Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

Seek advice with an attorney not in a forum such as this. All your assets need to be reviewed. The real estate needs to be analyzed as to whether it is homestead, or investment property or both. The funds you spend for this analysis will protect your heirs in the future.

You really need to consult with an attorney to review a question like this. But generically your real estate will go into probate if you are the sole person on the deed. There are several ways to avoid the real estate ending up in probate and a trust is certainly one vehicle for that. However, there are many types of trusts so this is the type of questions where the answers vary from person to person.

In regards to the brokerage accounts, you should ensure there are alternative beneficiaries listed in the event the primary beneficiaries predecease you. As far as the house, it will depend on how it is titled and whether it is homesteaded to determine if will need to go through probate. Before putting the house into a trust, you really need to consult with an attorney. There are cases where people have placed their homes into a trust which invalidated their homestead protection. As the previous answers indicated, you should consult with an estate planning attorney in Florida.