Question:
When we lived in South Carolina, my wife and I spent big bucks to get a will prepared. I think it was 2014 or 2015. We moved to Georgia in 2016. Our daughter is almost 14 years old. Do you think it’s absolutely necessary to pay big bucks again to get a new will prepared? I assumed the will would be recognized in whatever state we live but perhaps I mistaken.
Response:
Your South Carolina will should be fine in Georgia due to the “full faith and credit” clause of the United States Constitution. All states must give full faith and credit to the laws of other states. As a result, they must honor out-of-state wills.
But that’s only part of the story. While your wills and other documents are valid in Georgia, I have no idea about what in your estate plan may be particular to Georgia or South Carolina. You can only know for sure whether anything needs to be changed by having your documents reviewed by a Georgia estate planning attorney.
However, probably more important than doing new wills is doing new health care proxies and durable powers of attorney. Many states have their own forms and it’s best to use them since they’re more likely to be accepted by third parties in those states. In addition, many financial institutions are reluctant to honor older durable powers of attorney. While there’s no legal basis for their doing so, it’s a fact of life and therefor it makes sense to execute new durable powers of attorney from time to time.
