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Currents
October 2019
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from another state work in Florida? With some
exceptions, the answer is no.
There are three main documents that protect
you in Florida if you become incapacitated: Designa-
tion of Health Care Surrogate, Written Declaration,
also known as Living Will and the Durable Power of
Attorney. Other states may have different names for
these documents, but their substance is similar: you
are designating one or more persons to take care of
making medical decisions for you if you are unable to
communicate and to take care of your legal and
financial affairs if you become incapacitated. Every
state is like a different country. Each state has its
own laws and regulations regarding these three doc-
uments. The law in Florida is very clear regarding
language, required references to specific Florida
Statutes, HIPAA compliant language for the Health
Care Surrogate and requirements for initialing spe-
cific powers for which the Durable Power of Attorney
will apply. It is unlikely that you can find on line the
appropriate language that is necessary to create
documents that will be effective in Florida. Our cur-
rent Durable Power of Attorney document is 26
pages to be sure that it conforms to the new Florida
law. If you have similar documents from another
State, it is likely that they will not be valid in Florida.
Therefore, for my snowbird clients who divide
their time primarily between two states, I recommend
a set of documents for Florida and another set for
the other state. This will provide protection should
you become incapacitated in either state. You will not
have to worry if your out of state documents will be
honored.
If you have a Last Will and Testament that
has been properly executed in another state, and
you die in Florida, that Will is valid and can be filed in
the Florida Probate Courts. However, it becomes
much more time consuming, costly and difficult to
probate an out of state Will in Florida. A Commis-
sioner in the other state needs to be appointed by
the Florida Judge. The Commissioner must take the
sworn testimony of one of the witnesses to the Will
before it can be admitted to the Florida Probate
Court. Sometimes, particularly if the Will was done
awhile ago, the witnesses cannot be located. If you
have a Florida Will and it is properly executed and
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