As our population ages, worries about caring for our parents (not to mention ourselves), grow in importance. On October 1, 2020, New York will impose new restrictions on the eligibility for community Medicaid eligibility for home care services. This is a major change in the law. Before October 1, eligibility for such home care services was not subject to restrictions on the amount of property or assets a person had. Soon there will be restrictions…
A Power of Attorney is a very important and useful estate planning tool. But it is also a very dangerous one. A Will is effective only upon your death and then only when approved by the Surrogate’s Court. But a power of attorney is effective upon proper completion. It enables the person to whom it is given to act on one’s behalf in matters both personal and financial. Think of the consequences of that statement.…
In our previous entry we discussed the various ways that we can give our property can pass to others outside the terms of a valid Will or even if there is no Will at all (intestacy). Once understood, you can next consider your testamentary wishes and how to best give them effect.
You must first realize that a Will may be only one element of an estate plan. It may be combined with a Health…
What is a lawyerly answer to this most basic of estate planning questions? Simple, “yes and no.”
Now that I hope to have amused you, allow me to explain the rationale behind the lawyerly answer of “yes and no.” All attorneys understand from experience that for every generalization he or she might make, there are exceptions to that generalization. Perhaps the best way to answer this common question of the “need” for a Will is…
We all know that individuals who have passed age 70 ½ are required to receive Required Minimum Distribution payments each year from their IRAs and qualified plans. Individuals who inherit any of those assets are also required to take yearly Required Minimum Distribution amounts from those assets as well. It should be remembered however, that no Required Minimum Distribution payments are due from an individual’s own Roth IRA, while the individual is alive, but once…
In these troubled Covid-19 times, when we are all concerned with the physical and financial health of ourselves and of the members of our immediate family, many of the firm’s clients have been turning to the attorneys in its Trusts and Estates Department, to have their Wills and other estate planning documents reviewed and updated. But in this era of social distancing and with many offices closed, is that even still possible? The answer happily…
Today, as our country and the world try mightily to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected so many people in so many ways, from tragically losing family members, friends and colleagues, to their own illness and the illness of their loved ones, to job loss and other economic losses, to profound changes in their day-to-day lives and isolation from their loved ones, it is more important than ever to maintain and concentrate upon…