Seeking an attorney to tell me if I need... an attourney
 

We had our will and other end-of-life documents prepared in Mass. a year ago. Our lawyer told us these "should be good" in Florida. Since we moved to TV many people (non-attorneys) have told us, "No- you need Florida documents". So, as an attorney please tell me if I should see an attorney. Thanks!

p.s. Yes, I could just go see a lawyer- but this is a question/answer forum and if a lawyer answers my question I'll be ahead.

As a retired attorney who was licensed in NY and NM I believe it would be wise to see a Florida estate planning attorney to review your testamentary/trust documents. Several past threads on TOTV contain local attorney recommendations. The only exception might be if your Mass attorney was also licensed in Florida and proficient in Florida estate practice.

In my experience at law school in the late 1960s and up until 1972 when preparing for the bar exam in NM the law in Mass was unique and at times contrary to that of most if not all other states. In 1972 the new dean of the UNM law school who had moved from Boston was putting together a course for bar exam preparation in NM, a community property state, and was using notes from a Mass bar prep course. We had a lot of laughs over the differences.

Our attorney up north told us to be sure to check with an attorney in Florida when we moved. We did and found that the laws here are indeed different and our documents needed to be redone.

We used Pittman Law for this, also there was an ad in todays (Sunday) daily sun for a seminar on just this subject, not sure which lawyer was advertising.

Go to the free seminar. I have no idea how a licensed lawyer gives you a response of Should. I would have little confidence in the existing documents.

Let Pittman prepare Florida documents and get peace of mind

We were also told to check in FL and found things did need to change from IL. We also used Pittman Law Office and were extremely happy with them!

Amy Pittman Law Offices. Excellent.

Pittman Law …. and YES you need a Florida attorney ( property and permanent address is in Florida ?)

Yet another vote for Pittman Law.

absolutely you need to revise your will here in Florida and you need an attorney to do it. Do not use an internet piece of paper. Also, you need a trust here as probate will take a long time and cost lots of money. I used Patrick Smith in Fruitland Park for a trust....cost $695. The attorneys in the villages charge thousands for the exact same thing. Be wise.

A quick google of "is my will or trust good in Florida?" reveals that generally they are good across state lines. The difference you need to pay attention to is if your state has different laws than Florida when it comes to community property vrs common property. You don't need spend money on an attorney to discover this. As long as the state you're coming from has the same property law as Florida you're good.

Pittman Law is our local attorney. Very thorough and informative. On 466 and 301 in Oxford

Yes You need a Florida Lawyer
 

I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV.
Florida has very specific laws and you will need a Florida lawyer to deal with the court.
Decide if you want to save a few dollars or have effective protection.
I used Patrick Smith of Fruitland Park.

I’m no lawyer, but it just takes common sense to know that you should check with a Florida attorney if you’re going to live in Florida. The law is a bit different here than other states.

I used Trotter and Soulsby. They’re one of the only Board Certified attorneys for elder law.
They offered two free seminars on this subject earlier this year and may be doing it again soon since the response was so good.

PLUS Florida law does change from time to time. We had a recent will from our former state, then went to a seminar here. We discovered we'd need a Florida will as things here "are" different. We used Milhorn on 301

Audra at Pittman updated our will/trust from IL. Did a great job.

A Trust May not Not be Needed
 

Not everyone needs a trust. Trusts are pushed because guess who makes money off of creating and administering trusts? The lawyers of course. We used an elder law attorney in Florida and based on our situation, we do not need a trust. He said if you have real estate out of state you want a trust. We have mostly qualified money and that cannot be placed in a trust. We were instructed to make sure we have designated beneficiaries on all accounts. On our house we got a Ladybird deed which names direct beneficiaries. When one of us dies, the death certificate is presented to all institutions and all is quickly directly distributed to beneficiaries at no administrative cost. This was what I used to help my parents with setting up their estate and probate was avoided.

I am not a lawyer so I recommend consulting a Florida Attorney for your individual circumstances. Just letting people know you might not need that expensive trust so you can question if it is truly necessary. Some lawyers may want to sell you one anyway. But two different states and the good lawyers we went to said no trust needed for our situation.

