Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

Re: will with penned cross outs

Alterations to a will must be signed, witnessed and notarized just like making a new one. The are otherwise ineffectual.

The will must be probated in the state where she lived at her death. We can handle by mail. JMC

Handwritten changes to Will

FACTS: aunt died in fla.; will made in N.J.; hand written changes;

Q. is this will legal? will person who currently has POA be excecutor? will this Will be probated in Fla. or N.J.

A. The Will is probably not valid unless the changes were properly executed according to N.J. law. Probate takes place in the state where your Aunt was living when she died. Fla. law controls who will be P.R. and gives some preference to the person named in the Will or the person your Aunt trusted with her POA. If the entire Will was hand written, then it would probably be good. With changes written-in and not properly executed, it may have destroyed the validity of the Will. A clean copy may have to be used, but even then it will be questioned as her true intent. Intestate sucession may control how her estate is handled.