New York Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

How to Help an Elderly Loved One Without Overstepping Boundaries

Published on: February 12, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

New variants of COVID-19 including Omnicron and most recently IHU have led many people to prolong social distancing. Understandably, this extended isolation has had a detrimental impact on the mental health of many elderly adults. While you understandably want the best for your loved one, it’s critical to approach discussions about care with the utmost respect for your elderly loved one’s independence. This avoids not overstepping your elderly loved one’s boundaries.

Decide If Your Family Member Needs Assistance

One of the best places to start is to create a mental checklist of what you should examine about how your elderly loved one lives. Some of the most important details you might decide to examine include:

Understanding the Role of Federal Taxes in 2022

Published on: February 1, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

As we begin our way through 2022, understanding various federal tax issues can help make the most of your estate planning this year. Because the federal legislature might pass regulations that alter these laws sometime during 2022, it’s important to understand critical federal tax laws you might want to utilize now. Before acting on any of these regulations, however, it’s often wise to speak with an attorney who is up to date with these changes and can make sure that you engage in actions that best benefit your situation.

# 1 – Lifetime Exclusion Amounts

Starting January 1, 2022, the amount of federal estate and gift tax exclusion in addition to the generation-skipping transfer tax has increased to $12,060,000 from $11,700,000. Remember, this amount is doubled for married couples. These threshold amounts are poised to decrease substantially at the beginning of 2026, though.

The Advantage of Utilizing SPA Trusts in Your Estate Plan

Published on: February 1, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

In times of economic uncertainty, estate plans can benefit substantially from flexibility. As the country both continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as face the challenges brought on by new strains of COVID-19, it’s a good idea to consider how to make your estate plan flexible. Not to mention, looming changes brought on by changes to tax law also make it a good idea to consider flexibility while creating an estate plan.

What SPA Trusts Do

Special power of appointment (SPA) trusts (or as they are sometimes called SPAT trusts) is a type of irrevocable trust in which either the creator or settlor of the trust grants appointment power to another person. The person who receives these powers functions in a non-fiduciary role to direct the trustee to make distributions to anyone except for the person who made the appointment of powers.

Considering Medicare Advantage Plan Alternative

Published on: February 1, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Approximately, 26.9 million Americans are enrolled in Medicare Advantage Plans as of January 2022. While many people are content with their plans, not everyone is. Individuals have between January 1, 2022, to the end of March 2022 to make revisions to their Advantage Plan. During this period, a person can also drop a Medicare Advantage Plan and opt for a basic Medicare plan, which includes Part A and B.

Individuals should be aware of some important details before switching Medicare plans, though. For one, people can change plans early in the year. For example, a person might discover that their Medicare plan no longer covers important medication.

The Narrow Window to Change Plans

A Few Ways to Increase Your Retirement Savings in 2022

Published on: February 1, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

As the new year begins, new opportunities are created for people to make the most out of their finances. Currently, the country is proceeding through the “Great Reshuffle”, which is seeing a large number of workers leave their jobs and make new ones. While many workers want to do their best to save as much as they can, some people are finding it hard to save and reach financial goals. This article reviews some of the important things that you can do to make the most of your finances in 2022 and beyond.

# 1 – Examine Existing Retirement Plan Contributions

This year, 2022 workers can contribute as much as $20,500 to a 401(k) or make similar contributions to 403(b) plans and many 457 plans. This is $1,000 greater than the limit established in 2021. If you’re at least 50 years old, you can also add another $6,500 in “catch-up” contributions.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Revises Nursing Home Visitation Requirements

Published on: November 29, 2021 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Nursing homes have been substantially impacted by the COVID-19 due to its outbreaks leading to high mortality rates among the elderly. Understandably, aggressive attempts were made to restrict the risk of Covid-19 exposure as much as possible.

In March 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a memorandum guiding restricting visitation of all visitors and non-essential healthcare workers. Several months later, in May 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its reopening recommendation for nursing homes which provided additional guidance in dealing with Covid-19 and reopening.

