Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New Jersey

You are considered a resident or "domiciled" where you vote and have your official residence. If that is NJ, your NJ Will and power of attorney documents should be good in Florida as well. Having duplicates would cause confusion and possibly invalidate both. I hope that your "living will" includes advance health directives and appointment of a health care proxy/power of attorney who is authorized to carry out your directives if you are unable to communicate.

Carry copies of your documents to both states, make sure your executor/personal representative and your POA agents know where originals and copies are, so that if they have to act, they will be able to.

THIS RESPONSE IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE, SINCE I DO NOT HAVE ALL OF THE INFORMATION THAT WOULD BE REQUIRED, AND I DO NOT HAVE A REPRESENTATION AGREEMENT WITH YOU.

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Basically what Miriam states is accurate. However, I have a number of clients and family now domiciled in FL and I have had some problems when NJ drawn Wills are needed to be probated in Florida, due to change of domicile. Major problem is that Florida has different language that must be used when a document needs to be notarized and the traditional language used in NJ might not meet FL's requirements. Safest if you are considered a FL domiciliary is to have the documents redone to meet FL law. Keep in mind that FL favors estate attorneys - almost everything done in FL probate requires that it be signed by a FL attorney, so you might consider creating a FL law living trust to avoid FL probate completely. This might save you considerable legal fees and probate costs. If your domicile remains in NJ you will not have this problem, although if you own real estate in FL there still would be a probate procedure required, although ancillary to what is done in NJ, so the documents need not be changed.

As others have said, your documents are legal, however it would be better to have new documents drawn up. In particular, you may wish to set up a revocable living trust. While in New Jersey you have to be concerned about the estate and inheritance tax, in Florida you want to avoid probate because the costs and headaches associated with it are so high.

Moreover, if you own real estate in both places, your heirs will have to do a double probate and it is possible that New Jersey will try to claim you owe estate taxes if you do not plan properly.

I am licensed in both Florida and New Jersey if you would like to discuss more.

Kevin A. Pollock, J.D., LL.M.

www.PollockAtLaw.com

P: (609) 818-1555

Licensed to practice law in Florida, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Also, visit my blogs at:

http://WillsTrustsEstates.blogspot.com/

http://BaseballLaw.blogspot.com/

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