If you and your spouse are building a life in West Palm Beach while a green card or citizenship case moves through the system, you are managing two timelines at once: your immigration future and your family’s present. Most young immigrant families focus entirely on the first and assume estate planning can wait until they are “settled.” In Florida, that assumption can be costly. The way your immigration status interacts with state inheritance law and federal estate tax means newcomers often need an estate plan more urgently than long-established citizens, not less.
This article explains where the two areas of law meet. Our firm handles the Florida estate-planning side. For the immigration side, we routinely recommend that clients work with a dedicated immigration attorney such as the team at Fitenko Law.
The Non-Citizen Spouse and the Marital Deduction Trap
Under federal law, a U.S. citizen can leave an unlimited amount to a surviving spouse free of estate tax through the unlimited marital deduction. The catch many couples never hear: that deduction does not automatically apply when the surviving spouse is not a U.S. citizen, even if they are a lawful permanent resident. Congress was concerned a non-citizen spouse might inherit assets and then leave the country before any tax could be collected.
The standard solution is a Qualified Domestic Trust, or QDOT. Property passes into the QDOT for the surviving non-citizen spouse, who can receive income and, under defined conditions, principal, while the assets remain within reach of U.S. estate tax rules. For a couple where one spouse is mid-process toward naturalization, the planning question becomes practical: should we build a QDOT now, or structure the plan so it can be unwound once citizenship is granted? That decision depends on your asset level and the expected timeline of your U.S. citizenship and naturalization case, which is exactly why estate counsel and immigration counsel need to talk to each other.
Non-Resident and Newly Arrived: Estate Tax Looks Different
A non-resident who is not a U.S. citizen faces a very different estate-tax landscape than a citizen or domiciliary. The exemption available to a non-resident alien’s estate for U.S.-situated assets is dramatically smaller than the exemption a citizen enjoys, and Florida real estate, including a West Palm Beach condo or home, is generally treated as a U.S.-situated asset. Families who own property here while still maintaining strong ties abroad should not guess at their exposure. The correct number depends on your domicile, your status, and any applicable treaty, and it changes as your immigration situation matures.
Florida Tools Every Family Should Have
Regardless of immigration status, Florida law gives you the same core instruments, and they work for non-citizens just as they do for citizens:
- A valid will. Florida Statutes §732.502 requires a will to be signed by the testator and witnessed by two people who sign in the testator’s presence and in the presence of each other. There is no citizenship requirement to make a Florida will.
- Revocable and irrevocable trusts under Florida’s Trust Code, Chapter 736, which can hold your home and other assets, avoid probate, and provide the structure a QDOT needs.
- A durable power of attorney and a health-care surrogate, so that if you travel abroad for a consular interview, a biometrics appointment, or a family emergency, someone you trust can act on financial and medical matters while you are out of the country.
- Guardian designations for minor children, naming who would raise your children if both parents were unavailable, and a thoughtful backup if your first choice lives outside the United States.
Homestead, Guardianship, and Children
Florida’s constitutional homestead protection shields your primary residence from most creditors and restricts how you can leave it if you have a spouse or minor children. These rules apply to non-citizen owners too, and they can override what your will says, so a plan drafted without attention to homestead can produce results you never intended.
Guardianship is where immigrant families feel the stakes most. If you name a relative abroad to raise your children, that choice may collide with the children’s status and the practical reality of getting that relative into the country. Coordinating guardian designations with your family’s broader immigration strategy, often a family-based immigration matter handled by your immigration attorney, keeps your wishes from becoming unenforceable in a crisis.
Why You Need Both, Not Either-Or
Immigration status determines who can inherit smoothly, how your spouse is taxed, and whether a chosen guardian can actually serve. Estate law determines what documents make your wishes legally binding in Florida. Neither field can see the whole picture alone. A pending case can change the right answer overnight, so the plan should be built to adapt as your status changes.
If your family is new to West Palm Beach, the most useful step is to let an immigration attorney manage your status and a Florida estate-planning attorney build documents that account for it. We are glad to handle the estate side and coordinate with your immigration counsel so the two plans move in the same direction.
Have a question about your estate?
Talk it through with Russel Morgan — free 30-minute consult.
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 .
