Estate Planning for Unmarried Couples in Florida
Estate planning for unmarried couples in Florida is how you give your partner the authority to act for you and the inheritance you intend, because Florida law will not do it for you. It cannot make your partner a spouse, but it can cover the decisions and property that matter most. If you live together, own a home together or simply want each other to be the one who decides and inherits, Florida law does not fill the gap for you: an unmarried partner is not an heir under the intestacy statute, is not first in line to make medical decisions and has no default authority over your money. Unless you plan, medical decisions go first to the relatives Florida ranks ahead of a partner, and authority over your money usually requires a court guardianship.
The fix is a set of documents each of you signs. There is a will and a durable power of attorney, and there is a designation of health care surrogate and a living will, sometimes with a revocable trust. It also means checking how your home and accounts are titled, so that the paperwork and the property say the same thing. The next decision for most couples is simple: what do you each want the other to be able to do, and what do you each want the other to receive?
I am Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., Florida Bar No. 107002, and the only attorney in my practice. The lawyer you speak with on the first call is the lawyer who drafts your documents and takes you through the signing. My offices are in Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale, and I work with couples across Florida remotely, including Orlando, Miami-Dade and Broward. To start: call (305) 224-6811 for a short, free first call, or use the contact form. Please do not put Social Security numbers, account numbers or medical details in the web form.
| Does Florida protect an unmarried partner automatically? | No. Without documents, your partner inherits nothing under Florida’s intestacy statute (only what passes by a survivorship deed or account, or a beneficiary designation), is not your default health care decision-maker and cannot handle your finances |
| What does each partner need? | His or her own will, durable power of attorney, designation of health care surrogate and living will. One set of documents cannot cover two adults |
| What does it cost? | A will on its own starts at $675. The core estate planning package is $1,500 for one person. A revocable living trust plan is a separate engagement, starting at $2,500, plus $575 per deed when Florida real estate is moved into the trust. Couples receive a discount, quoted individually |
| Is there a free consultation? | Yes: a short phone call with me, with no charge and no obligation |
| Do we have to come to an office? | No. I explain on the first call which documents can be signed remotely in your situation and which need witnesses in the room |
What happens if unmarried partners in Florida don’t plan?
The short answer is that Florida gives an unmarried partner no inheritance and no priority in your medical care by default. The rights of unmarried couples living together come from the documents they sign, not from the relationship. The law gives rights to a spouse, children, parents and siblings, in that order. A partner of ten or thirty years gets no priority from the relationship itself; at most, a partner can qualify late in the medical list as a “close friend.” These are the questions couples ask most often about unmarried partners’ rights after death and during an illness, answered one at a time.
Does Florida recognize common law marriage?
No, not for a relationship that began in Florida. Common law marriage in Florida is settled law: under section 741.211, Florida Statutes, no common law marriage entered into after January 1, 1968, is valid. Living together, sharing a last name or holding yourselves out as married does not make you married here, however long it lasts. Florida does generally recognize a common law marriage validly formed in another state, or another country, that allows it, because a marriage’s validity is judged by the law of the place where it was formed. Proving one later can be difficult. For planning purposes, assume Florida treats you as unmarried and plan accordingly.
Does an unmarried partner inherit if there is no will?
Not under Florida’s intestacy statute. Property can still pass to a partner outside it, through a survivorship deed or joint account, or a beneficiary designation that names the partner. When someone dies without a will in Florida, the estate passes by Florida intestate succession under sections 732.102 and 732.103, Florida Statutes: to a spouse and descendants, then to parents, then to brothers and sisters, then to grandparents and more distant relatives. An unmarried partner is not an heir at any step. If your partner dies without a will, you could receive nothing, even from an estate the two of you built together. That is the most important of the unmarried couples’ rights when one dies: there are none by default. The estate could go to a parent or a sibling your partner had not spoken to in years. My page on what counts as a probate asset explains which property the will, or the intestacy statute, actually controls.
| Who survives the person who died | Who inherits under Florida intestate succession | Unmarried partner’s share |
|---|---|---|
| A spouse, and no descendants | The spouse takes everything | Nothing |
| A spouse, and descendants who are all also the spouse’s descendants (and the spouse has no other descendants) | The spouse takes everything | Nothing |
| A spouse, and descendants where either spouse has a descendant from another relationship | One half to the spouse, one half to the descendants | Nothing |
| No spouse; children or other descendants | The descendants | Nothing |
| No spouse or descendants; a parent | The father and mother equally, or the survivor | Nothing |
| No spouse, descendants or parents; brothers or sisters | Brothers and sisters, and the descendants of any who have died | Nothing |
| None of the above | Grandparents, aunts, uncles and their descendants, then the kindred of the last deceased spouse | Nothing |
| No relatives at all | The State of Florida (escheat) | Nothing |
An unmarried couple is shown in the rows with no spouse. The partner’s column never changes, which is the whole case for a will. Before the State of Florida takes an estate, the partner still receives nothing.
Who is next of kin if not married?
