Estate planning that takes the long view.
Cornerstone Wealth & Legacy Law represents Florida families and individuals on the documents and structures that protect what you've built — and pass it on the way you intend. Wills, trusts, probate, and the planning that connects them all.
What you've built deserves a plan.
Estate planning is the work of deciding three things: who receives what you've built, when they receive it, and how. The documents — wills, trusts, deeds, powers of attorney — are the tools. The plan is the decision behind them.
We work with Florida families and individuals to build estate plans that fit who they are, who they love, and what they own. For some clients, that means a clean, simple will. For others, it means a layered trust structure with tax planning, asset protection, and multi-state coordination. Most are somewhere in between.
The goal is never the document. The goal is a plan that holds up over time — through changes in family, health, law, and circumstance.
The work of building and protecting a Florida estate.
Last wills and testaments, including specific bequests, residuary clauses, guardian nominations for minor children, and the integration of your will with other planning documents. We draft wills that are clear, properly executed under Florida law, and consistent with the rest of your plan.
The most common Florida estate planning structure for clients who want to avoid probate, maintain privacy, and provide for management of their assets in the event of incapacity. Revocable trusts can hold real estate, investment accounts, business interests, and personal property — and they remain fully under your control during your lifetime.
Used for asset protection, estate tax planning, Medicaid planning, special needs planning, and charitable giving. Includes irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), grantor trusts, qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs), and intentionally defective grantor trusts (IDGTs). The right structure depends on the goal.
Representing personal representatives and beneficiaries through Florida formal and summary probate administration. Handling ancillary probate for out-of-state decedents who owned Florida property. Resolving probate disputes and clearing title issues that surface during administration.
Florida's constitutional homestead protections — for both creditor protection and inheritance — are unique and powerful. We advise on how to claim, maintain, and plan around homestead status, including the restrictions on devise to non-family members.
Florida durable powers of attorney, designations of healthcare surrogate, living wills, and HIPAA authorizations. The documents that allow trusted people to act on your behalf when you can't.
A plan is only as good as the way assets are titled. We work with clients — and their CPAs and financial advisors — to ensure that real estate, financial accounts, retirement plans, life insurance, and business interests are titled and beneficiary-designated consistently with the rest of the plan.
For Florida residents who own property in other states, and for out-of-state residents who own Florida property, we coordinate multi-jurisdictional planning to avoid duplicate probate and conflicting documents.
Estate plans go stale. Tax laws change, families grow, assets shift, and what was right ten years ago may no longer be. We review existing plans and recommend updates.
Estate planning and real estate are closely connected. See how we approach titling and ownership structure — and how it fits with your plan. Medicaid and long-term care planning often intersect as well; see our Elder Law practice.
A plan, not a binder.
The most common estate planning experience in Florida is this: a family signs a stack of documents, takes home a binder, files it in a drawer, and never opens it again. Years later, when the documents are needed, half the assets aren't actually titled into the trust, the beneficiary designations don't match the will, and the family discovers that the binder was the easy part — and the actual planning was never finished.
We work differently. We do the document work, but we don't stop there. We help clients coordinate asset titling, beneficiary designations, and trust funding — the steps that determine whether the plan actually works. And we expect to see our clients again every few years, because plans need maintenance.
The Florida clients we serve.
Frequently asked questions.
Most Florida clients with real estate, minor children, or assets above a modest level benefit from a revocable trust as the centerpiece of their plan, with a "pour-over" will as a backstop. But not everyone needs a trust. The answer depends on what you own, how it's titled, who your beneficiaries are, and what you want to avoid (probate, public records, delay, management complexity). This is the central question of our first conversation.
Almost always yes if you've moved to Florida. Florida's homestead, spousal rights, witnessing requirements, and personal representative rules are all distinct. An out-of-state plan may still be valid, but it often produces unintended results in Florida.
Formal probate typically takes 6–12 months for an uncomplicated estate, and longer for estates with disputes, real estate sales, or tax issues. Summary administration is available for smaller estates and can sometimes be completed in a few months. Avoiding probate altogether — typically through a properly funded revocable trust — usually serves families better.
Every 3–5 years, and any time you experience a major life event: marriage, divorce, birth, death, move, significant asset change, business sale, or material tax law change.
Yes. We expect to coordinate with your other advisors, and we welcome it. The best estate plans are built across disciplines.
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Whether you're starting from scratch, updating a stale plan, or navigating a probate, the first step is a conversation. We'll listen, ask, and help you understand what your plan needs — and what it doesn't.
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