Florida Estate Planning & Elder Law
Protect What You've Built.Prepare for What Comes Next.
Whether you're planning for the future, concerned about long-term care, settling the affairs of someone who has died, or helping a loved one who can no longer make decisions, we help Florida families understand their options and make a plan.
Most families never learn how many options they had. Benefits, tax savings, insurance, and legal protections can all change what long-term care actually costs — and they are routinely missed.
No obligation. No contact information required.
Not sure where to begin? See the four ways we help families
Where to Start
What brings you here?
You don't need to know what kind of lawyer you need.Start with what's happening in your family.
I want to protect my family and my assets.
Estate planning should do more than say who receives your property. We help families plan for incapacity, protect assets, reduce unnecessary probate exposure, minimize family conflict, and make sure the right people can act when they are needed.
Explore Estate PlanningI'm worried about long-term care and how to pay for it.
Long-term-care costs can change a family's finances quickly. We help families understand Medicaid, appropriate VA benefits, asset-protection strategies, care-planning options, and legal ways to preserve resources while obtaining needed care.
Explore Long-Term Care PlanningSomeone has died and I need to settle the estate.
Probate and estate administration can involve far more than filing papers with a court. We guide personal representatives and families through administration, creditor issues, property transfers, distributions, and problems that may arise along the way.
Explore Probate & Estate AdministrationSomeone I care about can no longer manage their affairs.
When dementia, illness, disability, or an unexpected event leaves someone unable to make decisions, existing documents may not be enough. We help families evaluate less-restrictive alternatives and, when guardianship is necessary, guide them through the process.
Explore Guardianship
How We Practice
Life doesn't divide itself into practice areas.Neither do we.
A long-term-care problemmay also involve a power of attorney, an IRA, a home, Medicaid eligibility, and an estate plan.
A deathmay uncover an outdated trust, a family disagreement, or property that was never properly titled.
Dementiamay begin as an estate-planning concern and later become a long-term-care, Medicaid, or guardianship matter.
Because our practice includes estate planning, elder law, long-term-care planning, probate, and guardianship, we can look at how the pieces fit together — not just one part of the problem.
Whenever You Arrive
Some families come to us years before a problem.Others call after the problem has already begun.
Planning Ahead
You may be healthy, financially secure, and simply want to know that everything is properly arranged. We help build plans around your family, your assets, your goals, and the life you actually live.
Facing a Crisis
A parent may suddenly need nursing-home care. A spouse may develop dementia. Someone may die without the right planning in place. You may discover that a power of attorney does not accomplish what your family needs.
There are often more options than families realize.
Tell Us What's HappeningLong-Term Care Planning
Long-term care can be one of the biggest financial decisions your family ever faces.
Nursing-home and long-term-care costs can put enormous pressure on a family's finances. Families are sometimes told — or simply assume — that they must spend nearly everything before assistance may be available.
That is not necessarily the case.
Depending on the circumstances, Medicaid planning, spousal protections, lawful asset-protection strategies, applicable VA benefits, and other planning tools may help families obtain needed care while preserving resources.
The question isn't only:
“Can I qualify for Medicaid?”
It is also:
“What is the smartest legal way to pay for the care I need while protecting my family?”
From Our Founding Attorney
Florida Long-Term Care and Medicaid
A Family's Guide to Finding, Getting, and Paying for Good Care · 2026 Edition · by Carl B. Zacharia, J.D.
Planning for long-term care in Florida is not only about finding good care. It is about protecting the people you love, and making decisions before a health crisis becomes a financial one.
The book explains the long-term-care system in plain English: choosing the right care setting, who pays and when Medicare does not, Florida Medicaid's income and asset rules, homestead protections, powers of attorney, spend-down planning, and Qualified Income Trusts. Written for families, not for lawyers.
Inside, you will learn how to:
- Compare home care, assisted living, memory care, and nursing homes
- Understand who pays for care — and when Medicare does not
- Navigate Florida Medicaid eligibility, income limits, and asset rules
- Protect the family home and avoid common gifting mistakes
- Use the right legal and planning tools before a crisis strikes
Estate Planning
Your estate plan isn't really about documents.
It is about answering important questions before your family has to answer them for you.
- Who can make decisions if you cannot?
- Who will manage your finances?
- Can unnecessary probate be reduced or avoided?
- Could long-term-care needs affect the assets you've accumulated?
- Will the people you love inherit in the way you intend?
- Could your plan create family conflict instead of preventing it?
- And when life changes, will your plan still work?
We design estate plans around those questions — not around a stack of documents.
The Family Protection Review™
A Guided Review — Not a Legal Intake
Every situation leads to the same simple idea: answer a few questions, and receive useful information and personalized findings first. You decide what happens next.
About a minute
A handful of plain-language questions. No jargon, no forms.
No contact info required
You receive your findings on the spot — before we ever ask for anything.
The report is the product
Real, personalized findings. The consultation is only a next step if you want it.
Our Attorneys
A firm built around protecting families.
Estate-planning and elder-law problems rarely exist in isolation. Our attorneys work with families on both the planning that happens before a crisis and the legal problems that arise afterward.
Meet Our AttorneysWhy Families Trust Us
Guidance From an Elder Law and Estate Planning Firm That Understands Care Costs
Most firms refer the hard cases out. We handle planning, Medicaid, probate, and care-cost crises under one roof.
Beyond the Law Office
A Connected System for Planning, Care, and Crisis
Zacharia Frey PLLC leads the way. These supporting tools help families and facilities navigate long-term care with confidence.
Use of these platforms does not create an attorney-client relationship. Legal services are provided exclusively through Zacharia Frey PLLC.
You don't have to figure all of this out before calling us.
Tell us what's happening. We'll help you understand the next step.
The review takes about a minute and requires no contact information.