Your relatives, not your partner. “Next of kin” in Florida is not one defined legal role; it is shorthand for the family members various statutes and institutions turn to. For inheritance, that means children first, then parents, then siblings. Is my girlfriend my next of kin, or my boyfriend? Not unless you are married. Naming your partner as your agent, health care surrogate or beneficiary gives him or her that specific role, but it does not make your partner a relative.
Who makes medical decisions for an unmarried partner?
Unmarried couples’ medical rights come from one document. Decisions go to whoever you name in a designation of health care surrogate. If you name no one, Florida’s health care proxy statute, section 765.401, sets a priority list for a patient who cannot decide: a court-appointed guardian; the spouse; an adult child (a majority, if there are several); a parent; an adult sibling (again, a majority); an adult relative who has shown special care and concern; a close friend; and, last, a licensed clinical social worker selected by the provider’s bioethics committee. A partner may reach the list only as a “close friend,” behind the spouse, adult children, parents, adult siblings and qualifying relatives the statute ranks higher who are reasonably available, willing and competent to act, and only after signing an affidavit for the hospital or physician stating that he or she is a friend, is willing and able to be involved in your care, and has kept regular enough contact to know your activities, health and beliefs (section 765.101). That is the answer to “can my partner make medical decisions if we’re not married?”: yes, if you sign a surrogate designation naming your partner, and possibly not at all if you don’t.
Who handles your money if you become incapacitated?
Usually no one, unless you have already given someone authority, for example through a durable power of attorney, a trust with a successor trustee, or a joint account. Otherwise it takes a court. An unmarried partner has no authority to sign on your accounts, pay your bills from your funds or deal with your property just because you share a home. Without a durable power of attorney, the usual route is a court guardianship: public, supervised, slower and expensive, and the court decides who serves. A durable power of attorney naming your partner usually avoids the need for one.
What happens to the house if an unmarried partner dies?
It depends on how the deed is written, and that is the first document I read. Cohabiting partners’ property rights in a shared home come from the deed, not from how long you have lived there or who paid the mortgage. If the home is in the deceased partner’s name alone and there is no will, trust or lady bird deed, it passes to his or her relatives, not to the surviving partner. If the couple owns it together, the deed controls: owners who hold as tenants in common each own a share that passes through their own estate, while owners who hold as joint tenants with right of survivorship pass the whole property to the survivor. The home and accounts section below goes through each form of ownership.
Can my partner stay in the house if I die?
Only if your plan says so. A surviving partner has no automatic right to remain in a home he or she does not own. Couples solve this several ways: leaving the home outright, leaving your partner the right to live there for life with the property passing to your children afterward, holding the home in a trust with instructions, or using a lady bird deed. Each works differently with a mortgage, with children from an earlier relationship and with Florida homestead, which is covered below.
Who decides funeral and burial arrangements?
Your own written instructions come first. Under section 497.005(43), Florida Statutes, the “legally authorized person” for decisions about your remains is, first, you, through written instructions you leave during your life; then the surviving spouse; then an adult child, a parent, an adult sibling, an adult grandchild, a grandparent and more distant relatives. An unmarried partner is not on that family list. Without your written instructions, your partner ranks only after every listed relative, as a friend willing to take responsibility. Put your funeral, burial or cremation wishes in writing, and make sure your partner knows where to find them.
Does an unmarried partner pay inheritance tax in Florida?
Florida has no inheritance tax and no state estate tax, so a partner does not pay Florida tax on what he or she inherits. The federal rules are where unmarried couples differ from married ones: spouses who are U.S. citizens can generally leave each other unlimited amounts free of federal estate and gift tax, and unmarried partners cannot. Gifts between partners count against the annual exclusion and the lifetime exemption, and a surviving partner cannot use the deceased partner’s unused exemption, because portability is available only to a surviving spouse. For most couples the federal exemption is large enough that no tax is due, but a large estate, or large gifts between partners during life, should be planned with that difference in mind.
Which decisions do you want your partner to make or benefit from?
Start with goals, not documents. Most unmarried couples want each other to be able to do four things: make medical decisions, handle money during an incapacity, stay in the home, and inherit some or all of what the other leaves. Some want all four. Many, especially couples who met later in life, want the first two and a more limited version of the last two, because each has children. Both are valid, and they lead to different documents.
Living together does not supply any of this authority, and neither does naming your partner as a beneficiary on one account. A beneficiary designation passes that account at death. It gives the beneficiary no power to act for you while you are alive; for a payable-on-death bank account, section 655.82(2), Florida Statutes, says the beneficiary “has no right to sums on deposit during the lifetime of any party.”
Health care and financial decisions during life
These are the decisions that come up first, usually in a hospital. A designation of health care surrogate lets your partner speak with your doctors, see your records and make medical decisions if you cannot. A durable power of attorney lets your partner, or someone else you choose, manage your finances. Can the same person make both health care and financial decisions? Yes, and many couples name each other for both. Some name the partner for health care and an adult child or sibling for finances. That is a choice for each of you to make, and I talk it through with you rather than assuming it.
Property and beneficiary goals after death
After death, the question is who receives what, and through which document. The will controls what is in your name alone with no beneficiary. The deed controls the home. The account and policy forms control retirement accounts, life insurance and payable-on-death accounts. A plan works only when all three point the same way.