Yes you need a Fl attorney. I just want to warn you of my experience with Amy Pittman. When I first got here I was engaged and married my husband during Covid. We sought out an Attorney since we were both from Maryland. Many people recommended Amy Pittman on Next Door Neighbor. We met Amy who was very personable who evaluated our circumstances I came into the marriage with no children and my husband had two adult children. She advised he needed a Will and I needed a Trust. In my trust I wanted my husband and brother to be my beneficiaries and executors. She strongly advised against this so I picked two friends instead since the marriage was new and they would both benefit greatly if I was dead. So the initial Will for my husband was $800 my Trust $1400. After three years of marriage I was like why did I listen to her I wanted my husband as my executor and my brother as my second. I called the office and told them to please change my documents to reflect this change. Now if anyone has ever used Microsoft software you can simply tell the computer to find every place you see one name and have automatically change it to the name you want. Never did I meet with Amy or a lawyer in the office to discuss this I simply stated what I wanted them to do to my original documents. I was beyond SHOCKED when I received a bill for $800 for a few pages of changes and a 10 minute meeting to get the documents notarized. I questioned the bill and was told there was nothing they could do and MAYBE they should have told me the cost ahead of time. I told them I would be on social media warning people and I got a shrug like do what you have to do. Since I received a letter from Amy stating they will no longer represent me. Trust me I have my documents and would never ever want to go back them. So before you listen to everyone tell you how great she is be forewarned they have never tried to have changes made or they too would not be recommending this office. I am not worried about her because all of these facts are true and I have the documents and her letter if you want to read it send me your email.

Millhorn. But not everyone needs a trust, however having a Florida attorney to look over this kind of documentation is wise.

Another recommendation for Ms Pittman and associates

You will want a Florida attorney, but the fees they charge for this routine service can vary widely. We went with Sham Shanawany of the Millhorn & Shanawany Law firm. His fees were over $1400.00 less than the Pittman Firm, for the exact same service/documents. Glad we checked around.

You Need a Living Trust & Will Consistent with Florida Laws
 

When my wife and I moved to Florida, we had the same question. We met with Amy Pittman who created a new Living Trust & Will for my wife and I that is consistent with Florida law, since the probate laws of all states differ. The phone number of Amy's office is: 352-399-6944

Attorney/will
 

Yes, see an attorney here. To make one point does your state have a “ladybird estate”? Then redo your will here.
We went to Vasti Law in Leesburg and he was great. Walked us thru everything.

John Vasti
(352) 508-9345

Look up Toby Mathis Anderson on YouTube. You should have more than just a trust for additional protection.

My attorney, a Fl elder attorney, said in general estate documents drawn in other states should be good in Fl. However a non Fl attorney may not know all Fl rules so at some point probably best to have new documents drawn.
The major problem could be your executor. In Fl any non Felon Fl resident can be the executor but if not a resident must be a blood relative. I have mixed comments on if your blood relative can be your spouses executor. Be sure the will is self proving.

You may want to interview several attorneys. One size does not fit all nor personalities mesh. It also depends on one's personal needs and the complexity of one's estate. An older friend of mine since 1949 who taught me to ride a bicycle eventually became a billionaire. Twenty years ago he used $1,000/hour LA attorneys to accomplish what I considered to be legal miracles for him. No telling what they would bill these days, but a lot more for sure! Now I do not need that level of estate and trust attorney although I need a fairly sophisticated one due to the complexity of my estate and some unusual family issues.

I met with Dean and Dean and they said I did not need to make any changes to wills and other documents.

I do wonder why you would ask here. Any valid answer would require information that you would not or should not publish in a public forum. It says since we moved to the villages. I assume you bought a property. It is likely not in your Mass will.

Based on personal experience with attorneys, I have a very negative opinion. Drafting a will is a strange experience. For one thing when you need it you will be dead. Did I really want to do that?
When, my parents passed, they didn't have much but there were issues between myself and my sister. Their estate was split 50-50 and each item of any value the will said who gets what. We all know the horrors of relatives fighting over your ???????
Your comment about using Microsoft software to make the changes. The reality is the attorney does not write a new will or trust for each client. They are all modified versions of the form that in is their computer, likely purchased from a company same as the software to do income taxes..
You can actually draft your own will. When, it is used, you will be gone, what are they going to do-fire you?
A fair price? You can pay by the hour. Who tells you how many hours it took? The atty does. On the job, I often worked late and would take a commuter railroad home. There were many young attorneys doing work while riding the train. Did those people get a bouncing discount or were they billed full price. For that matter did the atty do the work or did his legal assistant or a law student working for free do the work.

