Conflict

At Wickersham & Bowers, we help Florida families review estate plans with real-life assets in mind, including wills, trusts, probate concerns, and family law issues that may affect planning.

If your real estate, retirement accounts, and trust documents no longer match your wishes, call us at 386-252-3000 or reach out through our contact form.

Lifetime gifts can feel simple. A parent gives one child money for a home, transfers a vehicle to another, or adds a relative to an account “just to make things easier.” The trouble starts when those gifts do not match the estate plan on paper. In Florida, the wording of a will, written records, spousal rights, and probate rules can all affect how those gifts are treated later.

A Gift May Not Count Against an Inheritance Automatically

Florida law does not treat every lifetime gift as an advance on someone’s inheritance. If a person leaves a gift in a will, then gives that person property during life, the lifetime gift only satisfies the will gift in limited situations. The will must say so, the person making the gift must state it in a written record at the time, or the recipient must acknowledge it in writing.

Without paperwork, family members may disagree about whether the gift was extra help, an early inheritance, or a replacement for something promised in the will. Even a generous gift can create resentment when the plan leaves room for guessing.

Unequal Gifts Can Create Family and Probate Tension

Lifetime gifts often make sense in real life. One child may need help with medical bills. Another may join the family business. A parent may want to reduce assets during life or help a loved one while the support still matters.

Still, unequal gifts can leave a messy record. If someone dies without a will in Florida, a lifetime gift to an heir counts as an advancement only if the person who died said so in a written record at the time or the heir acknowledged it in writing.

Spousal Rights and Tax Issues Need Care

Lifetime gifts can also affect married couples. Florida gives a surviving spouse rights in the elective estate when the deceased spouse was domiciled in Florida. The elective estate can include more than the probate estate, depending on the property and transfer involved. 

Review Your Plan Before a Gift Creates Confusion

A lifetime gift should support your estate plan, not quietly rewrite it. At Wickersham & Bowers, we help Florida families review wills, trusts, probate concerns, and related family issues before conflict starts. To discuss your estate plan, call us at 386-252-3000 or reach us through our contact form.

Estate planning for a married couple gets more complicated when one spouse is not a U.S. citizen. The issue is not just who inherits what. Federal tax rules and Florida spousal protections can change how property passes at death, what rights a surviving spouse keeps, and whether a plan works as intended.

Why Non-Citizen Spouse Planning Is Different

Federal estate tax law usually blocks the unlimited marital deduction when assets pass to a surviving spouse who is not a U.S. citizen. That deduction usually lets assets pass to a surviving spouse without estate tax at the first death. When citizenship is missing, that rule can change. 

In some cases, a qualified domestic trust, often called a QDOT, may preserve the marital deduction if the trust meets strict requirements and the proper election is made. For example, at least one trustee must be a U.S. citizen or domestic corporation, and certain principal distributions can trigger tax.

That does not mean every Florida couple needs a QDOT. It does mean the plan should account for citizenship status instead of assuming a standard will or trust will cover the problem.

Account for Florida Spousal Rights

Florida law gives a surviving spouse important rights, and those rights can affect the final plan no matter what a will says. A surviving spouse of a Florida decedent may claim an elective share, which equals 30% of the elective estate. 

Florida also has strict homestead rules. If a person dies owning a Florida homestead and leaves behind a spouse or minor child, the home cannot always be devised freely. In some situations, the surviving spouse may receive a life estate or elect a one-half tenant-in-common interest instead.

Those rules matter even more in blended families, second marriages, and cross-border households. Beneficiary designations, deed choices, and trust funding should align with the broader plan. Florida law also allows certain spousal rights to be waived in a written agreement signed with two witnesses, which can matter in premarital or marital planning.

Start the Conversation Before a Crisis

A workable plan often includes more than one document. Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, living wills, and health care designations may all need to work together. At Wickersham & Bowers, we help Florida families build estate plans that reflect real family structure, property ownership, and future probate concerns. If you want to discuss planning for a non-U.S. citizen spouse, call us at 386-252-3000 or reach out through our contact form.