Video Summary

What’s the difference between a will and a living will?  A will says that I devise and leave everything that I own to my beloved spouse or names a beneficiary and deals with the leaving behind of your property, leaving your property to whoever you would like whenever you pass away.  A living will is a dying declaration that says that you do not want your life prolonged artificially.

Florida statutes have set forth three areas, three time periods in which you can direct and authorize life support to be discontinued: one is if you have an end-stage condition, which is really when you’re in the dying process; two is if you have a terminal condition; and three is if you have a permanent vegetative state.  All of these circumstances are whenever you’re unconscious.  And therefore you have to leave directions behind and the medical community must make the determination that you have any one of these three conditions.  And then they turn to whoever you designate in your living will to make the decision to terminate life support.  And then you’re on your own and usually when you remove the ventilators, well then you pass away without any assistance.

So the will leaves behind your property to whoever you designate.  A living will is whenever you’re in the twilight time of your life and you’re authorizing that the plug be disconnected or that you do not want life-saving or mechanical ventilators to sustain your life mechanically.  I think it’s ‘artificially’ continue your life.

So if you have any questions about a will or a living will, well, give me a call at 727-847-2288.  Thank you.

Video Summary

Good afternoon.  I’m Tom Mitchell, one of the partners here at Waller & Mitchell in New Port Richey.  And I wanted to talk with you today for a few minutes about what you need to do before you come in to make out your will.  Making out a will is very important and it’s part of your overall estate plan, so you need to go back over all of your various accounts, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, other personal property that you might have, jewelry, cars, get all that information together so that you know what you have.  While you’re doing that, it’s very important to check to see how the asset is titled.  If you have a beneficiary or it’s joint with some family member, you need to understand that that asset is going to be passed to that person by virtue of the titling.

So if you have in your will that you want your estate divided equally among your three children, but you’ve already put one child on most of the accounts, that one child is going to get most of the accounts and it’s not going to go equally to your three children.  So it’s very important to know what those account statements say as to the titling.  Bring all that information in.  We’ll go over it with you and see what you need to do to make your estate pass the way you want it to, not just your estate through your will, but your overall estate.

This is Tom Mitchell from Waller & Mitchell.  Our telephone number is 727-847-2288.  We’re located in New Port Richey.  Have a good day.

Summary

I’m Tom Mitchell, a partner with the law firm of Waller & Mitchell, and I do estate planning here in the office.  And I frequently get questions from people that want to know if their will from up north is still valid now that they’ve moved to Florida, and the short answer is yes, it is still valid.  The United States Constitution has a provision that’s called the Full Faith and Credit Clause, and what it means is that states have to honor the laws of other states.  So if your will was valid in the state that it was drafted, then it will be valid here in Florida. 

Having said that, there are still a couple of reasons why you might want to consider rewriting your will once you’re down here.  First of all, you should be checking your will and rewriting it any time there’s a substantial change in your life situation and, the last time I heard, retiring and moving to Florida qualifies as a pretty substantial life changing situation.  And the second and more practical reason is that if there’s any issue about the validity of your will, such as being drafted in Pennsylvania or Ohio, the witnesses to the will are all located in Pennsylvania or Ohio, so they’re gonna have to be brought to Florida and put up while we have a trial to contest the validity of your will.  It’s a lot cheaper to pay $150.00 for a new husband and wife will than it is to fly in a bunch of people from Pennsylvania and put them up here for a week while we have a trial. 

So that’s just a  practical reason why even though your will might still be valid, you probably want to take a look at having it changed to a Florida will.  Maybe not the first month you’re here, but certainly in the first six months or a year you should.  We’re located at 5332 Main Street in New Port Richey, Florida.  Our telephone number is 727-847-2288.  Thanks.

Video Summary

Hi.  I’m Chip Waller.  How often should you update your will?  Well, the question is answered by saying when there’s been a change in circumstances: in the event that you have a death in your family, in the event that you relocate, in the event that there’s a birth in the family, grandchildren, or when you have sold property that you had left to someone in particular.  So anytime there is a change in your circumstances, that’s the time to update your will.

I suggest that you review your will at least once a year in order to look at it to see if that’s what you wanted to say, and whether or not there have been any changes in circumstances since you’ve made out your will.  If so, then give us a call and we’ll be glad to update your will.

In addition to your will, you might want to check in on whether or not you have a living will ,which says that you don’t want your life prolonged artificially; a healthcare surrogate, which is a healthcare power of attorney; a HIPAA waiver, which authorizes someone to make medical decisions for you if you’re unable to do so; and also a Durable Power of Attorney, which could be executed to help you in the event that you would lose your mental or physical capacity, and authorize someone else to transact business for you.

So if you have any questions about your will or any of your estate planning documents, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.  Thank you.

Video Summary

Many prepare a will in the hopes that it will prevent their estate from undergoing the probate process at the time of their passing. However, if you are in sole ownership of any assets with no co-owner or beneficiary legally established, then those assets will need to be probated.

If you have any questions about estate planning or would like to have your will prepared, please call Waller & Mitchell at (727) 847-2288.