Life, Legacy & Wealth

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…

Revocable or irrevocable? Most families think they already know the answer, and most are wrong. This episode breaks down the real differences between the two trust types under Florida law, starting with the biggest misconception clients bring into the room: a revocable trust does not protect assets from creditors during your lifetime, no matter what a viral TikTok claims. Tom Moss, estate planning attorney at Sawyer & Sawyer, P.A., walks through when a revocable trust makes sense for probate avoidance and incapacity planning, and when an irrevocable trust becomes necessary for genuine creditor protection, Medicaid planning, or providing for a family member with a disability. He explains the tradeoffs in plain terms, using real numbers and specific scenarios pulled straight from his own practice, down to what a $500,000 estate actually costs in probate. Every family makes this trade, whether they realize it or not. In this episode, you will…

A fifteen million dollar federal exemption sounds like permission to stop planning. Tom Moss, attorney at Sawyer and Sawyer, P.A., explains why that assumption costs wealthy families the most. This episode breaks down what actually changed under the new tax law, why a will never avoids probate, and what happens when an estate crosses that $15 million line at a 40% tax rate, a scenario more Central Florida families are facing as wealth from New York, California, and Illinois keeps moving south. Tom walks through the residency tests Florida actually enforces, the homestead protections families overestimate, and the funding formulas buried in decade-old trusts that can quietly redirect an entire estate. He also covers what a first meeting with his firm looks like and why family dynamics matter as much as the balance sheet. For any family sitting on real wealth, this conversation is the reality check worth hearing before…

This episode covers what families should do in the first weeks after a parent is diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s, from legal capacity to guardianship costs. Cary Moss explains the difference between a dementia diagnosis and a legal loss of capacity, and outlines which documents, including the durable power of attorney, living will, and healthcare surrogate, need to be signed first. Cary Moss also details how guardianship works in Florida, including the timeline, court process, and typical costs, and explains why dementia patients are common targets for financial exploitation. She shares specific examples from her practice, including a client who lost $400,000 to a scam, and outlines Medicaid planning strategies that remain available even after a diagnosis. Listeners will come away with a clear understanding of which steps to take first. In this episode, you will hear: Why a dementia or Alzheimer’s diagnosis does not automatically mean a parent has…

When a child has a disability, a standard estate plan can do real harm. Cary Moss, Managing Partner at Sawyer & Sawyer, P.A. and a Florida elder law attorney with nearly three decades of experience, breaks down exactly how supplemental needs trusts work, where they fail, and what families must do to protect a disabled loved one’s benefits while still leaving them something to live on. Cary covers the most common mistakes parents make, including cutting a disabled child out of the estate entirely or leaving funds informally to a sibling. She explains the full planning picture, from trustees and beneficiary advocates to trust protectors and guardian advocates, and why getting the legal language wrong can collapse the entire structure. No family should wait for a crisis to start this conversation. The right plan, built now, protects everything. In this episode, you will hear: Why cutting a disabled child out…