Naming a guardian for your minor children in a Florida estate plan means designating, in writing, the adult who will raise your children and the person or entity who will manage their inheritance if both parents die or become incapacitated. In Florida, you make these designations primarily through your last will and testament, where you can nominate a guardian of the person to handle daily care and a separate guardian of the property (or, better, a trustee) to handle money. A judge ultimately confirms the appointment, but your written nomination carries significant weight and is usually followed.
For physicians, attorneys, business owners, and other professionals, this is often the single most consequential decision in the entire plan—and the one most likely to be left blank. You can rebuild a portfolio. You cannot rebuild a childhood. Below is how an experienced Florida estate planning attorney thinks through it.
Why guardian nomination matters more than your asset list
Most of my clients with significant estates spend hours optimizing tax exposure and almost no time on guardianship. That instinct is backwards. If you and your spouse both die without naming a guardian, your minor children become the subject of a contested guardianship proceeding in a Florida circuit court. The judge—who has never met your family—decides who raises your kids based on competing petitions from relatives.
I have watched siblings stop speaking to each other for a decade over exactly this. A clear nomination in your will spares your family that fight and tells the court precisely what you wanted.
The two roles you are actually filling
Florida law treats the care of the child and the care of the child’s money as two distinct jobs. Conflating them is the most common drafting error I see:
- Guardian of the person — makes decisions about where the child lives, their schooling, medical care, and religious upbringing. This is the person who tucks them in at night.
- Guardian of the property — manages assets the child owns or inherits until the child turns 18. Under Florida law, the court generally requires a property guardianship whenever a minor receives more than $15,000 (see Fla. Stat. § 744.387 and § 744.301), unless a trust holds the funds instead.
The best caregiver is frequently not the best money manager. Your warm, devoted sister may be exactly who you want raising your children—and exactly who you do not want overseeing a seven-figure inheritance. Florida lets you split these roles, and for professional families I almost always recommend you do.
How Florida law treats your nomination
Florida Statutes Chapter 744 governs guardianship. When a parent dies, the surviving parent ordinarily becomes the natural guardian and no court appointment is needed. The planning question is what happens when no parent survives.
Under § 744.3046, Florida recognizes a parent’s written nomination of a “preneed guardian” for a minor child—a declaration you can file with the clerk of court that names who should serve if you cannot. You can also nominate a guardian directly in your will. Either way, the nomination is not automatically binding; a court must still find the nominee qualified and acting in the child’s best interest. In practice, absent a serious disqualifying problem, judges follow a fit parent’s stated choice.
Who Florida disqualifies from serving
Your nominee must be eligible. Florida bars certain people from serving as guardian, including a person who has been convicted of a felony and, in most circumstances, a non-resident who is not closely related to the child by blood, adoption, or marriage (see Fla. Stat. § 744.309). If your first choice is a college friend in another state, confirm they qualify before you name them—otherwise the court may pass to your alternate.
The decision framework I walk clients through
Choosing the right person is a values exercise, not a legal one. I ask clients to weigh the following, roughly in order:
- Values and parenting style. Will this person raise your children the way you would? Faith, education, discipline, lifestyle—these matter more than wealth.
- Stage of life and stamina. Loving grandparents in their seventies may not have the energy to raise a toddler to adulthood. Be honest about the math.
- Stability. Marriage stability, geographic stability, financial stability. You are choosing an environment, not just a person.
- Existing relationship with your children. A child grieving two parents should land somewhere familiar.
- Willingness. Ask first. A guardian who is shocked to learn they were named rarely serves well.
Then name at least one alternate—ideally two. People divorce, fall ill, move abroad, and change their minds. A plan with a single nominee and no backup is one life event away from the courthouse.
Married couples: handle the order of death
For couples, the standard structure nominates each spouse first, then a shared third party (and an alternate) if both are gone. Spell out whether the named guardian is the individual alone or that person and their spouse jointly—and what you want to happen if that couple later separates. I have seen a guardianship clause that named “my brother and his wife” become a problem precisely because the brother and his wife divorced before they were ever needed.
Don’t hand a teenager a fortune: use a trust, not a property guardianship
This is where estate planning for professionals diverges sharply from a basic will. If you leave assets directly to a minor, Florida funnels that money into a court-supervised property guardianship that ends—and pays out entirely—when the child turns 18. Picture an 18-year-old receiving the proceeds of your life insurance, your retirement accounts, and your equity in one lump sum. Few outcomes are worse.
