Should you redo your will when you move to Florida?

If your will was valid when you did it in another state, then it is valid in the State of Florida even if it does not meet our requirements.  But, you should redo your living will, health care surrogate and durable financial power of attorney to make them comply with Florida law requirements.

Joe: Yes. I had a question regarding a will that my wife and I established out of state about 10 years ago.

Attorney Tom Olsen: All right.

Joe: We moved to Florida. Kids have grown and we're thinking we might have to update it. Do we need to update it since we are in a different state now? And what's your recommendation?

Attorney Tom Olsen: The Florida law says that if your will was valid when you did it in the other state, then it's going to be valid here in the State of Florida even if it does not meet our requirements.

But Joe, you've got a 10 year old will. Your kids have grown up since you did that last one. Realistically, you're going to need to redo it. As well, Joe, don't forget that when we do a will for clients, we do a will, a living will, a health care surrogate form and a durable power return for financial affairs. All very important documents. All in all, Joe, I'm going to suggest that they need to be done, redone. We got just a couple of seconds left, but Christie, we have a booklet on wills. Six reasons not to die without a will here, in Florida.