The "Snowbird" Estate Plan: Managing Assets in Connecticut and Florida

If you spend part of the year in Connecticut and part in Florida, your estate plan has to account for more than one address. Owning property in both states can affect probate, taxes, and how your assets pass to your family. Your domicile, the way your property is titled, and Florida's homestead rules can all shape what happens after your death. 

At Watterworth Law Offices, our Simsbury, CT estate planning lawyer helps individuals and families throughout the state plan for how their property will be managed and transferred. If you divide your time between Connecticut and Florida, reviewing your estate plan as one coordinated two-state plan can identify problems that separate documents may not reveal. 

Which State Is Your Legal Home?

Owning a Florida residence or spending several months there does not, by itself, make Florida your legal domicile. Domicile generally refers to the state you intend to make your permanent home, even if you spend substantial time elsewhere. 

This distinction can affect estate administration and taxes. The Connecticut Department of Revenue Services defines domicile as the place you intend to make your permanent home and return to when you are away. You can own multiple residences, but you have only one domicile. 

If you intend to change your domicile from Connecticut to Florida, your actions should be consistent with that intent. Evidence can include where you register to vote, your driver's license and vehicle registration, the address used on tax returns, where you maintain your principal home, and other ties to each state. Florida also allows residents to file a declaration of domicile and qualifying homeowners to claim a homestead property tax exemption. 

Connecticut can require evidence of domicile when someone is claimed to have been a nonresident at death. That makes consistent documentation particularly important when a change of domicile could materially affect an estate. 

Florida Property May Require Ancillary Probate

If you die as a nonresident of Florida and leave assets there that require probate administration, you may need a Florida ancillary administration in addition to proceedings in your home state. For a Connecticut snowbird who owns Florida real estate individually, that can mean dealing with estate administration in both states. 

Florida law specifically provides for ancillary administration when a nonresident dies leaving assets in Florida. How an asset is titled and whether it passes through a trust, beneficiary designation, survivorship arrangement, or another non-probate mechanism can change what happens at death. 

Your choice of personal representative can matter, too. Florida generally restricts a nonresident from serving as personal representative unless that person falls within specified family relationships. If your Connecticut will names an out-of-state friend, advisor, or other unrelated person, that individual may not qualify to serve in a Florida probate proceeding. 

A properly funded revocable living trust may help avoid ancillary probate for Florida property and, in some cases, the need to appoint a Florida personal representative for that property. The property must actually be transferred to the trust; creating the trust document alone does not accomplish this. 

Florida Homestead Can Change with Your Residency

A Florida vacation property is not automatically homestead simply because you own it. Homestead protections depend on the property's use and the owner's circumstances, making this issue particularly important when a snowbird makes Florida a permanent home rather than merely a seasonal residence. 

If the property qualifies as Florida homestead, Florida law can restrict how it passes at death. Under Florida's homestead devise statute, homestead generally cannot be devised if the owner is survived by a spouse or minor child, except that it may be devised to the spouse when there is no minor child. 

Spousal homestead rights can generally be waived wholly or partly through a qualifying written agreement or waiver, but specific legal requirements apply. That makes homestead planning especially important when you change domicile to Florida, marry or remarry, or want a Florida residence to pass to someone other than your spouse. 

Does Moving to Florida Change Your Tax Exposure?

It can. Florida does not impose a personal income tax, and it eliminated its state estate tax for people who died after December 31, 2004. Connecticut, by contrast, imposes an estate tax and a gift tax. Domicile can therefore have significant tax consequences, although moving to Florida does not necessarily eliminate every Connecticut tax issue. 

For deaths occurring in 2026, Connecticut's estate-tax exemption is $15 million. A resident estate is one involving a person domiciled in Connecticut at death. A non-resident estate can still be subject to Connecticut estate tax if the decedent owned real or tangible personal property in Connecticut and the Connecticut taxable estate exceeds the applicable threshold. 

Connecticut's gift tax can also matter during your lifetime. For a Connecticut resident, Connecticut taxable gifts can include intangible property wherever located as well as real or tangible personal property in Connecticut. For a nonresident, the state generally limits taxable gifts to real or tangible personal property located in Connecticut. The 2026 Connecticut gift-tax exemption is also $15 million. 

For many estates, these thresholds mean Connecticut estate or gift tax will not be the central concern. But for larger estates, a genuine change of domicile can materially affect planning, making the timing and documentation of that change important. 

Coordinate Your Snowbird Estate Plan with Watterworth Law Offices

Living in Connecticut and Florida gives you two places to call home, but your estate plan should operate as one coordinated plan. At Watterworth Law Offices, we can review how your assets are owned, identify potential probate and estate-planning issues, and determine whether your existing documents still fit your circumstances and goals. 

Our practice includes wills, trusts, health care directives, powers of attorney, asset protection and tax planning, and probate administration. We can also revisit an existing plan when you purchase property, change where you consider your permanent home, or otherwise alter how you divide your life between Connecticut and Florida. 

From our Simsbury office, we serve individuals and families throughout Hartford County, Litchfield County, and Tolland County. If you own assets in Connecticut and Florida, contact our Simsbury estate planning attorney to review how the pieces of your plan work together.