Sawyer & Sawyer Professional Association

Most seniors who sit down with Cary Moss believe their estate plan is in order. About 75% walk out surprised. The most common misconception? That a will keeps assets out of probate. In Florida, a will only controls assets in a person’s individual name with no joint owner or beneficiary, and those assets still go through probate. Cary walks Orlando seniors through six core documents: the last will and testament, revocable living trust, durable power of attorney, healthcare surrogate designation, living will, and HIPAA release. She explains Florida’s two-witness rule and why out-of-state powers of attorney usually need an update. She also shares the story of a client whose handwritten note on an asset spreadsheet failed to protect his four daughters, plus what every 18-year-old needs signed before heading off to college. For anyone unsure their documents still fit their life, this is a clear place to start. In this episode, you will hear: Why having a will does not keep...

Key Takeaways About 75% of seniors who meet with Cary Moss for the first time discover they are either not covered, have the wrong documents, or have a significant gap in their plan — even when they thought everything was handled. A will does not avoid probate. It provides instructions for probate. This is the single most common and costly misconception in estate planning for seniors. Having documents is not the same as having a plan. How accounts are titled and how beneficiary designations are coordinated can completely override what any document says. Florida’s durable power of attorney has unique “special powers” that must be individually initialed — and out-of-state documents almost never include them. For seniors, this is the one document that almost always needs to be updated when moving to Florida. Every adult age 18 and older needs basic estate planning documents. On the day a child turns 18, a parent loses all legal authority to make decisions for them —...

Most people hear “irrevocable trust” and assume the terms are frozen the day they sign. Estate planning attorney Tom Moss says that assumption costs families flexibility they don’t know they have. Florida law offers several ways to adjust an irrevocable trust after the fact. A trust protector can hold the power to amend certain terms when circumstances change, as long as the changes don’t violate tax rules. Florida statutes also allow modification through a court process, provided all beneficiaries are notified and a judge signs off. The third option, decanting, lets a fiduciary take a fresh look at a trust after someone has died and adjust it to fit a situation the original document never anticipated, like a beneficiary who’s since become disabled or fallen into addiction. When Revocable Becomes Irrevocable A revocable trust moves through three distinct phases. While the person who created it is alive and competent, they control everything, file taxes un...

Estate planning attorney Tom Moss joins the show to unpack a myth that trips up a lot of families: the idea that “irrevocable” means locked forever. Tom walks through how Florida law actually allows trusts to adapt, from trust protectors to the decanting process that can rewrite an estate plan after someone passes away. He also breaks down the three phases every revocable trust moves through and the exact moment it flips to irrevocable. The conversation covers Florida’s homestead protections, why families relocating from New York or New Jersey need to rethink their planning, and how the right trust structure shifts for retirees, business owners, and young families building wealth. Tom shares the “light bulb moments” that signal it’s time to revisit an old plan, from a fiduciary who’s passed away to a lawsuit nobody saw coming. In this episode, you will hear: How trust protectors and decanting can modify an “irrevocable” trust af...

Estate planning attorney Tom Moss joins the show to unpack a myth that trips up a lot of families: the idea that “irrevocable” means locked forever. Tom walks through how Florida law actually allows trusts to adapt, from trust protectors to the decanting process that can rewrite an estate plan after someone passes away. He also breaks down the three phases every revocable trust moves through and the exact moment it flips to irrevocable. The conversation covers Florida’s homestead protections, why families relocating from New York or New Jersey need to rethink their planning, and how the right trust structure shifts for retirees, business owners, and young families building wealth. Tom shares the “light bulb moments” that signal it’s time to revisit an old plan, from a fiduciary who’s passed away to a lawsuit nobody saw coming. In this episode, you will hear: How trust protectors and decanting can modify an “irrevocable” trust af...

A Revocable Trust Will Not Protect You From Creditors, and Other Things Florida Families Get Wrong Most people walk into an estate planning consultation with a firm opinion about trusts, usually formed by a TikTok video or a cowboy-hat-wearing stranger on Instagram. The problem is that revocable and irrevocable trusts solve completely different problems, and confusing the two leads families to expect protection they will never get. What a Revocable Trust Actually Does A revocable trust exists for three reasons. First, it lets someone retain full control over assets during their lifetime, without juggling beneficiary designations across multiple accounts. Second, it plans for incapacity. If the person who created the trust becomes disabled, a named successor trustee can step in immediately, with no guardianship court proceeding required. Third, and most commonly requested, it avoids probate. Probate in Florida is a public, court-supervised process, and it is not cheap. The state set...