Trusted Elder Law & Asset Protection helps families in Pensacola and across the Florida Panhandle put a complete estate plan in place: revocable living trusts, wills, powers of attorney, health care directives and guardians for children. Attorney Erich M. Niederlehner serves Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties.
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Assets that pass under a Florida will go through probate in circuit court. Assets held in a funded revocable trust, or with a named beneficiary, pass outside it.
Fla. Stat. ch. 733 & 736A Florida power of attorney signed after October 1, 2011 takes effect when signed. One written to start only upon incapacity is ineffective, apart from a narrow military exception.
Fla. Stat. § 709.2108Florida doesn't tax estates or inheritances. The federal estate tax exemption is $15 million per person in 2026, so most families' planning focuses on probate, incapacity and family protection.
IRC § 2010, as amended 2025Wills and trusts are only part of a complete estate plan. We prepare every document your family would need, so no one has to go to court to make decisions for you.
Avoid probate, keep your affairs private, and name who manages your assets if you can't.
Florida trusts →Name your beneficiaries, your personal representative and a guardian for your children.
Florida wills →Let a trusted agent handle finances if you're incapacitated, without a guardianship.
Powers of attorney →Choose who makes medical decisions and state your end-of-life wishes.
Health care directives →Name who raises your children, in your will and in a separate declaration filed with the court.
Naming guardians →Pass your Florida home to your family without probate while keeping full control.
Lady Bird deeds →Leave an inheritance to a loved one with a disability without affecting SSI or Medicaid.
Special needs trusts →See every document a Florida estate plan should include, and when to update it.
What's included →Plain-English answers to the questions Florida families ask most often.
Read the FAQ →An older couple had three adult children, one of whom receives Social Security Disability and Medicaid. We created a revocable living trust with a continuing supplemental needs trust for their son, so his inheritance improves his life without counting against his benefits.
About special needs trusts →We prepared wills naming temporary and permanent guardians, plus separate guardian declarations and a power of attorney and health care surrogate for the children. The parents also received a full plan of their own, so no guardianship would be needed if either lost capacity.
About naming guardians →To spare her daughter probate in Florida and two other states, we created a revocable living trust and retitled every property into it. We named guardians inside and outside her will, and gave them a power of attorney and health care surrogate for her daughter.
About revocable trusts →A couple in their 80s wanted to leave $100,000 to a neighbor who would care for their pets, with the rest going to charities they supported. A revocable living trust carried out those wishes and kept their estate out of probate.
About revocable trusts →A man in his late 70s had a stroke that left him unable to communicate. He had never named a power of attorney or health care surrogate, so his daughter had to go to court for a guardianship before she could make decisions for him. Plan early, and update as life changes.
About powers of attorney →Birth or adoption, marriage, divorce, a move to Florida, buying or selling a home, a death in the family or a new diagnosis are all times to review your plan. Even if nothing changes, the law does, so we recommend a review every 3 to 5 years.
What a complete plan includes →Client stories are summarized without names or identifying details. Every family's situation is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
From our office in downtown Pensacola, we prepare estate plans for families throughout Florida, with a focus on Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties, from Perdido Key to 30A.
Pensacola, Cantonment, Perdido Key, Pensacola Beach
Gulf Breeze, Navarre, Pace, Milton
Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Niceville, Crestview
30A communities, Santa Rosa Beach, Miramar Beach, DeFuniak Springs
Erich founded Trusted Elder Law & Asset Protection in Pensacola to give families plans that actually work when they are needed. His estate planning practice focuses on Florida trusts, wills, powers of attorney and health care directives for families at every stage of life. The firm also has a social worker on staff, Melissa W. Niederlehner, Clinical Social Worker Intern, who helps families work through the harder conversations planning can bring up.
If you want your family to avoid probate, a funded revocable living trust is usually the better choice, especially if you own real estate or property in more than one state. A will is simpler to set up, but every asset that passes under it goes through Florida probate. Many families use a trust with a short "pour-over" will as a backup.
Formal administration usually takes several months at minimum, because creditors have three months from first publication of the notice to creditors to file claims. Summary administration can be faster, and is available when the non-exempt estate is $75,000 or less or the person died more than two years ago.
Generally yes. Florida recognizes a will that was valid where it was signed, except handwritten (holographic) and oral wills. Moving to Florida is still a good time to review it, because Florida's homestead rules and limits on who can serve as personal representative may affect your plan.
Your family would likely have to ask the court to appoint a guardian, which takes time, costs money and involves ongoing court reporting. A durable power of attorney and health care surrogate designation let the people you choose act for you without going to court.
How Florida's Chapter 709 lets you revoke a POA, when an agent's authority ends, and when a court can step in.
Out-of-state wills, powers of attorney, homestead and personal representatives: what changes when you become a Floridian.
A side-by-side look at cost, probate, privacy and incapacity planning under Florida law.
