A Florida will can carry a no-contest clause that sounds airtight and still be unenforceable. John Marshall walks through the five estate planning mistakes he sees most among Florida families, starting with documents drafted before a move, a marriage, or the 2011 overhaul of the state’s power of attorney law. He explains why an unfunded or poorly funded trust can still land a family in probate. Married couples who title joint assets to a joint trust lose their creditor protection.

John also covers beneficiary forms that send an IRA to an ex, the flaws in DIY and AI-drafted documents, and the cost of assuming the kids will sort it out. He closes with a bonus warning about attorneys who draft whatever a client asks for, even when Florida law won’t allow it.

Every one of these mistakes is fixable if someone catches it in time.

In this episode, you will hear:

• Why wills and trusts from another state can fail under Florida law
• The 2011 power of attorney statute and the guardianship it can force
• Unfunded trusts and the homestead deed that never got recorded
• How joint trusts strip married couples of tenancy by the entirety protection
• Beneficiary designations that send an IRA to an ex or leave a special needs child without a trust
• The real risks of DIY and AI-drafted estate documents
• Family disputes that start when parents assume the kids will figure it out

Resources from this Episode

Get Your Free Guide - Florida homestead law works differently from the state you came from. This free guide covers the five assumptions that cost families here the most: https://go.marshalllawpa.com/optin

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Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.

How long will probate take, and what will it cost? Florida families ask John Marshall those two questions constantly, and the answers hinge on details most people never consider until a parent dies. In this episode, John explains the difference between testate and intestate estates, when an estate qualifies for summary probate under the $150,000 threshold, and why a Florida homestead usually stays out of the probate estate.

He walks through the four phases of formal probate, from appointing a personal representative to closing the estate. He also shares cases that stretched the timeline: a beneficiary who keeps moving without notice, a parent’s assets locked behind email passwords, and a Michigan will that added over two months. Then he explains why waiting out Florida’s two-year creditor window can leave more money for the family.

Families who plan for probate pay less and wait less, and John shows where to start.

In this episode, you will hear:

• How a testate estate differs from an intestate one, and why that decides who inherits
• Florida’s rules on who can serve as personal representative, including the residency requirement for non-relatives
• When an estate qualifies for summary probate under the $150,000 threshold
• Why Florida homestead property usually passes outside the probate estate
• How emailed bank statements and lost passwords leave assets undiscovered
• The four phases of formal probate and how long each one takes
• Waiting out the two-year creditor window to keep more money in the family

Resources from this Episode

Get Your Free Guide - Florida homestead law works differently from the state you came from. This free guide covers the five assumptions that cost families here the most: https://go.marshalllawpa.com/optin

Follow and Review:

We’d love for you to follow us if you haven’t yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.

John Marshall opens this episode of Trust Me, It's Complicated by tackling a rule that trips up more families than almost any other part of Medicaid planning: the five year lookback. He explains why Medicaid requires five years of bank statements, what actually counts as a gift in their eyes, and how something as ordinary as helping a daughter with a down payment can create years of ineligibility down the road. He also breaks down the monthly divisor calculation Medicaid uses to set penalties, and clears up a common misconception about when that penalty clock actually starts.

Along the way, John shares a real client story involving a transferred homestead property and a family relationship that fractured before the problem could be fixed, plus a legal alternative worth knowing: the caregiver agreement.

Anyone weighing a gift, a transfer, or a future Medicaid application should hear this one first.

In this episode, you will hear:

• Why Medicaid rules differ dramatically from state to state, even for neighboring states like Georgia and Florida
• The difference between assets and income under Medicaid, and which items like cars and homes are excluded
• What triggers the five year lookback and why five years of bank statements matter for every account, even closed ones
• How the monthly divisor works to calculate a penalty period after a disqualifying gift
• A real case where a transferred homestead property led to a lengthy Medicaid penalty and a fractured family relationship
• Why the penalty clock starts at the date of application, not the date of the gift
• How a properly structured caregiver agreement can move assets legally without violating gifting rules

Follow and Review:

We’d love for you to follow us if you haven’t yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.