New York Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

Legacy Planning

Published on: April 24, 2025 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Some thirty-five years ago your writer was taught that estate planning is about getting your assets to whom you want, when you want, and the way you want, with the least amount of taxes and legal fees possible.

In the intervening time, we have learned that estate planning is more — it is legacy planning. Legacy has two meanings (1) the assets you leave, and (2) the impression you leave. Your assets will dissipate, but your impression will endure.

Were you kind and generous? Were you forgiving and grateful? Were you compassionate and did you bring light into the world, despite your setbacks.

Ettinger Law Firm – The Prequel

Published on: April 8, 2025 | by Ettinger Law Firm

This being our 35th anniversary, your writer thought it might be of some interest to our readers just how Ettinger Law Firm first came into being. It is written in the third person to make it more readable.

The law firm was founded in a single office in West Hurley, New York, just outside Kingston, NY. Kingston sits in the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York where the firm’s founder, Michael Ettinger resided at the time.

How Michael ended up in rural West Hurley, having been born and raised in Montreal, Canada is a story in itself. He graduated law school at McGill University in Montreal (sometimes called the “Harvard of Canada”) in 1977 at the age of 22. Feeling that he was too young to start practicing law, he also yearned to move to New York after his uncle Norman, who had moved from Montreal to Scarsdale, NY a few years earlier.

Ettinger Law Firm Named Top Elder Law Firm 2025

Published on: March 10, 2025 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Elder Care Review, circulated to thousands of professionals in the elder care industry, has named Ettinger Law Firm as its Top Elder Law Firm 2025. Here are excerpts from the full article:

For over four decades, Ettinger Law Firm has been transforming the way legal services are provided to older adults. Led by attorney Michael Ettinger, the firm safeguards seniors’ rights and well-being through the pioneering concept of “elder law estate planning”. This distinctive approach integrates elder law and estate planning into a cohesive strategy that protects assets and ensures long-term care, financial security and peace of mind for older adults and their families.

The firm’s hallmark is its tailored legal solutions that focus on the social side of estate planning. It goes beyond legally protecting clients to assuring they understand the social and emotional repercussions these plans can have on their heirs. “When you get into estate planning, how you leave the estate can either bring the family together or tear it apart,” says Ettinger. He emphasizes an approach designed to prevent conflicts between heirs and create a legacy beyond financial distributions.

Pet Trusts

Published on: February 21, 2025 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Bob and Laura were ready to move forward with their estate plan to save estate taxes and avoid probate. The only hitch was who would take care of their beloved pets, Samson, the dog and Delilah, the cat, after Bob and Laura passed away.

Under New York law, trusts for the care of our pets are valid and enforceable. You can set up a pet trust in either a trust or a will. A trust is a private document that generally does not go to court, so if you create a pet trust within your own trust, it’s a private affair. A will, once submitted to court, is a public document and the court oversees the directions in your will, including your pet trust provisions.

Bob and Laura created pet trusts in their own living trusts. After more searching and discussion, they chose Bob’s brother, Rich, to be the trustee, or manager, of the pet trusts, meaning Rich will oversee and keep account of the money allocated to care for Sampson and Delilah. Rich will also be the caretaker. The trustee and caretaker do not have to be the same person but often that is the arrangement.

Medicaid Asset Protection Trust Myths

Published on: February 11, 2025 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Why don’t more people do the Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT)? The answer is that clients often get the wrong advice from well meaning but ill informed professionals, family and friends. Here are some of the most common MAPT myths.

1. You Can’t Sell the House. The MAPT may sell the house at any time. The money is paid to the MAPT. You may invest the money and use the income for a rental or you may purchase another residence in the name of the MAPT. The five year clock does not start over.

2. You Lose Your Property Tax Exemptions. Properly drafted MAPT’s preserve your Senior, STAR and Veteran’s exemptions as well as the exemption from capital gains taxes on the sale of the primary residence — $500,000 for a couple or $250,000 for a single person.

The Santa Clause in Estate Planning — 2025

Published on: January 11, 2025 | by Ettinger Law Firm

The current New York estate tax exemption stands at $7.16 million while the Federal exemption is at $13.99 million. While the Federal government only taxes the amount over the Federal exemption, New York takes a different approach. Once you go more than 5% over the exemption amount in New York, they tax the whole estate! You’re “over the cliff”.

New York’s “fiscal cliff”, as it has been termed, leads to the absurd result that you would end up with less after taxes on a seven and a half million dollar estate than on a seven million dollar estate.

The “Santa Clause” is intended to avoid the tax “fiscal cliff” by providing that any amounts that would cause the fiscal cliff to be triggered are to be given to a qualified charity. This lowers the amount of the estate subject to estate tax to no more than the exemption amount.

