Question on Trusts
 

Not sure if this is the right place for this, wife and I have a trust set up by an attorney in CA. Is this valid in FL?

Do we need to see a FL attorney?

Googled it and according to legalzoom living trusts are good in any state.

Any comments to the contrary?

Yes, it's a good idea to have it reviewed by a lawyer here. There are laws that vary from state to state. You don't need a whole new one, but you might have to edit a little.

Is My Will Still Valid If I Move to Another State?

According to this Elder Law site it would be a good idea to have a Florida attorney look it over. We relocated from NH and had McLin Burnsed redo our wills and trusts. I can tell you that Florida is a lot more generous when you die than the State of NH.

Your trust should always be reviewed every few years as things in life change. We did have to have our powers of attorney updated once we moved to Florida full time. Also medical POA.

I agree with above, especially the medical POA, but up North this was 2 or 3 pages, down here i think it is 19 pages! We used Amy Pittman, very pleased with her work. Also, when you meet with her or another attorney double check any other financial documents and wills as there maybe conflicts.

Thanks for the advice.

Just remember that a trust is not like a will. A will needs to be executed by a Florida court, but a trust is executed by the trustee and doesn't need to go through a probate court. So, it is less important to be concerned about Florida law. Not to say that a Florida lawyer would not be helpful.

I am the trustee for a trust that was prepared in Virginia. Several lawyers in Florida have recommended that I keep the trust "situs" in Virginia and use a Virginia lawyer for advice. They will not provide any advice about a non-Florida trust. If you use a Florida lawyer, they will probably require that you prepare a new trust which will probably cost more than the one you already have and be more complicated.

We should rewrite our will
 

Thanks-you've moved a will rewrite a bit further up on our priority list.
RE: your trust question.
Do you have your current Villages home in your will-I know we do not.
Your TRUST, they are usually set up for tax reasons. Not sure how the new tax bill effects your or our tax issues.

As suggested by others-probably a good idea to have it reviewed.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE-my parents passed away several years ago. Unfortunately, at that time there was a lot of tension between my sister and myself. My parents did not have much but, each item they had of any value was stated who it goes to. As stated we already had issues between my sister and myself. I was so happy that my parents split their estate evenly and in a moment of grief
with rattled nerves there was no disputes.
As to updating your will-my niece who was not born at the time the will was last updated UNFAIRLY was left nothing.
I have an inherited IRA complete with the forced withdrawals. A gift that keeps on giving. I. as forced to, take the minimum withdrawal and give it to my niece.

Three lawyers in Florida have told me that they will not review or provide any advice for a trust prepared in another state. The only thing they will do is to prepare a new trust. They advised me to consult with a lawyer in the state where the trust was prepared.

Might as well weigh in here... CA is a community property state whereas Florida is not. This may or may not affect your situation.

While there is a rule of thumb that a trust is honored in another state if it is valid in it's state of origin, this is not always the case.

Also is it a revocable living trust or an irrevocable trust? It is probably the former as most folks in CA use them to avoid probate costs, especially on real estate.

As mentioned hereinabove trusts and wills are different animals.

IMHO don't be pennywise and pound foolish. If you plan to permanently relocate to Florida find a reputable and capable local estate/probate lawyer.

Would also recommend Amy Pittman.

What is the reason to leave a big asset like a house out of a will?

Two references for Amy Pitman. I will contact her and post her response.

Put everything in your revocable trusts and you won't have to worry about a will. You still have access to your assets but they don't have to go through probate as when you die whomever you assigned as successor trustee handles your trust for you.

I had an existing Florida trust and had it reviewed by Michael Millhorn for free. He created a new, expanded Durable Power of Attorney for me and gave me a living will for free. Can’t beat it. Honest man who will tell you the truth about what you need. He is Eric Millhorn's uncle. Amy Pittman was trained by Eric. Have heard all good things about her as well. Depending on your needs, you can’t go wrong with any of these choices.

Huh?

