Your estate plan exists to make sure that your wishes are known and fulfilled. In particular, you have a will to make sure that your family is provided for and that your assets go to the people you want to care for and believe are deserving. However, failure to keep…
A directed trust is a type of investment trust that appoints a particular trustee, usually a bank or firm, to administer specific aspects of the trust. Trustees who are responsible for directed trusts generally have a number of other professionals who assist in their administration of the trust by providing…
Every family has at least one horror story of a death in a family turning into a protracted legal tragedy well documented publicly by a probate court. An angry heir dissatisfied with their share of inheritance or a disinherited family member desperately trying to claim a stake of the predeceased’s…
Nationwide The Death with Dignity Act gained national attention when it Brittany Maynard, a 29 year old woman suffering from an incurable brain tumor, chose to end her life with the help of a lethal dose of medication. Since then, a national debate has resurfaced about terminally ill patient’s ability…
Over the course of your life, you go through many stages. For some people that includes moving to and from different states, entering or dissolving a marriage, having children, losing loved ones, and having significant changes in income. As these events shape your life, your outlook and perspective on how…
NEW YORK RULE ON ARBITRATION FOR PROBATE DISPUTES The idea of using quasijudicial means to settle disputes is as old as the country itself. More specifically arbitration is a method that parties utilize that is usually cheaper, quicker and often with much less formality, yet still adheres to principles of…
SOME ANNUITIES DO NOT RENDER APPLICANT INELIGIBLE FOR MEDICAID As this blog wrote about several months ago, certain financial products purchased by a Medicaid applicant do not render them ineligible for Medicaid benefits. While the previous post discussed why a short term annuity did not render a Medicaid applicant…
MANY ISSUES TO ADDRESS – PRIVACY AND LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS The issue of video cameras in nursing homes has exploded over the last several years. With the large scale saturation of such user friendly technologies as Skype, Facetime and similar video technologies it should not come as a surprise that…
GIFT TAX LIABILITY Gift tax liability and estate planning sometimes intersect. The tax Court case of Steinberg v. Commissioner, 141 T.C. No. 8 (Sept. 30, 2013) deals with an interesting issue, if tax law can ever be interesting, where gift tax liability and estate tax liability intersect. It is important…
An earlier post on this blog provided an overview of using beneficiary designations as part of your estate plan. Recall that beneficiary designations are a way to transfer property automatically upon the death of the asset owner outside of the probate process. This post is part II of that discussion,…