A decision map for unmarried couples
This worksheet is how I start the conversation. Each partner goes through it separately, and the two sets of answers do not have to match. The co-owned home row and the hospital row show how one situation turns into a document and a question.
| Situation | Who you want to act or receive | Document or account to look at | Backup | Question for the consultation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| You are in the hospital and cannot speak for yourself | Your partner | Designation of health care surrogate; living will | An adult child, sibling or friend | Do I want my partner to see my records now, or only if I am incapacitated? |
| You cannot manage your bills or accounts | Your partner, or a relative | Durable power of attorney | A second agent | Should my partner be able to make gifts or change beneficiaries, or only pay bills? |
| You co-own the home and one of you dies | The surviving partner, or your children | The recorded deed; the will; possibly a lady bird deed or trust | Who takes the home if you both die | Does our deed pass the home to the survivor, or does each share go through probate? |
| You own the home alone | Your partner for life, then your children | The recorded deed; the will or a trust | A trustee or personal representative | How do I let my partner stay without cutting out my children? |
| You have a 401(k), IRA or life insurance | Your partner or your children | The beneficiary designation on file with the plan or insurer | A contingent beneficiary | Does my designation still say what my plan says? |
| You die | Your partner, for the funeral | Your written funeral and disposition instructions | A relative | Who do I want making those arrangements? |
The map is not a form to sign. It is a way of making each decision visible before any document is drafted.
Which documents protect an unmarried partner during incapacity?
Three documents do most of the work while you are alive, each with a different job, and a preneed guardian designation backs them up. The will works only at death. For unmarried couples, the incapacity documents matter more than they do for married couples, because a spouse is near the top of Florida’s default lists and a partner is not.
Durable power of attorney for unmarried couples
A power of attorney for unmarried couples is the same durable power of attorney Florida residents everywhere sign, and a power of attorney for an unmarried partner is no weaker than one for a spouse. What changes is who you name and what you let that person do. A durable power of attorney lets your agent handle your financial and legal affairs while you are alive and cannot act. It ends at death. Florida’s power of attorney law was rewritten effective October 1, 2011. A power of attorney signed today takes effect when you sign it; the “springing” power that waits for a finding of incapacity no longer works for documents signed on or after that date. Certain powers, including making gifts, creating or amending a trust and changing beneficiary designations, are not granted by general language. They must be listed in the document, with your signature or initials next to each one. For an unmarried couple, those listed powers are where the real decisions are. For an unmarried partner, there is a second layer. Under section 709.2202(3), Florida Statutes, an agent who is not your spouse, an ancestor such as a parent, or a descendant such as a child cannot use those powers to benefit himself or herself, or anyone he or she must support, whether by gift, survivorship, beneficiary designation, disclaimer or otherwise, unless the power of attorney expressly says so. A general gifting power, even one you have initialed, is not enough. Whether you want your partner to have that authority is a question worth answering deliberately, and if you do, the document has to say it in so many words. A Florida durable power of attorney must be signed with two witnesses and acknowledged before a notary. My Florida power of attorney page covers the document in full.
Health care surrogate and living will
The designation of health care surrogate in Florida is the document a hospital asks for first. It names the person who makes medical decisions for you. If you choose, it lets that person see your records straight away, not only once you are incapacitated. What other states call a medical power of attorney, Florida calls a designation of health care surrogate. For an unmarried partner, it is the single most important document you sign. I prepare it separately from the durable power of attorney: the financial document falls under chapter 709 and the health care document under chapter 765, and keeping them separate means each is read for the job it does. My page on the Florida health care surrogate explains the document in detail.
A living will in Florida states your own wishes about end-of-life care, so your partner does not have to guess and your family cannot second-guess. A living will is a medical document. It does not leave property to anyone, and it is not the same thing as a living trust or a last will. No document can guarantee how every hospital or bank will respond in a crisis, but properly signed Florida documents are the ones they are built to accept.
Hospital visitation and access to records
Couples often ask whether a hospital will let a partner in and tell him or her anything. The surrogate designation is what gives your partner standing to receive medical information and make decisions. Florida also lets a patient or resident designate an essential caregiver, who may be a family member, a friend or anyone else, and hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and assisted living facilities must then allow that person in-person visitation for at least two hours a day on top of other visiting (section 408.823, Florida Statutes). The designation is made by the patient; no particular form is required, though the facility can ask the caregiver to agree in writing to follow its policies, and some counties’ domestic partnership registries address hospital visitation, as explained below. The surrogate designation is still the document that matters most.
Preneed guardian designation
If a court ever decides you need a guardian, a preneed guardian designation tells the court who you want appointed. Florida law gives the person you name a statutory presumption. For an unmarried couple it keeps your partner in the running for a role a court would otherwise likely give to a relative. It is included in the core estate planning package.
Your home and your accounts: how is property held?
Most of what you own passes by how it is titled, not by what your will says. For unmarried couples that is where plans most often fail: the will says one thing and the deed or the beneficiary form says another, and the deed or form wins. Co-owning a home, intending to leave it to your partner, and giving your partner authority to act while you are alive are three different things, and each needs its own document.
