12
Currents
August 2016
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Next to Rio Bingo
and Game Room
In over forty years of experience as a Florida attorney, I have seen very few non-lawyers successfully
create and properly execute any of the above legal
documents. Documents are created and/or executed improperly, resulting in a legal can of worms.
Deeds are a common example of where an
attempt to save a few dollars in attorney's fees results
in what can often end up being major title defects.
Properties are improperly transferred, thereby creating a defect in the title which needs to be corrected
either while someone is alive or during a probate
process after death. The defects
can involve improper dates,
names, lack of proper witnessing
and/or notarizing, incorrect legal
descriptions, etc. Lawyers make
mistakes, too, particularly those
who are not experienced in real
estate.
Each of our fifty states has its
own unique set of laws. Therefore, attempting to use a generic
form for Florida is asking for trouble.
In October of 2011, the
Florida Legislature passed a new
law regarding the Durable Power
of Attorney. This law makes the
document much more complicated and detailed than it used to
be. I worked with other law firms
for many months to create a
proper document to conform to
the complex new law. It is highly
unlikely that such a document
(our current format is approximately 26 pages) is available on
the internet.
Likewise, there is specific language regarding the Federal
HIPAA Act which must be
included in all Florida Designation
of Health Care Surrogates to
make them “HIPAA compliant.”
The correct language is not likely
to exist on the generic Health
Care Surrogate forms.
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