In general estate related documents drawn in another state are ok in Fl. But you can have problems. The executor may not be valid in Fl. The way the documents were signed maybe legal but cause a lot of problems in finding witnesses. POA laws changed in FL and although they say old POA are valid you may have a problem getting a FL institution to accept them.

The trust is probably ok but the real question is do you need one. Also if you home is in the trust you could have problems with the various homestead laws. Property title has to be drafted correctly and the trust may have to be modified to comply with FL homestead laws or you will not get all the benefits.

Also ask the attorney about the title to your home and who has possible rights to it when you die.

You need to go and talk to the Millhorn Law Firm on 27/441 across from Walkmart. They set up my trust and I had another lady go and talk to them and she found out that because she already had a trust from another state that the fee would be greatly reduced. I understand that wills and trusts from other states must be redone by Florida lawyers. Phone Number: 352-753-9333. Eric Millhorn was the one that we talked to but I dfon't think it would really matter.

My father used Milhorn Law to add an additional trustee and was charged $250. I think that’s a lot for doing a little. This was 5 yrs ago.

:agree

Ohiobuckeye
 

That's funny that this came up about Trust & Wills. We just had ours redone her in FL. from OH. Yes, they are good here BUT if you don't have it redone here, you'll have to pay Probate 7% upon death. Now I know some people might argue that point with me so I suggest you ask a lawyer, they'll probably answer that question free of charge. Sounds like a lot of people are getting different answers.

Ohiobuckeye
 

You're right, have a lawyer answer that question. You probably won't have to let them see your Will or Trust to find out if it will be honored here in FL. It's just I was told by several people that it would be honored here but you'll have to pay Probate 7% unless you have FL. notarized it. We just had ours done & notarized a month ago!

We had wills revocable trust poa medical ,the whole package for less than 800. No doubt you will be putting Florida property in your revocable and-bank accounts in the trust also.
Our attorney Andrew Curtis was very helpful and have nothing but praise for him.
We had to do a little leg work to get everything titled into the trust as we knew we would. If your existing trust is irrevocable you may be stuck with it. Do yourself and your heirs a favor seek competent lawyers to assist you.

If this is where your permanent residence is, then it is a wise move to update wills, trusts, estate planning, et al to Florida law/statutes/etc.

There is little or no advantage to keep the current documentation in a different state, other than not spending the "few" dollars it costs to update.

And as we all know, those things we only do once per year or several years need reminding in our own minds let alone local laws effects/impacts.

And....there is no doubt one learns something when updating and more so updating to a new state.

Provides peace of mind, eliminates second guessing and avoids interpretive fees at some future date.

Set up a meeting with Amy Pitman during our Preview week in April.

Had an open house on our condo here in San Jose this past weekend. Real Estate is pretty hot here. So, looking to figure out the trust before purchasing something in TV.

Highly recommend you see a FL attorney to review your trust and other estate planning papers.
We had an IL trust when we moved here last summer. We put our new TV home in the IL trust and the title company required that they review the trust to make sure it was compliant with FL law. Turned out it was.
But when we went to the FL attorney last week, she informed us that there were things that needed changing. We're keeping the IL trust so we don't have to retitle our assets - but she will create another document (I forgot what's it's called) that will modify our IL trust so that it's FL compliant.
That said she's also going to create some additional documents to replace the IL documents including Health POA and some of the others.
Re: the lawyers that said they wouldn't review out of state trusts, I would find a different lawyer. We scheduled consultations with 2 different attorneys who would review our IL docs. Both consultations were no charge. We decided to move ahead with the first attorney because we listened and found her to our liking and her costs for revising our docs was reasonable.

Sales appear to have been very hot in San Jose with many properties selling way over asking prices. I don’t know how it is right now but this shows how it was in recent years. What Bubble? Record Number Of Houses Selling For $500K Over Asking Price | Zero Hedge

Speak to attorney Andrew Curtis. All he does is trusts. He told a roomful of people a week ago at a meeting I was at that he normally just needs to add an amendment to a trust from another state.