Jointly and separately held property
For real estate, I read your recorded deed to see how the home is actually held. That is one document from the public record. Unmarried owners can hold a Florida home in one of three ways. Married couples have a fourth, tenancy by the entireties, which requires the owners to be married when they take title, so unmarried couples cannot use it (Beal Bank, SSB v. Almand & Associates, 780 So. 2d 45 (Fla. 2001)).
| How the deed reads | What happens when one partner dies | What to consider |
|---|---|---|
| One partner’s name alone | The home passes under that partner’s will, trust or lady bird deed, or to his or her relatives if there is none | The partner who is not on the deed has no ownership and no automatic right to stay |
| Tenants in common | Each partner’s share passes through his or her own estate. The survivor keeps only his or her own share and may co-own with the deceased partner’s heirs | Useful when each partner wants his or her share to go to his or her own children |
| Joint tenants with right of survivorship | The survivor owns the whole property automatically, without probate; the deceased partner’s will does not control it | In Florida the survivorship right must be stated expressly in the deed; otherwise two owners hold as tenants in common (section 689.15, Florida Statutes); it also means your children receive nothing from the home if you die first |
| Tenants by the entireties | Available only to married couples | Not an option for unmarried partners, whatever the deed says |
What if you own a home together but want different beneficiaries? Then survivorship is the wrong form of ownership, because it overrides both wills. The answer depends on what the recorded deed says now and on what each of you wants. I look at both before recommending anything, and I do not assume the outcome. If a new deed is needed, preparing it is part of my practice. Title searches, title examinations, title insurance and curative work on older conveyances are not work I take on, and I refer them to a title company or a real estate attorney.
Buying a house together? An unmarried couple buying a house in Florida chooses the form of ownership at closing, often without realizing it: tenants in common in Florida is the default, and joint tenancy with right of survivorship in Florida exists only if the deed says so. Decide it deliberately, and sign wills that match it.
Homestead and unmarried partners
Florida homestead restricts who can receive your home at death, and the restriction is triggered by a spouse or a minor child. Under section 732.4015, Florida Statutes, homestead is not subject to devise if the owner is survived by a spouse or minor child. An unmarried owner who is not survived by a minor child can leave the homestead to a partner by will or trust. An unmarried owner who is survived by a minor child cannot devise the homestead to the partner at all. When a minor child survives, Florida does not allow the homestead to be devised to anyone, not even a spouse. A lady bird deed does not reliably get around this, as explained next. If you have a minor child, how the home is held and planned needs particular care. The property tax exemption is a separate question handled by your county property appraiser, and it has its own rules for co-owners.
Can a lady bird deed leave a home to an unmarried partner?
Yes, in most situations. A lady bird deed, formally an enhanced life estate deed, names who receives the property at your death while you keep full control during your life, including the right to sell, mortgage or change your mind. The home passes to your partner without probate. It does nothing while you are alive and incapacitated, and it covers only the one property it describes, so it is one part of a plan, not the whole plan.
If you have a minor child, talk to me before recording anything. Section 732.4017 says a lifetime transfer of homestead is not a devise, which would take a deed outside the constitutional restriction, but that safe harbor applies only where the owner keeps no power to revoke or revest the interest. That retained power is exactly what makes a lady bird deed what it is. The better reading is that the safe harbor is not available to it, and no Florida appellate court has yet decided what follows. I will not build a plan to leave a homestead to a partner on this deed alone while there is a minor child at home.
A lady bird deed is a separate $675 service. My Florida lady bird deed page explains how it works, including for a home owned with someone else.
Existing beneficiary designations and accounts
Retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities and payable-on-death or transfer-on-death accounts pass to whoever is named on the form. A carefully drafted will controls none of them. That makes the forms the fastest way to get assets to a partner, and the easiest place for a plan to go wrong. Many people still have a parent, a sibling or a former spouse named from years ago.
Gather the list yourself: each account, who is named now, and who is named as contingent beneficiary. I advise you on what is necessary to bring the designations in line with the plan and how to get that done efficiently. You make the changes directly with each institution.
| Asset | What controls it at death | What to gather |
|---|---|---|
| 401(k), 403(b), IRA | The beneficiary designation on file | The current primary and contingent beneficiaries |
| Life insurance | The beneficiary designation on the policy | The owner and beneficiaries of each policy |
| Payable-on-death or transfer-on-death account | The named POD or TOD beneficiary | Which accounts carry a designation |
| Joint account with right of survivorship | The surviving joint owner | Which accounts are joint, and with whom |
| Account in your name alone with no designation | Your will, or Florida intestacy law if there is no will, through probate. If you have a trust, a pour-over will can then direct the account into it; retitling the account to the trust keeps it out of probate | A list of these accounts |
Life insurance for unmarried couples. Life insurance is often the simplest way to provide for a partner without taking anything from children, and many couples use it for exactly that. Naming your partner is straightforward. What needs thought is who owns the policy and who is named if your partner dies first.