Your personal situation is far more complex than ours. A will for husband and a trust for you, he has kids and you don't. Apparently a second marriage and keeping your finances separate. What happens if? It is very unlikely both of you will pass at the same time. Illness can be VERY EXPENSIVE. Sort of sounds like he is leaving his to his kids and you are leaving yours to him and his kids and your brother.

Far as the bill. I don't know if that is fair. You said 10 minutes with a notary. This happens all the time. The notary is an employee. You were speaking to the wrong person.

Things were so much easier. When I was married my net worth was negative numbers.
My wife, I married her for her money she had two or three thousand dollars.

It would be malpractice for any attorney to give you advice in a public forum such as this. The answer to the OP's question is a simple one: Seek the advice of a lawyer.

I spent over 40 years in the business and still paid a colleague to put together my estate plan. I didn't question the need for one, and didn't question the bill when it came in. Did he charge me too much? Yep. Absolutely. Remember, though, that you are not paying for his/her time as much as you are paying for their expertise. It's easy to look at the situation and say, "they only needed to spend ten minutes on this and fill out some computerized form." The key to this, however, is that they knew instinctively which form to fill out and where to find it on the computer. They didn't confuse it with the other ten similar forms that they could have mistakenly filled out. It's the same as going to a doctor and being told after a brief, five minute appointment that you needed to get two or three tests. You get the doctor bill and are shocked, but you are paying for the doctor's knowledge and not just the five minutes.

I'm not yet in TV, but when I make the move I will definitely find a Florida based attorney and have them review my estate plan. My law license is older than most of the attorneys that have appeared in front of me, but an estate plan is not something to leave to chance. If I DIY my estate plan and die first, my wife will be most annoyed when she finds out belatedly that I wanted to save a few hundred bucks, and in the words of that infamous Indiana Jones character, "did not choose wisely." Besides, as the jokes goes...you (or your estate) can always sue a lawyer if they mess up your estate plan, but you can't sue yourself if you screw it up...

You've already received excellent advice, and I saw one from an attorney (didn't read all of the responses.)

To be safe it would probably be good to set it up here. After setting up your will take it upon yourself to make sure that your will is taken to the city yourself. I'm not sure of the term to use, but the city gets a copy of the will on record. I know several people who paid an attorney in the state of Florida to set up a will and this was never done. When heirs find out they have to go ahead and do this anyway.

Go to the seminar held at the Pinellas Library. Jennifer Henson with Millhorn Elder Law and Planning Group she covers every question you can think of for estate planning. You can call her office 352-330-3369 for dates and times, there are two a month.

Same here. We had purs redone as FL residents. We used Trotter & Solsby in The Villages. I may have misspelled their names, but they usually have an ad in The Villages newspaper. Knowledgeable & I didn't think overpriced.

Same here. We had purs redone as FL residents. We used Trotter & Solsby in The Villages. I may have misspelled their names, but they usually have an ad in The Villages newspaper. Knowledgeable & I didn't think overpriced.

I had a Will in Alabama, saw lawyer in FL, said it was better to have a Trust in FL due to Probate and State taking a share

Call Trotter & Soulsby. You can get a free consultation from Mary Trotter. She and her partner are the only lawyers in this area who have an advanced certification in elder law. They also conduct free lectures on FL law and are having one this week — tomorrow, I think. Give them a call.

Sham Shanawany of the Millhorn & Shanawany Law
 

Another vote for Sham Shanawany of the Millhorn & Shanawany Law firm. Did a great job for us.

If you have to ask...you need to go to an attorney and invest a couple of hundred.

The alternative? Don't go and if you made a mistake in not going...your heirs will curse you out for the rest of their lives about how stupid you were.

Just go. Treat a visit to an attorney as you would an annual visit to your doctor. An attorney can help you keep your affairs in order and might make suggestions on how you can protect your assets. Indeed, most lawyers are nice people. You might grow to like your lawyer!