New York Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

Advice from Sveen v. Melin on the Importance of Beneficiary Designations

Published on: October 25, 2019 | by Ettinger Law Firm

In 1997, Ashley Sveen purchased a life insurance policy. Later that year, Ashley married Kaye Melin and named Melin as primary beneficiary on his life insurance policy. Sveen also named his two adult children as contingent beneficiaries.

Several years later, Minnesota amended its revocation on divorce. Sveen and Melin divorced in 2007, but Sveen never changed the beneficiary designation on his life insurance policy. After Sveen passed away in 2001, the insurance company that held the policy requested a court make a judgment on whether Melin or Sveen’s children should receive benefits from the policy.

The United States District Court of Minnesota then granted summary judgment for the Sveen children and awarded them life insurance proceeds. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed and remanded this decision. Subsequently, the court found that the policyholder’s ability to opt out of the law by redesignating his former wife as the beneficiary of the policy did not resolve the issue.

Lessons from Groucho Marx: Reducing the Risk of Elder Abuse

Published on: October 23, 2019 | by Ettinger Law Firm

By the time that the legendary screen actor and comedian Groucho Marx became a senior citizen, he had a difficult time making a number of decisions regarding his daily life.

During this time, Marx’s companion, Erin Fleming, was accused of elder abuse and experienced a deterioration in his relationship with Marx’s children. This was made complex by Fleming’s decision to push Marx to perform. Later, after Marx became incapacitated, Fleming was appointed as guardian and temporary conservator of Marx’s valuable estate. Marx’s grandson was later named permanent conservator.

Following Marx’s death, the fight for assets from the late legend’s estate continued on for years. A judge later resolved the debate in favor of Groucho’s children and ordered Fleming to repay a large amount that she had stolen from Marx’s bank accounts.

Estate Planning Challenges Faced by Unmarried Couples

Published on: October 21, 2019 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Statistics show there are an increasing number of older individuals who are divorcing later on in life. There is also an increasing number of individuals who are discovering that living together as an unmarried couple has its advantages.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the number of unmarried individuals who are older than 50 even increased by 75% between 2007 and 2016.

Unfortunately, however, living together as an unmarried couple creates a number of unique estate planning challenges. This article reviews some of these hurdles.

The Elements of a Successful Inheritance Trust

Published on: October 18, 2019 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Creating a successful inheritance trust is not easy. In some situations even when a family believes that they have created a well-written inheritance trust, they have failed to address a number of complexities including those involving incompetency. This article reviews some of the elements that should be included in an inheritance trust.

# 1 – Appropriate Beneficiary Designations

Appropriate beneficiary designations are a vital part of trusts. Inheritance trusts are created so assets can be passed to a designated beneficiary during that individual’s life and following the individual’s death to any of the person’s children. Additionally, good inheritance trusts are written with the understanding that a situation might arise where a beneficiary is temporarily not able to serve as a trustee.

How to Neutralize Challenges to Your Will

Published on: October 18, 2019 | by Ettinger Law Firm

There are a range of situations that could prompt a parent to disinherit a child. For example, some children completely ignore their parents. An extreme example is when an adult child tries to commit his parent to a mental institution. A more common example are situations where an adult child physically or financially abuses a parent. But what if you don’t have children? Some nieces and nephews of the will maker are just as awful as some of the wayward children described above. How do you disinherit any close family members and ensure that a will contest will be resolved as you wished?

Hire legal counsel to draft your will or trust document. If you want to make sure that a family member will be disinherited as you wish in your will, especially if the disinherited person is your child, hire an attorney to draft your will or trust document. Do not rely on a handwritten or internet will. If they were difficult to manage while you were alive, they will be doubly difficult to control once you are dead. An errant child or nephew may try to challenge your will, even if they lose, to force the other children or family members to pay them off. Hate has a funny way of applying both ways.
Provide details and instructions as to why you are disinheriting your child or family member to your executor. An executor of a will is responsible for submitting the will to probate and will be required to represent your wishes and defend you in court if your will is challenged. Leaving a written explanation as to why you were disinheriting your child or other family member will both explain and corroborate your decision. Demonstrating that your decision to disinherit a family member was a thoughtful process and not simply a rash act will ensure that your actual wishes are followed if challenged. Especially if the family member you are seeking to disinherit is combative with your other children or family members. Remove all doubt that another child or family member pressured you to disinherit the other family member.