Retirement accounts and a non-spouse beneficiary. A partner named on an IRA or 401(k) inherits as a non-spouse beneficiary and cannot treat the inherited account as his or her own, as a spouse can. Under the SECURE Act, most non-spouse beneficiaries must empty the account by the end of the tenth year after the owner’s death, and if the owner had already reached the age for required distributions, annual distributions are also due in the years before that. A partner who is not more than ten years younger than the owner, or who is disabled or chronically ill, may instead be able to take distributions over his or her own life expectancy. Your account custodian and your tax advisor can tell you how those rules apply to your account.
Joint accounts. Adding a partner to a bank account as a joint owner with right of survivorship passes the account to him or her at death. It also gives your partner access to the whole account today and can expose it to his or her creditors. A payable-on-death designation passes the account without giving up control during your life. Neither form of account gives your partner authority over anything else; that is what the durable power of attorney is for.
Does a domestic partnership registration help?
It helps with some things, but it is not an estate plan. Domestic partnership in Florida is a local matter. Florida has no statewide domestic partnership status. What exists is a set of county and city registries created by local ordinance. Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld Broward County’s registry in Lowe v. Broward County, 766 So. 2d 1199 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000). Domestic partner rights in Florida therefore depend on where you live and on what you sign, and estate planning for domestic partners is the same work as estate planning for any unmarried couple. Several of these domestic partnership registries are in the counties where I work most, and for most couples Florida domestic partner laws start with the county registry.
What a registration can do
A registration is a sworn declaration, filed with the county or city, that two people are in a committed relationship and share a home. Depending on the local ordinance, it can address hospital and jail visitation, emergency notification and some local decisions, and some employers use it for domestic partner benefits in Florida, including health insurance for domestic partners. Orange County’s ordinance, for example, lists hospital visitation, medical decisions and end-of-life decisions among its protections. Be careful with the health care part. In Lowe, the court struck down the provision of Broward’s ordinance that gave a domestic partner the same health care decision rights as a spouse, because it conflicted with Florida’s health care proxy statute, section 765.401. A local registry cannot move your partner ahead of your relatives for medical decisions. A designation of health care surrogate can.
What a registration does not do
A local registration does not make your partner an heir under Florida’s intestacy statute, does not create a power of attorney, and does not change who receives your home or your accounts. As the court noted in Lowe, domestic partners do not share the rights Florida reserves to married couples, such as tenancy by the entireties, the elective share and homestead rights. It works only where the ordinance applies, and it may not be recognized by a hospital or bank in another county or state. A registration can sit alongside a will, a durable power of attorney and a designation of health care surrogate. It does not replace any of them.
How to register a domestic partnership in Florida
Each county or city sets its own domestic partnership requirements in Florida, but the county forms I have reviewed, including Miami-Dade’s and Hillsborough’s, ask for much the same things:
- Who can register. Both partners are at least 18 and competent to sign a contract; neither is married, in another domestic partnership or in a civil union; the partners are not related by blood; they consider themselves immediate family and jointly responsible for each other; and they share a residence.
- The form. Filing for domestic partnership in Florida means signing a declaration of domestic partnership, which some counties call an affidavit of domestic partnership, under oath and in front of a notary. Some counties also require two witnesses. Hillsborough’s form, for example, has each partner designate the other as health care surrogate and preneed guardian.
- Filing. Depending on the county, you file online, by mail or in person with the clerk, comptroller or county office that keeps the registry, and pay a filing fee.
- The certificate. Most registries issue a domestic partnership certificate or card showing that you are a registered domestic partner in that county.
- Ending it. A partnership is ended by filing a declaration or affidavit of termination. Some counties also treat the registration as ended when either partner marries.
Use the county’s own current form, and read its eligibility rules before you sign. Where to file, and the current fee, are set by each county or city.
Where couples register in the counties I serve most
Check with the office before filing.
- Orange County domestic partnership registry and Orlando: the Orange County Comptroller keeps the county registry, and the City of Orlando’s registry is recognized countywide.
- Miami-Dade domestic partnership: a county domestic partnership registration with a declaration of domestic partnership.
- Broward County domestic partnership: the Broward County records division keeps a domestic partnership registry.
- Palm Beach County domestic partnership: the Palm Beach County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller registers domestic partnerships, and the City of West Palm Beach keeps its own.
- Hillsborough County and Tampa domestic partnership: the Hillsborough County Clerk and the City of Tampa each keep a registry.
- Pinellas County domestic partnership: Pinellas County keeps a domestic partnership registry.
Registering is something you do yourselves. It costs little and can help in an emergency. Treat it as a supplement to your estate plan, not a substitute for one.
What does each partner need to decide individually?
Everything. Estate planning for couples is not one set of documents with two names on it, and that is doubly true when the couple is not married. Each partner signs his or her own will, his or her own durable power of attorney, his or her own surrogate designation and his or her own living will. One set of documents cannot cover two adults.
Agents, beneficiaries and backups
For each document, each of you chooses a first choice and a backup. Your partner may be first choice for everything. You still need a backup, because a couple’s plan has to work even if both partners are in the same accident or one partner cannot serve. Many couples name each other first and a sibling, adult child or friend second. The backups do not have to be the same for both of you.