The professional-grade solution is a that holds the inheritance and pays it out on terms you choose. You decide the ages and milestones—tuition and health covered throughout, then staggered distributions at, say, 25, 30, and 35. Your chosen trustee manages and invests in the meantime, with no court supervision required and no automatic age-18 windfall.
When a child has special needs
If one of your children has a disability, an outright inheritance can be actively harmful—it can disqualify them from Medicaid, SSI, and other needs-based benefits. A properly drafted lets you provide for that child for life without jeopardizing the public benefits they rely on. This is highly technical work; the trust must be drafted to the relevant statutory standards or it fails its entire purpose. Do not attempt this with a form.
Common mistakes Florida parents make
- Leaving the nomination blank. The most expensive omission in estate planning. Silence hands the decision to a judge.
- Naming a guardian but no trust. You protected the child and forgot to protect the money. Age 18 arrives faster than you think.
- Never asking the nominee. Consent matters. Have the conversation.
- Forgetting to update after a major life change. Divorce, a death, a fallout, a cross-country move—any of these can quietly invalidate your choice. Revisit guardianship every three to five years.
- Assuming a guardianship designation form from another state controls. If you moved to Miami from elsewhere, your old documents may not meet Florida’s requirements. Have them reviewed.
Coordinating guardianship with the rest of your plan
Guardian nominations live in your will, but they only work when the surrounding documents agree. Your life insurance and retirement beneficiary designations should generally name the trust—not the minor child and not the guardian personally—so the money lands where your plan directs it. A pour-over will, a revocable living trust, and updated beneficiary forms should all point the same direction. When they conflict, the beneficiary designation usually wins, and a mismatch can route assets straight into the court-supervised guardianship you were trying to avoid.
Florida families with ties to other states have an added layer. Our firm’s team routinely coordinates with our New York office for clients who own property or have heirs in both states, so a single coherent plan governs everything. If your estate ever does pass through court, understanding Florida probate in advance helps you structure around it.
When to bring in an attorney
If you have minor children and assets beyond a modest savings account, this is not a do-it-yourself project. The interplay between guardian nominations under Chapter 744, trust drafting, beneficiary coordination, and Florida’s probate rules is exactly where templates fail and families get hurt. An experienced attorney builds the structure once, correctly, and updates it as your life changes.
Protecting your children is the entire point of an estate plan. Everything else is bookkeeping. If you are ready to put a real guardianship and trust structure in place, contact our Miami estate planning team to start the conversation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I name a guardian for my minor children in my Florida will?
Yes. Florida lets you nominate a guardian of the person and a guardian of the property in your last will and testament, and you can also file a separate preneed guardian designation with the clerk of court under Fla. Stat. § 744.3046. A judge must still confirm the nominee, but courts generally follow a fit parent’s written choice unless the nominee is disqualified or unfit.
What is the difference between a guardian of the person and a guardian of the property in Florida?
The guardian of the person handles your child’s daily care—housing, schooling, and medical decisions. The guardian of the property manages the child’s money and assets until age 18 and is typically court-supervised. The two roles can be held by different people, and for larger estates a trust with a chosen trustee is usually preferable to a property guardianship.
What happens if I die without naming a guardian for my children in Florida?
If no parent survives and you named no guardian, your relatives can file competing petitions and a Florida circuit court judge decides who raises your children. This often leads to contested, expensive, and divisive litigation. A written nomination in your will or a preneed guardian designation avoids that outcome.
Why shouldn't I just leave my assets directly to my minor child?
Assets left outright to a minor in Florida go into a court-supervised property guardianship that pays out everything when the child turns 18. Few 18-year-olds are equipped to manage a large inheritance. A trust lets you stagger distributions over time, fund education and health needs first, and avoid the automatic age-18 windfall.
Can I name someone who lives in another state as my child's guardian?
Sometimes. Florida generally restricts non-residents from serving as guardian unless they are closely related to the child by blood, adoption, or marriage (Fla. Stat. § 744.309). Confirm your nominee qualifies before naming them, and always name a qualified Florida-eligible alternate so the court has a clear backup.
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For more on our Florida practice, see our overview of powers of attorney in Florida. Morgan Legal Group's affiliated New York office also handles .
