{"id":366964,"date":"2025-11-09T13:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T13:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/366964\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T13:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T13:47:10","slug":"moving-to-a-new-state-make-sure-to-unpack-update-your-estate-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/366964\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving to a new state? Make sure to unpack, update your estate plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;right:0;bottom:0;width:100%;height:100%;z-index:2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/86929785007-trnd-buxton-home-relocated-amid-coastal-erosion-thumb.jpg\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"vidplayicon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/appservices\/universal-web\/universal\/icons\/icon-play-alt-white.svg\" alt=\"play\" style=\"height:40px;margin:auto 18px auto 27px;width:40px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Watch Outer Banks home put on dolly, moved from eroding tides<\/p>\n<p>A waterfront home was put on a giant dolly and temporarily moved 60 feet amid coastal erosion in Buxton, North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.census.gov\/library\/stories\/2023\/06\/state-to-state-migration.html#:~:text=Nearly%207.9%20million%20people%20in,states%20within%20a%20given%20year.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Millions of Americans move<\/a> to a different state each year, and they often forget to update their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/columnist\/2018\/10\/03\/preparing-wills-what-you-need-know-estate-planning\/1439007002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">estate planning documents<\/a> which can wreak havoc on their plans, experts said.<\/p>\n<p>Only 24% of Americans have a will, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.caring.com\/resources\/wills-survey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2025 Caring.com survey<\/a> of more than 2,500 adults. \u00a0Worse, nearly a quarter of respondents haven&#8217;t updated their estate planning documents since origination, and 11% have moved away from the place they first had their estate drawn up, the poll said.<\/p>\n<p>Inheritance, health care directives and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/personalfinance\/2020\/03\/20\/power-attorney-how-prepare-personal-finances-emergencies\/2875157001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">powers of attorney (POAs)<\/a> laws can vary significantly from state to state. If your estate documents don\u2019t comply with laws in the state where you live, they may not be enforceable and your best laid out wishes may end up ignored, experts said. Differences in laws can also affect income tax, state estate or inheritance tax, and marital property, making the plan not as efficient and favorable to your heirs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDocuments that might be relied on in time of need &#8212; a healthcare surrogate, living will and POA &#8212; are creatures of state statute,\u201d said Tasha Dickinson, trusts and estates lawyer at Day Pitney.<\/p>\n<p>Do I need a whole new set of estate planning documents?<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no need to go to the shredder, experts said. Legal documents like wills are valid from state to state, but from a practical perspective, it may be worthwhile having a lawyer in your new state review them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are a lot of nuances in state laws that may require attention,\u201d Dickinson said. She recommends ancillary documents like powers of attorney get updated.<\/p>\n<p>What are examples of things to keep in mind?<\/p>\n<p>Here are some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/columnist\/2020\/11\/25\/power-attorney-estate-planning-means-organizing-passwords\/6409867002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">estate planning<\/a> items to keep in mind, experts say:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Property<\/strong>. \u201cThere\u2019s a big difference between community property state laws and non-community property state laws,\u201d said Patrick Simasko, elder law attorney and financial adviser at Simasko Law. \u201cIt\u2019s a really good idea to sit down with a lawyer and have those documents reviewed and make them comply.\u201d\n<ul>\n<li>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/2025\/06\/21\/7-tips-for-surviving-gray-divorce-assets-house-retirement\/84264949007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">community property<\/a> states, both spouses have equal ownership rights to all income and assets and debt acquired during the marriage. When one spouse dies, the surviving spouse automatically receives the other half. A house is revalued at the fair market value, or gets a full step up, so there\u2019s no capital gains tax if sold immediately. Nine states \u2014 Idaho, New Mexico, Texas, California, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada, Louisiana, and Washington\u00a0\u2013 have community property laws.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/personalfinance\/lifestages\/2018\/02\/23\/youre-married-but-your-assets-dont-have-to-be\/110451400\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">non-community property, or common law<\/a>, states, any property or debt acquired during the marriage is owned by the spouse who obtained it and can be left to anyone the owner chooses. If the house is jointly owned by the couple, the surviving spouse will inherit the house, but only the deceased spouse\u2019s half gets a step-up in value.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once assets are community property, they generally stay as such, even if the couple moves to a separate property state unless couples actively make a change, <a href=\"https:\/\/privatebank.jpmorgan.com\/nam\/en\/insights\/markets-and-investing\/ideas-and-insights\/relocating-your-new-states-property-rules-may-surprise-you\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to JP Morgan<\/a>. Conversely, property owned by a married couple relocating from a common law state to a community property state will eventually become quasi-community property, which is basically community property, it said.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/personalfinance\/2020\/03\/20\/power-attorney-how-prepare-personal-finances-emergencies\/2875157001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Powers of Attorney<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sponsor-story\/chapters-health-system\/2022\/04\/01\/5-most-important-questions-ask-advance-directives\/7217897001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Advance Directives<\/a>. <\/strong>Your documents should remain valid, but states typically have their own statutory and specific forms. \u201cIf you need a decision made for you, you wouldn\u2019t want family members potentially arguing with a medical professional about whether they have authority under (an unfamiliar, out-of-state) document,\u201d Dickinson said.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Executor of will. <\/strong>Your will should remain valid from state to state, but states may have their own rules on who can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/life\/columnists\/2017\/03\/25\/money-manners-choosing-successor-executor-when-theres-no-familial-option\/99471914\/#:~:text=And%20finally%2C%20be%20certain%20to,paying%20for%20and%20he&#039;s%20not.&amp;text=Dear%20Anonymous:%20Who%20wouldn&#039;t,Tax%20evasion%2C%20no.)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">serve as the executor<\/a> of the will. For example, if you moved to Florida and named a non-Florida resident as executor or personal representative, that person must be a relative or be disqualified. \u201cIf you didn\u2019t name anyone else who qualifies, then that\u2019s a problem,\u201d Dickinson said.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Medora Lee is a money, markets and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:mjlee@usatoday.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mjlee@usatoday.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/profile.usatoday.com\/newsletters\/the-daily-money\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watch Outer Banks home put on dolly, moved from eroding tides A waterfront home was put on a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":366965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[931,64,3189,356,29596,71877,614,649,4641,18217,6764,177443,177446,8972,1142,7065,43854,250,664,4630,152775,20598,177445,451,450,457,255,615,616,650,39145,700,5677,14982,58983,177444,646,6225,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-366964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-and","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-content","11":"tag-courts","12":"tag-diy","13":"tag-diy-u0026-expert-content","14":"tag-estate","15":"tag-estate-planning","16":"tag-expert","17":"tag-financial","18":"tag-financial-planning","19":"tag-forms","20":"tag-forms-guides-u0026-templates","21":"tag-guides","22":"tag-healthcare","23":"tag-housing","24":"tag-how-to","25":"tag-inheritance","26":"tag-inheritance-u0026-estate-planning","27":"tag-legal","28":"tag-legal-services","29":"tag-moving","30":"tag-moving-and-storage","31":"tag-negative","32":"tag-overall","33":"tag-overall-negative","34":"tag-personal-finance","35":"tag-planning","36":"tag-probate","37":"tag-probate-courts","38":"tag-retirees","39":"tag-retirement","40":"tag-services","41":"tag-states","42":"tag-storage","43":"tag-templates","44":"tag-u0026","45":"tag-united","46":"tag-united-states","47":"tag-unitedstates","48":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}