A practical family-office checklist for aligning a Florida residence with domestic estate documents, homestead restrictions, transaction authority, and fiduciary succession, whether the family intends to retain or transfer the property.
A South Florida residence can be both a deeply personal asset and a consequential part of a family's estate plan. The objective is not simply to name its next owner, but to align the intended inheritance, the authority to act, and the practical arrangements for retaining or transferring the property.
For a family considering Una Residences Brickell, estate planning should begin alongside the ownership discussion. A Brickell address does not determine whether homestead restrictions apply; counsel must assess the owner's circumstances and the proposed arrangement.
Use this checklist to coordinate with Florida estate-planning and real-estate counsel, not as transaction-specific legal advice. The legal requirements below are distinct from recommended family-office controls, such as maintaining a handover file and assigning responsibility for follow-up.
Begin with a property-specific review, not a general assurance that the family has a will and trust. Ask counsel to compare the residence provisions with the current ownership documents, marital status, and any minor children. The instructions should reflect the actual property and family circumstances-not assumptions carried forward from an earlier plan.
As a recommended control, assemble one review file containing:
The current deed and relevant ownership documents.
Executed wills, trusts, and subsequent amendments.
Prenuptial, postnuptial, and other spousal-waiver documents.
Powers of attorney and the named agents' contact details.
Trustee succession provisions and the family's intended retention or transfer strategy.
Record whether the review concerns lifetime planning, possible incapacity, or administration following a death. Ask counsel to identify the authority relevant to each stage; do not treat the documents as interchangeable. If administration is already underway, prioritize the existing documents, statutory outcomes, and applicable deadlines before discussing future planning changes.
Florida homestead generally cannot be devised when the owner leaves a spouse or minor child. The principal exception permits a devise to the spouse when there is no minor child. A residence clause must therefore be tested against the family circumstances, not merely checked for the word homestead.
A revocable trust is not a workaround. For these restrictions, Florida law includes the settlor of a revocable trust within the meaning of owner and a qualifying trust disposition within the meaning of devise. Document language cannot override mandatory restrictions or guarantee the family's preferred inheritance result.
For a Miami Beach property under consideration, such as The Perigon Miami Beach, the planning question is whether the proposed ownership and residence provisions support the intended succession within those limits. The project's identity does not answer that legal question.
Where homestead is not validly devised and a spouse and descendants survive, the spouse generally receives a life estate, while then-living descendants receive vested remainder interests allocated by family branch. A surviving spouse may instead elect an undivided one-half ownership interest, subject to statutory procedures and deadlines. Counsel should explain both outcomes before the family settles on a retention or sale strategy.
Homestead devise restrictions, creditor protection, and property-tax treatment require separate analysis. A conclusion about one does not resolve the others.
Florida's constitutional homestead protection generally covers up to one-half acre within a municipality or 160 contiguous acres outside a municipality, subject to constitutional conditions. These acreage limits should not be presented as property-tax exemption limits.
Spousal waivers deserve equally careful review. Florida law provides formal procedures for waiving spousal rights, including homestead rights. Review prenuptial, postnuptial, and other waiver documents with counsel; an agreement's existence alone should not be assumed to resolve the issue.
A deed-based method can waive specified spousal devise rights, but it should not be treated as a blanket waiver of every homestead protection. As a family-office control, request a written explanation of which rights any waiver addresses and which questions remain open.
For any transaction proposed through an agent, review the specific real-estate powers required. Do not assume that general financial language authorizes every planned conveyance or mortgage.
An agent acting for a married principal cannot mortgage or convey the principal's homestead without joinder of the principal's spouse or the spouse's guardian. That joinder may be accomplished through authority granted in a power of attorney executed by the spouse. Do not assume the owner's document also supplies the spouse's authority.
A deed or mortgage involving married-owned homestead or tenancy-by-the-entirety property may be executed under a power of attorney that satisfies the applicable deed-execution formalities. Review execution requirements in advance, not only at closing.
For a contemplated acquisition at Alina Residences Boca Raton, a family office could apply the same discipline before coordinating signatures. The Boca Raton search and the authority review should proceed together; a preferred signing arrangement should not be assumed sufficient.
A Florida power-of-attorney agent must be an individual aged 18 or older or a qualifying financial institution with trust powers, a Florida place of business, and authorization to conduct trust business in Florida.
Review whether the power is durable and when it becomes effective as separate questions. Florida law regulates each separately; the answer to one does not settle the other.
The framework also addresses co-agents and successor agents. As a recommended control, confirm the appointment order, each agent's authority, current availability, and access to the relevant documents. Naming an alternate is useful planning, but it does not replace a review of how that alternate becomes authorized to act.
Start with the trust instrument's succession provisions, then determine whether statutory vacancy-filling procedures are needed. Review acceptance, resignation, removal, compensation, bond, and reporting provisions alongside the successor appointment. A name on a schedule is not a complete administrative plan.
Land trusts require a separate review. Florida law provides mechanisms for appointing a successor land-trust trustee following death, incapacity, resignation, or inability to serve, including filing a declaration of appointment in the county's public records. Counsel should determine the applicable mechanism and documentation.
As a recommended family-office control, prepare a fiduciary handover file containing governing documents, professional contacts, property obligations, and unresolved decisions. Identify who will coordinate counsel and who will maintain the file.
Conclude with a concise record of the intended outcome, counsel's unresolved questions, required document work, and the person responsible for each next step. For retention, document the family's practical stewardship intentions. For transfer, identify the proposed signatories and the authority counsel must confirm. These are coordination measures, not substitutes for legal requirements.
For a considered view of South Florida residences within your family's broader property strategy, explore MILLION.
If branded residences are on your mind — as a home or as an allocation — we would be glad to share what we are seeing, privately.
Begin a quiet conversationNot necessarily. Florida homestead generally cannot be devised when the owner leaves a spouse or minor child, except that it may be devised to the spouse if there is no minor child.
No. For these restrictions, Florida law includes the revocable-trust settlor within owner and a qualifying trust disposition within devise.
When a spouse and descendants survive, the spouse generally receives a life estate and the then-living descendants receive vested remainder interests allocated by family branch.
A surviving spouse may elect an undivided one-half ownership interest instead of the statutory life estate. Statutory procedures and deadlines apply.
No. The constitutional protection generally covers up to one-half acre within a municipality or 160 contiguous acres outside one, subject to constitutional conditions; property-tax treatment requires separate analysis.
No. The deed-based method addresses specified spousal devise rights and should not be treated as a blanket waiver of all homestead protections.
No. Joinder of the principal's spouse or the spouse's guardian is required, and the spouse may grant authority for joinder through a separately executed power of attorney.
Review the specific transaction powers, applicable execution formalities, agent eligibility, durability, effectiveness, and co-agent or successor provisions. General financial language should not be assumed to authorize every planned transaction.
Start with the trust instrument's succession provisions and determine whether statutory vacancy-filling procedures are needed. Also review acceptance, resignation, removal, compensation, bond, and reporting provisions.
As a recommended control, include governing documents, professional contacts, property obligations, and unresolved decisions. Identify responsibility for coordinating counsel and keeping the file current.
