While none of us expect to become so ill we cannot manage our own affairs, we should nonetheless prepare contingencies in case these types of situations arise out of an injury, old age, or another unexpected event. One of the most important types of planning we can do is to…
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New York Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog
Tips for Sharing Your Estate Plan with Family
We try to provide readers with helpful tips and hints to make the estate planning process easier and more comprehensive regardless of an individual’s financial situation. Consistently, one of the most important aspects of successful and comprehensive estate planning is communication. While engaging in estate planning is an important step,…
What Types of Cases to New York Surrogate’s Courts Handle?
New York’s Surrogate’s Courts handle a wide variety of civil issues, mostly related to trusts and estates, guardianship, and adoption. The Surrogate’s Court is established in every county in New York, helping to provide residents with timely and effective due process for legal issues under the court’s jurisdiction. The following…
Tips on Talking to Parents About Inheritances
As important as talking about estate planning is, almost nobody will tell you that doing so is easy. In fact, talking about estate planning is usually pretty difficult. We have written about many different approaches to talking to your heirs about your estate plan, but communication is an extremely important…
Roth IRAs and Your Heirs’ Taxes
One of the primary purposes of responsible, comprehensive estate planning is to make sure that you are able to distribute as much of your estate as possible to your chosen heirs. After all, you worked hard for a lifetime to build your estate and most people engage in estate planning…
Inter Vivos Trusts – The Benefits of Creating a Living Trust
In New York state, individuals can place their estate into a trust to distribute to beneficiaries and thereby avoid lengthy and costly probate proceedings in a Surrogate’s Court. While a traditional last will and testament may be better for some individuals, for many it may be best to create some…
Estate Planning Concerns for Same-Sex Couples
When the United States Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, it opened up a lot of doors that had been closed to many people in society. However, it also created a significant amount of new legal concerns for same-sex couples. With marriage, a host of new questions and responsibilities have arisen.…
Preventing Undue Influence in a Will
A last will and testament is a very important document detailing the final wishes of a deceased person and New York probate courts give great deference to the language contained in a deceased individual’s decrees. One of the limited ways interested parties to an estate can challenge the directives contained…
Adding a “Life Estate” to Your Estate Plan
When planning for our later years, forward thinking individuals often wonder what is the best way to spend down their assets to qualify for Medicaid but still live a comfortable and dignified life until services like nursing care are absolutely needed. With the value of real estate skyrocketing over recent…
Estate Planning and Prenuptial Agreements
Once a tool for wealthy families to protect their assets when heirs got married, prenuptial agreements are now much more common in our society. Typically, such agreements cover property rights and other aspects of asset retention – but they can also set forth provisions for how each spouse will handle…