Do I Need to Change My Trust If I Move to Another State?

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Question:
I had a trust drawn up in California with my wife. I am now widowed, sold the home in California and bought a condo in Florida, which title is in the name of the trust. I do not have any other changes to the trust. Can you advise if any updates are necessary so my heirs will not have issues at the time I pass?
Response:
You probably don’t need to make any changes to your trust. Trusts created in one state work in all other states. Florida also has no estate tax, so that’s not an issue there. However, you might want to have a Florida attorney review your trust just to make sure there’s no reason to change it for Florida. We can’t know what may be lurking in Florida law that cut affect the operation of the trust.
More important than updating your trust would be executing a new durable power of attorney and health care directive now that you’re in Florida. Financial institutions and health care providers are often much more comfortable with local documents than out-of-state ones. In addition, financial institutions often apply a “staleness” rule, refusing to honor older durable powers of attorney. There’s no basis in the law for this policy, but it’s easier to execute new durable powers of attorney every five to ten years than to fight the banks.
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