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

Tom: Here's a text from Chris, he says he has moved from California to Florida, boy that's pretty common these days. He had a will done in California, wants to know if it's still good here in the state of Florida and generally the answer is yes. The Florida statutes say that if your will was legally valid when you did it in another state it's going to be legally valid here in the state of Florida even if it does not meet our requirements which are really not much.

The requirement of Florida is that it be in writing, you've signed it in front of at least two witnesses, but remember that when you do your will you do some related documents like a living will, pull the plug, don't keep me alive by machines. A health care surrogate where you're appointing somebody to make health care decisions for you if you're not able to, and a financial power of attorney where you're appointing somebody to pay your bills and manage your financial affairs for you if you're not able to.

Those three documents are much more state-specific, so those documents if you had them done in California probably do need to be redone here in the state of Florida because there are so many specific laws here in Florida related to those three documents, living will, health care, surrogate financial power of attorney. Plus, remember that when you come and see at Olsen Law Group we're going to take the next step and that is help you to avoid probate. People are interested in avoiding probate because it's expensive and it takes a long time. Remember, simply having a will does not avoid probate, you've got to take specific steps to do that.

Chris: Exactly, and Tom you're right and the documents that you just described cover two major areas of people's lives. One, if they were ever alive but incapacitated you need the appropriate legal documents to make sure that your loved ones, your spouse, your children, your other loved ones can help you in time of need if you're alive but incapacitated. Those documents, again, the related documents as you mentioned are equally as important to us as the legal documents that we prepare for you if you were to pass away.

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