How representation works when both partners are clients
Many couples ask me to prepare both partners’ plans, and I can, on the terms the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar set. Under Rule 4-1.7, a lawyer may represent two clients whose interests could differ only if the lawyer reasonably believes he can represent each of them competently and diligently, and each client gives informed consent, confirmed in writing. So before I represent both of you, I explain what a joint representation means, its advantages and its risks, and each of you consents in writing. Part of that consent is an agreement between the two of you that what either of you tells me about the plan will be shared with the other. Each of you still makes your own decisions about your own documents, and I confirm each partner’s wishes with that partner directly. Nothing in one partner’s plan is changed on the other partner’s say-so.
Wanting different beneficiaries is not by itself a conflict. Many couples leave their separate property to different people, often to children from earlier relationships, and plan together without difficulty, as long as both partners know and agree. What does end a joint representation is a secret that works against the other partner. If one of you later asks me to keep from the other something that affects the other’s interests, for example a plan to provide for someone the other partner does not know about, I will not continue representing both of you once that conflict arises. Each of you would then need your own lawyer. How shared information is handled is set out in the engagement agreement you both sign at the start, which is why that agreement comes first.
Older couples who choose not to marry
Many of the unmarried couples I work with in Florida are not young. Estate planning for unmarried partners later in life looks different from planning for a young couple. They are widowed or divorced, often retired, and have decided not to remarry, sometimes to protect a pension or survivor benefit (unmarried couples’ pension rights generally depend on the plan’s own terms, so check with the plan administrator), sometimes to keep things simple for their children, sometimes simply because they don’t want to. Estate planning for unmarried older couples usually has two goals that pull in different directions: to make sure the partner is cared for and can stay in the home, and to make sure the children from each earlier marriage still inherit. A life interest in the home for the partner, a trust with clear instructions, life insurance for the partner, or a combination of these can meet both goals. What does not work is doing nothing and hoping everyone gets along.
Unmarried couples with children
If you have minor children, each parent’s will nominates the guardian you want for the children if both parents die. A child whose parents were never married inherits from the father through intestacy only if the parents went through a marriage ceremony, paternity was established by a court, or the father acknowledged paternity in writing (section 732.108(2), Florida Statutes). A will removes that question. A minor cannot take property outright in Florida. A parent acting as natural guardian can manage up to $15,000 in total without a court (section 744.301(2), Florida Statutes). Above that, a court-appointed guardian of the property is required, and the child receives the whole balance at eighteen. A trust avoids both. If one partner has children the other is raising but has not adopted, those children are not the other partner’s heirs unless the plan names them; Florida’s Probate Code expressly excludes a stepchild from the definition of “child” (section 731.201(3)). Families with children from earlier relationships have more to coordinate, and I cover that on the first call.
Same-sex couples
Estate planning for same sex couples who have not married is the same as for any unmarried couple: everything on this page applies equally. Same-sex couples who have married are spouses under Florida law and plan as married couples.
Would a will package or a trust plan fit the goals?
Most unmarried couples need one of two things: a will-based plan with incapacity documents for each partner, or a revocable trust plan for each partner. The choice depends on what you own, how it is held and whether you want your partner to be able to step in without a court.
| Service | What it is for | Documents | Trust? | Fee, per partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will on its own | Who inherits, who administers the estate, and the guardian you nominate for minor children | Last will and testament | No | Starts at $675 |
| Core estate planning package | A will plus the documents that work while you are alive | Will, durable power of attorney, designation of health care surrogate, living will, preneed guardian designation | No | $1,500 |
| Revocable living trust plan | Keeping assets out of probate and letting a successor trustee, often your partner, step in during incapacity | Revocable living trust, pour-over will, and the incapacity documents | Yes | Separate engagement, starting at $2,500, plus $575 per deed when Florida real estate is moved into the trust |
The listed fees are for one person. A couple’s plan is two plans, and couples receive a discount, quoted individually. The discount never turns a trust into part of the core package.
Core documents for each person
The estate planning documents for unmarried couples are the same five for each partner: a will, a durable power of attorney, a designation of health care surrogate, a living will and a preneed guardian designation. A will for unmarried couples does the same legal job as anyone else’s will. The difference with wills for unmarried couples is that the will has to do the work the law would otherwise do for a spouse. A will names who inherits, who administers your estate and who you nominate as guardian for minor children. It operates only after death, and only through the court. For many couples, a will for each partner plus the incapacity documents is a complete plan: it is the core estate planning package.
Mirror wills and joint wills
Couples often ask for mirror wills, also called mutual wills: two wills that leave everything to each other and then to the same people. Each partner still signs his or her own will. Under Florida law, signing a joint will, or two matching wills, does not by itself create a promise that neither of you will change your will later. If a couple wants that kind of promise to be binding, Florida requires it to be a written agreement signed in front of two attesting witnesses (section 732.701). For unmarried couples this matters twice over, because, without a written contract that meets section 732.701, nothing in Florida law stops the other partner from quietly changing his or her will.
Separate revocable trust planning
A revocable living trust plan is a separate engagement, starting at $2,500 per partner. The deed that moves your home into the trust is $575. That fee includes reading your recorded deed, deed preparation, online notarization, witnesses, county recording fees, and the minimum documentary stamp charge; documentary stamp tax above the minimum is separate. A trust plan with the deed for your home starts at $3,075, plus any documentary stamp tax above the minimum. The $575 is per deed, so each additional Florida property is another $575.
