Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Re: Wills

I suggest that you have the Will prepared now. A validly executed NY Will should be valid in any state. To be safe check with the Surrogate's or Probate Court in the state you are moving to.

Re: Wills

I disagree with Mr. Karvay's opinion.

Since you are married with no children, if there is no will under NY intestacy laws the assets will automatically pass to the spouse.

Although it is preferable for you to have a valid will and although it is true that a NY State Will is transferable, it would be better to sign a will where you are domiciled. Why rely on a foreign State to have to interpret NY law? The 6 month period is not a long period of time to wait.

Mike.

Re: Wills

I agree with parts of the responses, but also respectfully disagree with both authors who have already responded, for the following reasons: (1) Most states, while respecting the laws of other states, have what is known as "self-proving Wills", which are Wills that are notarized at the time of execution, containing an affidavit that all requirements of the State of execution have been satisfied. This avoids the necessity of having a witness "prove" the Will at the time of probate. Unfortunately the language required in the self-prooving affidavit differs from State to State and some states will not accept a document that does not have the proper language. (2) However, many States will accept both documents, if a subsequent Codicil, properly executed and using the new State's self-proving affidavit language incorporates the prior Will be reference thereto. (3) While intestacy laws (laws stating how an estate will pass if there is no Will) are pretty much the same from State to State, there may be reasons to do a Will now and update after your move. For example, what if there is a simultaneous death of spouses. How the estate will go in such event, may differ from State to State, and produce unintended results. I recommend doing Wills now, covering all contingencies, including simultaneous death, and updating them after the move. If you need more information, or have questions, contact me directly.