Legislative Update:


Florida Statutes has been revised in section 655.935 to clarify that only 3 things may, upon the request of a surviving spouse, parent, adult descendant, or person named as personal representative in a purported will of a lessee of a safe deposit box, be removed and delivered: (1) a purported will (delivered to the clerk of the court in the county in which the bank is located), (2) a burial plot deed and/or burial instructions, and (3) an insurance policy to the beneficiary named in the policy. Benefits of this statute are that a will goes directly to the court which allows a deceased person to assure that the will is private during life but does not suffer risk of being lost or destroyed by a disinherited person (the presumption is that a lost will was destroyed with the intention to revoke the will, meaning the deceased wishes may not be carried out). If a person cannot afford a safe deposit, the person should have his attorney or other trusted third party to store the will in a fire-proof and otherwise secure place. Individuals should plan for their demise by giving a copy of the will (or at least the first page, signature page and page designating a personal representative) to the named personal representative if there will be no surviving descendants, spouse, or parent because the statute does not provide for next of kin or friends to request that a will be retrieved from a safe deposit box without a court order. Also, the statute highlights the need to make sure that the life insurance policy includes the beneficiary designation or that the beneficiary change be included with the policy. The thing of greatest import that this statutory clarification highlights is that if you put other valuables in the safe deposit box, those cannot be retrieved until an estate has been opened for the deceased. However, on balance it may be more important that the valuables of a senior failing in health be safeguarded from unscrupulous caregivers or other opportunists than avoid the cost of a probate.