Has a friend, family member or colleague recently relocated to Florida or thinking of moving to the Sunshine State? They may have a will or a full estate plan that was prepared by an attorney in another state, or perhaps they haven\u2019t yet taken the important step of planning their estate.<\/p>\n
Either way, a relocation to Florida is a prime opportunity to ensure that they have an estate plan that is tailored to their current situation and will provide the best options available to them under Florida law.<\/p>\n
Most wills that are valid in another state will be recognized in Florida. Section 732.502(2) of the Florida Statutes provides that a will \u201cother than a holographic or nuncupative will, executed by a nonresident of Florida \u2026 is valid as a will in this state if valid under the laws of the state or country where the will was executed.\u201d Unlike some states, Florida does not recognize holographic wills (those that are hand-written by the testator and not signed by two witnesses) or nuncupative wills (those made orally in the presence of witnesses).<\/p>\n
Even if a will is recognized in Florida, it may not adequately reflect someone\u2019s current circumstance or it may not accurately express their wishes under Florida law. The presence or absence of one sentence could completely alter the interpretation. For example, the Florida Supreme Court held that the lack of a residuary clause (a \u201ccatch all\u201d provision to distribute assets not otherwise specified) changed the meaning of a will in\u00a0Aldrich v. Basile<\/em>, 136 So. 3d 530 (Fla. 2014). The maker of the will clearly wanted everything to go to her brother. Without a residuary clause, however, the property acquired after making the will was not covered by her will. The Court decided that the after-acquired property must go to different relatives as if there had been no will.<\/p>\n It is important to ensure that one\u2019s Last Will and Testament properly expresses their intent under Florida law. Even if it does, it generally must be probated, which is an expensive, time-consuming, and tedious court proceeding, and the court records would be accessible to the public. To protect someone\u2019s privacy and avoid the hassle of court proceedings, a Florida estate-planning lawyer can prepare a Revocable Living Trust that would avoid probate of the assets titled in the name of the trust. The attorney can also update or create one\u2019s Durable Power of Attorney, designation of Health Care Surrogate, Living Will, and nomination of a preneed guardian.<\/p>\n Estate planning can provide peace of mind, knowing that one\u2019s affairs are arranged the way they want them\u2014and helping to avoid costly and stressful probate and guardianship proceedings. Ideally, an estate plan should be reviewed and updated at each major milestone of life such as marriage, purchasing a home, having children, getting a promotion, retiring, or relocating. If someone you know has relocated to the Sunshine State, a Florida lawyer can assist them in ensuring that their estate plan will carry out their wishes in the best way possible under Florida law.<\/p>\n Robin I. Bresky, Esq., is the founder of\u00a0 Bresky Law, which focuses\u00a0on\u00a0Estate Planning, Probate, Estate and Trust Administration, Appeals, Litigation Support, and Trial Assistance. A\u00a0member of The Florida Bar since 1999, Bresky earned her\u00a0Juris Doctorate degree\u00a0from Chicago-Kent College of Law.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Has a friend, family member or colleague recently relocated to Florida or thinking of moving to the Sunshine State? They may have a will or a full estate plan that was prepared by an attorney in another state, or perhaps they haven\u2019t yet taken the important step of planning their estate. Either way, a relocation…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1817,1806,1830,1813,1827],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civil","category-family","category-general","category-probate","category-u-s-court-of-appeals"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}