Tax and Medicaid Law Changes for 2025

Published on: January 10, 2025 | by Ettinger Law Firm

For 2025, the exemptions for estate taxes rise to $7.16 million for New York estate taxes, and to $13.99 million for Federal estate taxes. The annual gift tax exclusion rises to $19,000. If your estate is, or may become, greater than the New York threshold, early intervention can avoid the hefty New York estate taxes, which start at over $600,000. Some of the techniques are (1) setting up two trusts, one for husband and one for wife, and using them to double the New York exemption, (2) gifting out so much of the estate so as to reduce it below the New York exemption, at least three years before the death of the donor, and (3) using the “Santa Clause” providing that the amount over the threshold be donated to a charity or charities of your choosing so as to reduce the estate to no more than the exemption.

For Medicaid, the house is an exempt asset so long as a spouse is residing there, up to $1.1 million of equity for 2025. Seeing as over 80% of nursing home residents do not have a spouse, it is better to plan ahead with a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) to get the five year look-back for nursing facility care. In that case, the house would be protected by the trust rather than the unreliable spousal exemption. Unless your other assets have been protected by the MAPT, an individual may keep about $31,500 and a spouse at home can keep up to about $158,000.

The often-delayed imposition of the new two and a half year look-back for home care, is not on the horizon for 2025. Currently there is no look-back for home-care and you do not have to worry about getting home care until you actually need it. Nevertheless, this may change in the future so the MAPT remains as an important as a tool to qualify you for home care as well as protecting your assets from a nursing home. Assets should be moved into the MAPT years ahead of time if you want to be able to afford to stay in your own home and get home health aides for assistance with the activities of daily living, should the need arise.

Estate Planning Requires Confidence Building

Published on: December 18, 2024 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Many people are afraid to go and see a lawyer for estate planning. They may not want to look foolish, knowing so little about the subject. They may feel intimidated by the knowledge and authority of the attorney. Some are frightened about the cost or being taken advantage of. They may have had a bad previous experience with a lawyer, either in the same or in another field of law, and so on.

For this reason, we start with the premise that we must first build the client’s confidence. We do this by offering a free initial consultation where we explore the client’s social and financial issues. It’s often like chatting with someone in their living room. We like to get to know you and your overall situation. It’s a low-key, judgment-free zone. We park our egos at the door when we come in and endeavor to treat our clients as the peers and equals they are.

All the while, we are formulating the outline of an estate plan in our heads and passing along our thoughts and ideas to the client on an ongoing basis throughout the process. By the end of the first meeting, we have often formulated a tentative estate plan which we share with the client, also stating what the fees will be. We give the client a copy of our book “Ettinger Law Firm’s Guide to Protecting Your Future”, written in plain English, telling them which chapters apply to their situation and, for those who prefer to watch, share the link to our estate planning seminar on our website, trustlaw.com. The client is then invited to a second free consultation, two or three weeks later, to have all their questions answered, draft the estate plan and receive a written fee proposal. Unique among elder law estate planning firms, we do not ask our clients to sign any retainer agreement or to pay any fees up front.

Myths About Estate Planning

Published on: November 21, 2024 | by Ettinger Law Firm

The first myth to explore about estate planning is that you can do it yourself over the internet. This supposes that a trust is a generic legal document where you plug in names, addresses and amounts you want to give and then off you go! However, experienced estate planning lawyers will tell you the job is ninety percent social work and only ten percent legal.

Most of the time we spend with clients involves going over the social aspects of the estate plan. First, who should be in charge of your legal and financial decision-making in the event of death or disability? One person or more than one? Should they be required to act together or may they be permitted to act separately? How are the other family members going to feel about these choices? Who gets along with whom? What are my options and what do other people do and why? You need to be in a position to evaluate pros and cons and there’s no counselling on the internet.

Getting an estate plan from out-of-state is fraught with other pitfalls. Take the New York form of power of attorney, for example. In our experience, even trained lawyers often make major errors in drafting and executing the complex New York form of power of attorney. What chance does a lay person have to get it right?

Planning for Single Relative Living Alone

Published on: November 8, 2024 | by Ettinger Law Firm

If you have a son, daughter, sister, brother or parent living alone for whom you are responsible, and they unfortunately become incapacitated or die, apart from the emotional and medical burdens, you may have significant legal and financial troubles. A little planning in advance for these contingencies will go a long way in making any such dire situation much easier to handle.

If they rent, then make sure they notify their landlord, in writing, that you have their permission to access the apartment. Also get a key to their apartment or home or at least know where you can get one (such as from a neighbor).

A power of attorney will allow you to handle their legal and financial affairs during any period of disability. However, a power of attorney automatically ceases on death. Once someone dies, only the executor under the will may handle legal and financial affairs and it may take months and sometimes years to become appointed executor by the Surrogate’s Court. A properly created and funded living trust, on the other hand, gives you immediate control of their affairs upon death.