Estate Planning: Protecting Your Family and Your Future

Estate planning is the process of deciding how your assets, medical care, and other affairs should be handled during your lifetime and after your death.  It also allows you to name someone to manage your affairs and designate guardians for your minor children if you die while they are still minors and there is no other surviving parent.

What Is an Estate?

Your estate includes:

• Bank, brokerage, and retirement accounts
• Stocks and bonds
• Your home and other real estate
• Cars, boats, motorcycles, and personal belongings
• Life insurance proceeds
• Business interests, including LLCs

Why Is Estate Planning Important?

A properly prepared estate plan can help you:

• Give your assets to the people you choose, when and how you choose
• Plan for financial and healthcare decisions during incapacity
• Protect your spouse, children, and other loved ones
• Name guardians for minor children
• Reduce or avoid probate, which can be costly, time-consuming, and public
• Maximize and protect the assets passed on to your beneficiaries

Common Misconceptions

Many people assume estate planning is unnecessary because their spouse will inherit everything, they are too young to plan, or they do not own enough assets. Many people may THINK they don’t have an estate plan! But the truth is, they DO have an estate plan… it’s just that the state has written it for them! In other words, default rules kick in when someone dies without a Will and determine what happens to their assets and family.

 

What Happens Without a Will?

When someone dies without a will:

• Assets are distributed according to state law.
• Probate is generally required.
• A judge may decide who will care for minor children.
• Children may receive their inheritance outright at age 18.
• Inherited assets may be exposed to future divorce, lawsuits, or bankruptcy.
• A surviving spouse may later remarry and leave inherited assets to a new spouse or different beneficiaries.

Without a written plan, a family may face unnecessary court involvement, expense, delay, and emotional stress.

Will-Based Estate Planning

A will is an important starting point. It allows you to:

• Name guardians for minor children
• Identify beneficiaries for assets held solely in your name
• Name an executor to settle your estate

However, a will may go through probate. Probate is a court-supervised and public process that may take 12 to 18 months. During that time, estate assets may be unavailable to the family, and the will may become a public record containing information about assets, beneficiaries, and minor children.

A will also takes effect only after death. It does not provide a plan for managing finances or healthcare if one were to become incapacitated.

Delaying a Child’s Inheritance

Many parents do not want their children to receive a substantial inheritance outright at age 18. A will generally cannot control an inheritance beyond that age. A trust, however, can allow parents to delay distributions and establish a schedule for receiving an inheritance.

Trust-Based Estate Planning

A revocable living trust is an agreement that explains how trust-owned assets will be managed during your lifetime and distributed after your death.

A properly created and funded trust can:

• Allow you to maintain control of your assets
• Be amended or revoked during your lifetime
• Avoid probate for assets owned by the trust
• Keep your affairs more private
• Be used to transfer property located outside Florida
• Provide a plan for incapacity without court proceedings such as guardianship
• Allow you to control when and how beneficiaries receive their inheritance
• Help protect assets from a beneficiary’s creditors, lawsuits, divorce, or bankruptcy, depending on the trust’s terms and applicable law

Whether you use a will, a trust, or both, estate planning helps ensure that your wishes—not default state law—guide what happens to your assets and the people you love.

About the Author 

Manju Kalidindi, Esq. is the Founder and Principal Attorney of Manjula Kalidindi, P.A., a law firm located in Weston, Florida. Her practice focuses on U.S. immigration law, with an emphasis on employment-based and family-based immigration, as well as estate planning.

Ms. Kalidindi is a founding member of the South Asian Bar Association of Florida (SABAFL). She served as SABA FL’s Vice President of Programming from 2023 to 2024 and currently serves as a director. She has also served on the board of Women In Distress of Broward County and remains involved in professional and community organizations committed to advocacy and public service. 

She is a member of The Florida Bar, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the AILA South Florida Chapter, and the South Asian Bar Association.