A trust helps unmarried couples in ways a will cannot. Your partner can serve as successor trustee and step in if you become incapacitated, under the terms the trust sets, without a court proceeding. The trust can give your partner the right to live in the home for life and then pass it to your children. And the terms stay private. A trust plan has two parts: drafting, and funding. Real estate is funded by recording a new deed into the trust. Bank and brokerage accounts are retitled at the institution; you handle that step yourself, with the steps I give you. An unfunded trust is an expensive folder.
Joint trust or separate trusts for an unmarried couple?
Usually separate trusts. A joint revocable trust is built for married couples; spouses who are both U.S. citizens can move unlimited property between themselves free of federal gift tax. Unmarried partners cannot. When one partner puts more into a shared trust than the other, the difference can be a taxable gift that uses up the donor’s lifetime exemption and requires a gift tax return, and mixing both partners’ property makes it harder to trace who owns what. Separate revocable living trusts for unmarried couples, drafted to work together, keep each partner’s property and each partner’s wishes distinct. Whether a joint trust could ever suit your situation is a question for the first call, not a default.
Cohabitation agreements
I also prepare cohabitation agreements in Florida, often called living-together agreements or domestic partnership agreements. What one needs to cover depends on your facts and on what the two of you want it to do, so a cohabitation agreement is quoted separately, once I know both. A cohabitation agreement governs what happens if the two of you separate. An estate plan governs what happens if one of you becomes incapacitated or dies. Many couples want both, and they should say the same thing about the home.
What events should prompt a review?
An unmarried couple’s plan needs attention at moments when a married couple’s plan would be adjusted partly by law. Review your plan with counsel when any of these happen, and do not change one document on its own without looking at the whole plan.
Breakup, marriage, a new child or a move
- A breakup. When a marriage ends in divorce, Florida automatically cancels provisions for the former spouse in a will (section 732.507(2)), a revocable trust (section 736.1105) and most beneficiary designations (section 732.703), and a divorce filing ends a spouse’s authority as agent under a power of attorney (section 709.2109(2)(b)). Every one of those rules is triggered by a marriage ending. A breakup between unmarried partners cancels nothing. Your former partner remains your beneficiary, your agent and your surrogate until you change each document and each designation. What should happen to the plan if you separate is a conversation to have with counsel promptly, not a set of forms to change one at a time.
- Marriage. Marrying does not revoke a will (section 732.507(1)), but it gives your new spouse rights the will did not anticipate. Under section 732.301, a spouse who married you after the will was signed receives the share he or she would have taken without a will, unless the will provides for the spouse, shows an intent not to, or a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement deals with it. Marriage also brings the elective share of 30 percent of the elective estate (sections 732.201 and 732.2065) and the homestead restrictions into play. Marrying is a reason to redo the plan, not just to celebrate it.
- A new child. Name a guardian, and decide who manages the child’s inheritance.
- A move, a new home or a new account. A new deed or a new account can quietly bypass the plan.
A changed agent or beneficiary
If the person you named as backup dies, moves away or falls out of your life, the plan should change with it. The same applies if you or your partner want someone new to receive property.
How are fees and the couple discount handled?
I publish my estate planning fees. As an estate planning attorney for unmarried couples, I quote each partner’s plan, and every figure is agreed before drafting begins.
Confirmed standard fees
- Will. A will on its own starts at $675. (My lady bird deed is also $675, but it is a separate service that passes one property; it is not a will.)
- Core package. The core estate planning package is $1,500 for one person: a will, a durable power of attorney, a designation of health care surrogate, a living will and a preneed guardian designation.
- Trust. A revocable living trust plan is a separate engagement, starting at $2,500. I quote it once I understand what the trust needs to hold and do.
- Deed into the trust. The deed that moves your home into the trust is $575. That fee includes reading your recorded deed, deed preparation, online notarization, witnesses, county recording fees, and the minimum documentary stamp charge; documentary stamp tax above the minimum is separate.
The couple discount and what the quote covers
Couples receive a discount. Because each partner signs his or her own documents, I quote a couple’s plan individually rather than doubling the single price. The listed fee for one person never covers two people, and the discount does not make a trust part of the core package. The quote changes if the plan needs more than the documents listed, for example a trust, a second property, a cohabitation agreement, or a review of documents you already have. I tell you the figure before that work starts. When a document needs witnesses physically present, that is arranged as part of the engagement at no extra charge.
When you compare what estate planning for unmarried couples costs, compare what each quote includes. Ask whether it covers both partners or one, and whether it includes the incapacity documents.
Prepare for your unmarried-couple consultation
The first conversation is free: a short phone call with me, so you can tell me what you have in mind, ask how the process works and decide whether you want to go ahead. You do not need every answer before we speak, and the two of you do not need to agree on everything beforehand.
