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Have you had the foresight over the years to have a Will, Healthcare Surrogate, Power of Attorney and Revocable Trust done for you? If you have, I congratulate you. You've taken a very positive step in protecting your assets and being able to live life with less financial concern. Unfortunately, the fact that you had these documents prepared does not guarantee that they will have the effectiveness that you thought they would have when you first signed them. Due to changing laws over the last years, Healthcare Surrogates, Durable Powers of Attorney and related documents, have undergone changes as well. The document you may have signed five, ten or more years ago does not look like the document that is currently in existence and although the documents do give you minimal protection, there is a real possibility that they may not be as effective today as they would have been when you signed them
As most of you are aware, we now, under Federal Law, have to comply with HIPPA whenever we seek to obtain a patient's information or records. Without a signed waiver, you cannot obtain any information on behalf of someone else. The Healthcare Surrogate or Durable Power of Attorney, you may have signed two or three years ago may not include language that allows you, as a Healthcare Surrogate, to get medical records since the HIPPA law came into being. As a result, it may be necessary to update your Healthcare Surrogate document to provide the necessary language to allow you to obtain compliance with the HIPPA law. As far as these documents are concerned, if you have changed your beneficiaries, your trustees, your surrogates or your power of attorney, without the formality and legality in said changes, these documents may not be acceptable when the time comes for those persons to act for you. You cannot change a previously signed document by drawing a line through it or adding other terms and conditions into it unless it is done properly and pursuant to Florida Statues and the requirements needed for the execution of said documents. Your altering or modifying a document by yourself may invalidate that document.
Because of the above problems, it is necessary that you consider a "Document Checkup," to determine if your documents may be in compliance and/or need to be updated or changed. If you will call my office, we will review said documents, for a nominal fee, and advise you whether any changes are necessary.
For those of you having a Revocable Living Trust, it is imperative that all assets that were to be placed into the Trust have been properly transferred into the Trust's name and that title to said assets, whether it be real property, bank accounts, stocks, bonds or other property, clearly reflect the name of the Trust and the other correct language necessary to show that that asset is a part of the Trust. If you have failed to include assets in the Trust, they will not be part of the Trust and may be subject to probate and guardianship court procedures. If that is the case, you may have completely defeated the purpose for which the Trust was executed and it is extremely important that you make sure that the property you have is correctly titled in the Trust. Once again, if you wish to come into the office for me to review your Trust and your properties and to determine if the title is correct, we are happy to do so at a nominal fee. If modifications and/or amendments need to be made to your Trust, deeds need to be done to transfer the title into the Trust, or legal work has to be done in order to correctly include the assets in the Trust. There will be an additional fee.
It is Never Too Late for a Change, especially when you are dealing with legal documents that may not have the effectiveness you thought they would have had. Please, when you have a moment, review your documents, See if there are any changes you need to make. See if they are correct and please make sure that all your assets that are supposed to be in your Trust are correctly in your Trust. My office is here to serve your needs at any time. Please feel free to call us at 954-229-2226.
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