Estate Planning and Cryptocurrency

Published on: October 16, 2019 | by Ettinger Law Firm

The introduction of cryptocurrency has created a number of new issues, which includes how these digital assets should be addressed in a person’s estate plan. Because the Internal Revenue Service has classified cryptocurrency as property capable of being taxes, it is possible to dictate how ownership of cryptocurrency should be passed in a person’s estate plan. In many cases, however, it can prove difficult to transfer ownership of cryptocurrency without creating a potential security risk.

The Estate Planning Challenges Presented by Cryptocurrency

A person’s ownership of cryptocurrency is represented in that individual’s virtual “wallet”, which also stores the owners’ credentials and interacts with blockchains so users can both send and receive cryptocurrency. Consequently, the person who knows the access credentials to a virtual wallet has access to any cryptocurrency that is contained in the wallet.

4 Pieces of Advice on Selecting an Executor

Published on: October 15, 2019 | by Ettinger Law Firm

After the devastation of accepting the loss of a loved one subsides, it can be challenging to determine how to best process. Unless you have navigated this process before, performing the various tasks asked of an executor can seem overwhelming.

As a result, this article reviews some pieces of advice that will make the selection of an executor easier.

# 1 – Understand the Role of an Executor

What Are Marital Trusts?: Lessons learned from Comptroller v. Taylor

Published on: October 13, 2019 | by Ettinger Law Firm

An appellate court recently reversed in part and affirmed in part the judgment of the Court of Appeals concerning a decision by the Comptroller of the Treasury to include the value of a marital trust in an estate in a tax assessment. The trust contained qualified terminable interest property that was reported on the deceased individual’s federal tax return but was excluded from the estate’s Maryland estate tax return. The Court of Special Appeals held that the Comptroller lacked the authority to tax the trust assets as part of the Maryland estate. The appellate court, however, found that after the death of the deceased person’s spouse, the qualified trust assets were transferred on her death and that the transfer of the property was subject to Maryland estate tax.

A marital trust is a particular type of irrevocable trust that is designed to hold a deceased spouse’s assets that are greater than the amount capable of being protected from death taxes. Rather than be taxed at the time of the death of the first spouse to pass away, assets are not taxed until the second spouse dies. As a result, if the second spouse has limited financial means, marital trusts can play an invaluable role.

The Three Types of Marital Trusts

Lessons Learned from In re Peter Val Preda Trusts

Published on: October 12, 2019 | by Ettinger Law Firm

The Vermont Supreme Court recently heard the case of In re Peter Val Preda Trusts, which introduced some important estate planning issues that all individuals interested in creating trusts should understand.

Both the individual who created the trust as well as his wife were deceased. In June 2018, the petitioners requested the Georgia probate division to remove the respondent as the individual family trustee of the trustee and appoint the petitioner’s wife as the respondent’s successor.

The basis for removing the trustee was that the petitioner claimed the removal would improve how the trust was administered because the petitioner and respondent did not communicate with one another and that the respondent had failed to pay attention to investments of the trust.

How to Deal with Out-of-State Assets in an Estate Plan

Published on: October 12, 2019 | by Ettinger Law Firm

It is not uncommon in our region for people to own real property outside of New York State. Increasingly, people own other home or investment properties out of state and even out of the country. A will generally disposes of all of an individual’s assets. The rules are different however if the asset is real property. There are three rules to keep in mind and carefully consider when dealing with assets outside of New York as part of your estate planning process.

Consider the following rules when drafting or revising your will:

If the out of state asset is real property it is vital to develop your estate plan in conjunction with the law in that locality. Real estate assets are governed by the laws of the country or state in which they are situated. This means that the law of the other locality will determine if the New York will is recognized as valid there with respect to the real property.