Documents and goals to gather
| Decision | Who you intend | Document or account to look at |
|---|---|---|
| Medical decisions if I cannot make them | First choice and backup | Designation of health care surrogate; living will |
| Finances if I am incapacitated | First choice and backup | Durable power of attorney |
| Who inherits what I own in my name alone | My partner, my children, others | Will or trust |
| What happens to our home | The survivor, my children, or both over time | The recorded deed; the will; a trust or lady bird deed |
| Retirement accounts and life insurance | Primary and contingent beneficiaries | The beneficiary designations on file |
| Who raises our minor children | Guardian and backup | Will |
| Who handles my funeral arrangements | My partner or a relative | Written funeral and disposition instructions |
Also have ready any existing will, trust or power of attorney, including documents signed in another state, and a rough list of what each of you owns and how it is held. Keep sensitive details for the questionnaire, not the public web form.
A coordinated next step
If you decide to go ahead, we email each of you an intake questionnaire. I then draft the documents myself and send them to you to read, with the reasoning explained in plain language, and we change what needs changing before anything is signed. There is no one-size timetable; we work around your schedule and any deadline you are facing. I tell you which documents can be signed remotely in your situation and which should be signed with witnesses in the room. You keep all of the signed originals, and I keep a copy on file.
Call (305) 224-6811 or use the contact form. Each of you can have your own wishes. The plan is built so that both of your wishes are written down, whether they match or not.
Frequently asked questions
We have been living together for years. Does that give my partner any rights?
Not to inherit, and not to decide ahead of your relatives. Florida does not create a common law marriage from living together. A partner can act on medical decisions without a surrogate designation only as a “close friend,” by affidavit, after the relatives Florida ranks higher. Estate planning for unmarried couples living together is what gives a partner the authority and inheritance you intend.
Do unmarried partners each need their own estate planning documents?
Yes. Each partner signs his or her own will, durable power of attorney, designation of health care surrogate and living will. One set of documents cannot cover two adults, and the core estate planning package is $1,500 for each person, with a couple discount quoted individually.
Does a beneficiary designation replace a will?
No. A beneficiary designation passes one account or policy at death. It does not cover anything else you own, name a guardian for your children or appoint anyone to settle your estate, and it gives the beneficiary no authority to act for you while you are alive.
Can I give my unmarried partner power of attorney in Florida?
Yes. A Florida durable power of attorney can name your partner or any other person 18 or older, with no family, residency or marital requirement; a financial institution with trust powers, a place of business in Florida, and authorization to conduct trust business in Florida can also serve (section 709.2105(1), Florida Statutes). It must be signed with two witnesses and a notary, and powers such as making gifts or changing beneficiaries must be listed and separately signed or initialed.
Can I name my unmarried partner as my health care surrogate?
Yes. A designation of health care surrogate can name your partner, with a backup, and can let your partner see your medical records straight away. Without one, your partner falls behind the relatives on Florida’s default list who are reasonably available, willing and competent to act, and can act at all only as a “close friend” by affidavit.
Can I leave my house to my girlfriend or boyfriend in Florida?
Yes, through a will, a trust or a lady bird deed, unless you are survived by a minor child. Then Florida homestead bars leaving the home by will or trust to anyone, and a lady bird deed may not get around that. If you co-own the home, the recorded deed may already decide it.
What happens if my partner dies without a will?
You do not inherit under Florida’s intestacy statute. Property in your partner’s name alone goes to his or her relatives. Property you owned jointly with survivorship, and accounts naming you as beneficiary, still pass to you.
Does a Florida domestic partnership registration give inheritance rights?
No. County and city registries can address hospital visitation and some local matters, but a registration does not make a partner an heir or replace a will, a power of attorney or a health care surrogate designation. A local rule giving a partner spouse-level health care authority was struck down in Lowe v. Broward County as conflicting with state law.
Do you prepare a cohabitation agreement in Florida?
Yes. A cohabitation agreement, also called a domestic partnership agreement in Florida, covers what happens to property and shared expenses if the two of you separate; an estate plan covers incapacity and death. I prepare cohabitation agreements as a separate service, quoted once I know your facts and what you want the agreement to do.
Can one lawyer represent both unmarried partners?
Yes, if each of you gives informed consent, confirmed in writing, after I explain what joint representation means, as Rule 4-1.7 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar requires. You also agree at the start that what either of you tells me about the plan is shared with the other. If one of you later wants me to keep something from the other that works against him or her, I will not continue representing both of you.
Is the couple discount available to unmarried couples?
Yes. Unmarried couples receive the same couple discount as married couples. It is quoted individually, because each partner signs his or her own documents.
Can we do our estate planning remotely?
Yes. Consultations are by phone and email, the intake questionnaire is emailed, and I tell you which documents can be signed remotely in your situation and which should be signed with witnesses physically present. My online estate planning page explains remote signing in Florida.
Do unmarried couples need a lawyer for estate planning?
No law requires one, but the problems with do-it-yourself documents for unmarried couples are rarely in the blanks. They are in what the form never asks: how your home is titled, whether homestead restricts it, whether your beneficiary forms agree with your will, and what happens if you separate.
For the statewide picture, see my Florida estate planning attorney page, or the Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Orlando estate planning pages. To talk about estate planning for the two of you, call (305) 224-6811.
Last updated: September 2026.
Written and reviewed by Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., attorney, Florida Bar No. 107002.
This page is general information about Florida law and does not constitute legal advice for any particular situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.