You’ve chosen a wonderful state in which to live. We certainly love it; however, any time you change your residence to a new state, there are changes that need to be made. Wills and other estate planning documents are state specific. They are controlled by the state in which you have your primary residence. If you are new to Florida, you need to be sure that your Will is still accomplishing your goals.
To understand why it’s important to update your documents, begin by looking at your out of state will. It probably begins with something like the following language: “I, Your Name, as a resident of the State of Your State….” With this simple statement you have created a presumption that you are not a Florida resident. If you look further into your estate planning documents, you will probably see references to state statutes. As these are not Florida Statutes, unless the attorney handling the estate practices in both states, they may need the opinion of an attorney from your previous state to interpret the will. All of this may not result in an invalid will, but it will certainly increase the cost of administering it.
Finally, some types of wills recognized in other states will not be recognized in Florida. Handwritten, or holographic, wills are one example. Florida will not recognize this type of will under any circumstances and your estate will be distributed according to Florida Law.
Florida also has a very involved probate procedure. In other states, probate avoidance is not always part of an estate plan, but because it tends to be a more involved process here, it is often the central focus of our estate planning.
