Under the Uniform Parentage Act as well as New York law, children born through the aid of advanced reproductive technology are treated the same as biological children. Children who are born through the use of frozen biological material, however, create many estate planning questions, which include how to write…
While we create estate plans to make sure that our wishes are carried out after our death or incapacity, we ultimately establish these plans for our loved ones. There are various reasons, however, why many people hesitate to create any type of estate plan at all. For one, it can…
It’s a common tactic for families to utilize trusts to both own, control, and transfer ownership of family businesses. Among other reasons, these trusts help to achieve goals related to asset protection, tax savings, and estate planning. If your family-run business is also a government contractor, it is critical…
It’s easy to assume that celebrities have the best-written estate plans. In reality, however, each year countless celebrities pass away and create estate problems because they do not clearly express their wishes. For example, when the “queen of soul music” Aretha Franklin passed away, she left a holographic will…
In the recent case of Leland House v. Webb, a husband initiated legal action against his deceased wife’s executor to quiet title of a property parcel. In response, the executor claimed that the transfer of the property was a gift rather than a sale. After the trial court ruled in…
While most of us are familiar with wills, many people in New York are not certain about the role played by other estate planning tools like guardianships. In short, a guardian refers to a person who makes decisions for another individual, who is not able to make decisions on their…
Many estate planning strategies can be utilized to achieve your goals. One of the most common techniques that people utilize to achieve tax and asset management goals is placing assets into a trust, but there are many complexities about how trusts operate. Among the various options for funding a trust,…
Regardless of whether you’re an estate representative, executor, or have any other connection to an estate being administered, it is common to wonder how long the estate asset distribution process will take. In reality, there is no fixed amount of time that estate distribution takes. Instead, this amount varies between…
It’s a common occurrence. A person passes away and the terms of a will require that assets be evenly divided among family members. The deceased, however, forget to mention how personal assets should be divided. As a result, conflict arises among surviving loved ones about how these items should be…
It’s often the case that the most critical conversations are some of the most challenging ones to have. If you plan on discussing long term care with your parent or family member this year, it can help to be prepared. After all, this conversation will need to resolve many questions…