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Gifting to minors raises some unique considerations. For one, people under the age of eighteen lack the legal capacity to own assets. The Uniform Transfer to Minors Act (UTMA) was created to protect assets that are passed on to minors. This act determines when minors can receive an inheritance for…
Trusts can shield your assets from the high cost of home care making you eligible for home health aides through the Medicaid program. Trusts start the five year “look-back” for institutional care, making you eligible for Medicaid benefits to pay for a nursing home. Trusts can ensure the inheritances you…
Two overriding questions govern your choices in an elder law estate plan. First, what will happen to your assets when you pass away? Second, what will happen to your assets if you need long-term care? A comprehensive plan covers both issues. You must protect assets from going to long-term care…
Planning for, and then executing, inheritances is often fraught with emotion. Most families choose to leave the inheritance “to my children in equal shares, per stirpes.” Per stirpes is Latin meaning “by the roots” so that if a child dies before the parent, their share goes to their children (if…
An Aging Life Care Manager (ALCM) is a health and human services specialist who acts as a guide and advocate for families who are caring for older relatives or disabled adults. The expertise of ALCM’s can be summarized into these knowledge areas. Health and Disability. From physical problems to mental…
Revocable living trusts, where the grantor (creator) and the trustee (manager) are the same person, use the grantor’s social security number and are not required to file an income tax return. All income and capital gains taxes are reported on the individual’s Form 1040. Irrevocable living trusts come in two…
New York law prevents spouses from being disinherited. Instead, a spouse who is disinherited may go to court and claim their “elective share” which is the greater of fifty thousand dollars or one-third of the estate. Questions often arise as what the “estate” of the deceased spouse consists of. Naturally,…
In the fall of 1990, some thirty plus years ago, your writer first heard of the proposition that if you set up a living trust your estate doesn’t have to go to court to settle – the so-called probate court proceeding for wills. Having spent the previous eleven years as…
Published this year, “The Good Life” reports on the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever done. Tracking the lives of hundreds of participants for over 80 years, the report concludes that it is the strength of our relationships with friends, relatives and co-workers that…
Home care paid for by New York State is known as “Community Medicaid”. Paying your own living expenses, plus the cost of caregiving services, is beyond the means of many. Since 2020, there have been numerous attempts to create a new thirty month look-back period for Community Medicaid eligibility. So…