{"id":608,"date":"2016-02-14T07:45:16","date_gmt":"2016-02-14T12:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flestatelaw.com\/?p=608"},"modified":"2019-05-13T18:16:02","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T18:16:02","slug":"are-handwritten-intentions-enforceable-princess-diana-thought-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/localwebdesigncompany.com\/goodwinlaw\/2016\/02\/14\/are-handwritten-intentions-enforceable-princess-diana-thought-so\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Handwritten Intentions Enforceable? Princess Diana Thought So\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\tPrincess Diana of Wales was one of the world\u2019s most loved celebrities \u2013 and one of the richest.\u00a0 Her tragic death in 1997 was world news. The majority of her estate, reportedly worth $40 million at the time of her death, was divided between Prince William and Prince Harry in her estate plan.<\/p>\n<p>However, she also wrote a \u201cletter of wishes\u201d that directed her executors to give a number of personal effects to her godchildren. Those executors, her mother and her sister, went to court and had it ruled unenforceable.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Holographic Wills \u2013 Sometimes Enforceable, Sometimes Not<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Princess Diana\u2019s letter of wishes is similar to what\u2019s known as a \u201cholographic\u201d will in the United States. In its most simple terms, it is a <em>handwritten<\/em> document which may or may not have to be signed.<\/p>\n<p>State laws vary on whether holographic wills can be enforced and how they must be prepared.\u00a0 Approximately half of U.S. states allow them and those require the matter to be probated.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the issues which frequently arise concerning holographic wills include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Did the decedent write the will? In contested cases, handwriting experts are often used to determine validity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Undue Influence.<\/strong> Was the decedent unduly influenced to create the will? That\u2019s difficult to prove \u2013 or disprove \u2013 as they do not have to be witnessed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Does the will accurately describe the decedent\u2019s intentions? Again, without witnesses (creating an actual last will and testament requires at least two), that becomes difficult to answer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The question becomes \u2013 if you believe that no one will contest your holographic will (and it is legal in your state), should you skip the lawyers altogether? The answer is NO.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Florida Law<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Under Section\u00a0732.502, Florida Statutes, \u201cAny will, other than a holographic or nuncupative will, executed by a nonresident of Florida, either before or after this law takes effect, is valid as a will in this state if valid under the laws of the state or country where the will was executed.\u201d\u00a0In other words, in Florida, even if a Holographic will would have been valid in another state, it still will not be accepted in Florida. Of course, if the will is properly witnessed, then it is valid either way. \u00a0p.s. A \u201cnuncupative\u201d will is an oral will. They\u2019re not valid in Florida either, even if videotaped or put on YouTube.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t Subject Your Wishes to Scrutiny<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The whole purpose of creating a document, <em>any<\/em> document, which spells out your intentions upon death is to make it enforceable. Although last will and testaments still go through probate, they provide the court with a signed and witnessed document which is likely to reflect your intentions. Holographic wills are less likely to hold up in court and will be subject to a great deal more scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line is that creating a will, a trust, or any other type of estate planning document is easy \u2013 when handled by an estate planning attorney. In effect, the process is simple and consists of having a conversation about your intentions, listing assets, and creating a legal document which will carry those intentions out. Sadly, Princess Diana\u2019s godchildren got nothing. Don\u2019t let someone else decide what you did, or did not, intend.<\/p>\n<p>Contact our office now and we\u2019ll show you which types of estate planning documents are best for <em>you and your goals<\/em>.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Princess Diana of Wales was one of the world\u2019s most loved celebrities \u2013 and one of the richest.\u00a0 Her tragic death in 1997 was world news. The majority of her estate, reportedly worth $40 million at the time of her death, was divided between Prince William and Prince Harry in her estate plan. However, she [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[30,42],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/localwebdesigncompany.com\/goodwinlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/localwebdesigncompany.com\/goodwinlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/localwebdesigncompany.com\/goodwinlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/localwebdesigncompany.com\/goodwinlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/localwebdesigncompany.com\/goodwinlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/localwebdesigncompany.com\/goodwinlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5680,"href":"https:\/\/localwebdesigncompany.com\/goodwinlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions\/5680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/localwebdesigncompany.com\/goodwinlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/localwebdesigncompany.com\/goodwinlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/localwebdesigncompany.com\/goodwinlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/localwebdesigncompany.com\/goodwinlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}