Another misconception that I see all the time is that you create a Florida last will and testament an do not change or update your beneficiary designation. In Florida a last will and testament only disposes of assets that go through probate court.
If your account has a beneficiary and that beneficiary is different that your beneficiary in your last will and testament, the beneficiary in your last will and testament will not inherit anything in that account.
This is because as I previously explained, your relationship between you and your bank or financial institution is a contractual relationship. The financial institution is legally obligated by contract to pay the beneficiary that you select under the your beneficiary designation form and not your last will and testament.
Another problem that I typically see is that you may designate all of your children as beneficiaries under your Florida last will and testament equally. However, you forget to update your beneficiary designation form and you left all of your funds under your bank account to only one child who helped you open the bank account.
In the previous example, the bank account might be the only asset which you may own. In addition, the result is contrary to your testamentary intent.
In this case, the beneficiary child would have no obligation to provide any of the funds in the bank account to your other surviving children. In Florida, children have no legal right to inherit from your assets. This can create conflict between the children and even expensive court litigation.