If you’ve already created an estate plan and have moved, or are considering moving, you may want to take the time to review your plan if your move brings you to a new state. If you’re simply moving to a new location in the same state, you probably don’t need to make any changes. However, moving to a new state should prompt you to at least review your plan, and probably call an estate planning lawyer.
Issue 1: Your Will.
Each state will recognize the validity of the Will created in a different state as long as your Will meets the legal requirements of the state where you made it. However, because the laws and court cases surrounding wills differ between states, it’s a good idea to have a lawyer familiar with the laws of your new state review your will. There may be some minor changes you will want to make to prevent any potential problems down the road, but it’s very unlikely that you will need to rewrite your Will entirely.
Issue 2: Your medical directives.
While your Will is probably safe, your medical directives are another issue. When you move to a new state you will probably want to create new advance directives. This is primarily because your directives will first be used by health care providers. It’s important that your health care providers are able to recognize a valid medical directive, and making a new directive that complies with the laws of the state in which the health care providers are located is probably a good idea.
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