Do you need to redo your will when you move to Florida?

Attorney Chris Merrill: They have an 81-year-old mother who has a will that was legally executed in Texas, and now she lives in Florida. The question, "Should mom, 81-year-old mom have the will rewritten or updated?

Attorney Tom Olsen: The answer to that is, yes. You want to take mom to an estate planning attorney like the Olsen Law Group in Orlando, here's a few reasons why. Number one, when we do a will for people, we do some other related documents. We do a living will, pull the plug, don't keep you in a lie by machines. We do a health care surrogate. We do a financial power of attorney. Those are important parts to your estate planning and, even though the Texas will is valid here in the State of Florida, those three other documents are specific to Florida state law. At a minimum, we need to get those documents done, and those are documents that we'd be using during your mom's lifetime.

Then upon her death only then are we looking at her will. Number two, she's got a will, great and wonderful, but a will has nothing to do with avoiding probate. We need to talk to her about what assets she owns and give her steps that she might take to avoid probate so that when she passes away, her wealth will pass to her kids simple, easy, and inexpensive.

Attorney Chris Merrill: Exactly, and Tom, all of those reasons that you just gave are important that at a minimum is to go to an estate planning attorney to have it reviewed. There are some times, and on occasion where the will, may be okay. Once in a while, we don't update the will, almost always we're updating the other related documents that you talked about. Almost always, we are talking to mom about what steps she needs to take to avoid probate because very often that has not been done.

Attorney Tom Olsen:: We have talked before that. How many times have we had people say, "Hey, mom passed away and she owned a home and some bank accounts, she's got a will. Her will says when she dies, everything goes to me. Doesn't everything 'automatically' go to me?" I'm going to say no, it does not automatically. She's got a will. It's going to require a probate to get it out of her name and into your name. There's nothing automatic about it unless we take the steps necessary to avoid probate.

Attorney Chris Merrill: That's probably the biggest misconceptions is that people think it's 'automatic' and then Tom exactly like you were saying, there's nothing automatic about it. It requires probate and/or steps. If somebody passed away and didn't take care of it while they were alive, then it's going to require probate and other steps that people often find to be pretty challenging.

Attorney Tom Olsen:: Yes, exactly. Now, if we take the steps necessary to avoid probate, then we can use that term. If we take steps necessary to avoid probate for your mom and your mom passed away, then it is true that her assets will automatically go to you. No headaches, no hassles, no probate, but you have to take steps to make that happen.

Attorney Chris Merrill: Right. You have to take those steps while mom is alive.

Attorney Tom Olsen:: Now, some people may be out there saying, "Tom, Hey, I'd like to know more about this. How do we avoid probate?" Then good news, we've got a booklet for you. That booklet is called, believe it or not, 'Easy ways to avoid probate. Guess what folks, we wrote it and we wrote it in such a way that it is easy to understand. It is not a bunch of legalese and has got nice, big, easy-to-read font and it's relatively short [crosstalk].

Attorney Chris Merrill: Yes, super starting point.

Attorney Tom Olsen:: Yes. We'd love to mail you that booklet, Easy ways avoid probate. When you order booklets from the Olsen Law Group in Orlando, they now come with two free sweet treats, one for you, and one for your love or one for you to want to share. Keep them both if you want.

Attorney Tom Olsen:: Either way, it comes with two sweet treats for you to enjoy. Exactly. If you want our book on Easy ways to avoid probate, and How to protect your life savings from nursing homes, you can go to our website, olsenlawgroup.com, and just scroll down on page one. You'll see a picture of those booklets. All you have to do is give us your name and mailing address. We'll get those in the mail to you, or if you're not so good about the computer, don't worry about it. Call the Olsen Law Group in Orlando next week, Lydia's at our front desk. She will answer the phone. She'll get your name and mailing address and get those in the mail to you.

Attorney Chris Merrill: That phone number is (407) 423-5561. If you call that number, you can call any time because of course, you can leave a message for Lydia to return if it's over the weekend, otherwise, she will, of course, be answering the phone and you can give your name and mailing address and she will get those booklets out to you. Again, (407) 423-5561 call any time to order your booklets, or you can go online to olsenlawgroup.com, O-L-S-E-N, lawgroup.com right there on our home page. You can order them and we will get them out to you next week.