The Center notes that physical separation from loved ones has taken a substantial physical and emotional toll on nursing home residents as well as their loved ones. The Center for Medicaid Services appreciates that nursing home residents find value in the support they receive from visitations by their loved ones. Consequently, the Center recently revised its guidance addressing visitation in nursing homes during the pandemic.

A Few Important Things to Remember about Digital Asset Planning

Published on: November 28, 2021 | by Ettinger Law Firm

When it comes to planning for how your assets will be managed after you pass away, people often make adequate arrangements in their estate plan in regards to their finances as well as physical property.

In this era, when an increasingly large amount of information that people have is stored online, it’s critical to also create an adequate digital estate plan which makes sure that your loved ones can access your digital assets like social media accounts, subscription services, pictures, and personal files, and digital currency.

One issue that makes planning for digital assets complex is that service, as well as user agreements, often stipulate that a company will terminate a person’s account following that individual’s death without waiting to hear back from the next-of-kin. Many states including New York have established legislation addressing how to handle a person’s digital assets. These regulations frequently contain challenges preventing complete access to digital files. To avoid encountering complications with your digital assets after you pass away, this article reviews some of the most helpful strategies you should follow to adequately plan for digital assets.

Estate Planning for Non U.S. Citizens

Published on: November 24, 2021 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Many myths exist about the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizens. For example, if you are not a U.S. citizen but are married to a U.S. citizen and have permanent resident status, you might have heard that if your spouse passes away without an adequate estate plan you will be required to pay more taxes on your property than if you were a citizen of the United States.

In reality, if you are the owner of property located in the U.S. but are neither a citizen nor permanent resident, you cannot claim exactly the same advantages in taxes as citizens of the United States. Consequently, you might end up immediately facing estate taxes if your spouse passes away. Various notable estate planning issues occur when either non-citizens or permanent residents are married to U.S. citizens. This article reviews some of the most common ones.

Permanent residents (or holders of green) are viewed as almost identical for tax purposes as United States citizens. These individuals must pay the U.S. tax on income earned anywhere in the world as well as U.S. estate and gift tax on assets owned anywhere in the world.

New Community-Based Palliative Care Model Proposed

Published on: November 22, 2021 | by Ettinger Law Firm

A possible palliative care demonstration care model recently got substantial support from the House Ways and Mean Committee. Ten members of the committee wrote a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service Administrator requesting either a new community-based palliative care demonstration model or building on the Medicare Care Choices Model, which permits beneficiaries who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid to receive supportive care services that are often utilized hospice in the midst of receiving curative services.

The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization President who had been fighting to secure a demonstration model for years expressed encouragement from the committee’s support.

The President also commented that through continued advocacy, the organization is starting to see Members of Congress coalesce around the need for a community-based palliative care model to make care access fairer, lower prices, deliver better services, and improve life quality for patients.

Estate Planning Advice for Single Parents

Published on: November 19, 2021 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Our lawyers recently heard of a divorced individual who passed away and left two children below the age of 18 years. When the person passed away, the individual had no will in place. As a result, it was uncertain who the deceased individual wanted to appoint as a personal representative of the estate.

Remember, a person passes away without appointing a personal representative, New York law dictates who can apply to be appointed as a personal representative. Because the deceased individuals were below the age of 18, they could not apply to the court for appointment as personal representatives.

The surviving family filed the appropriate paperwork with probate court hoping for the nomination of a conservator for each child. After the court-appointed conservators, the conservators selected a personal representative for the estate. The person chosen by the conservators then filed paperwork requesting the appointment of a personal representative. This person then gathered all of the deceased parent’s assets, paid the deceased person’s creditor claims, and then divided and transferred the remaining assets to each minor child’s conservator. These conservators must hold assets for the children until the children reach eighteen years of age. This case took a long time to resolve and involved substantial costs. Besides court fees, accounts, conservators, and lawyers also had to be paid.