New York Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

College Savings Plans and Estate Planning

Published on: January 27, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

We have recently written about various estate planning mechanisms that can enable you to pay for a young person’s college tuition. If you are interested in making those types of arrangements, it is important to understand how they might affect your estate plan. A college savings plan could become an important part of your comprehensive estate planning strategy.

The Basics

College savings plans, or 529 plans, come in a variety of shapes. There are many characteristics that you need to consider when determining the plan that is right for you. One of the most popular 529 plans is the prepaid tuition plan. With this type of plan, you make cash contributions to an account that invests that money and gains interest over the life of the account. The earnings the account makes are tax-free so long as they are used for qualifying expenses related to higher education.

Loans to Family Members Can Affect Your Estate

Published on: January 25, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Most people want to help their family members have everything they need. In fact, one of the main reasons to create a comprehensive estate plan is to make sure that you are able to distribute your assets in a way that provides the most security for your beneficiaries. During our lives, there are times when we have family members in need and may be in a position to help them. If we choose to do so with a loan, it is important that the details of that loan are written down and thoroughly understood by all parties involved in the transaction. Otherwise, there could be potential problems when it comes to administering your estate.

Pitfalls of Loans

One of the biggest problems with loans happens when the lender passes away, often unexpectedly. If there is an outstanding loan to a friend or family member, especially one that may also be a beneficiary, there is likely to be some disagreement over the terms of various documents within the estate plan.

The Role of a Second-to-Die Life Insurance Policy

Published on: January 22, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

There are many different assets that combine to form your overall estate, and there are many different options when it comes to protecting those assets. Your estate can include real estate, stocks, copyrights, bonds, vehicles, and many other types of property. Your estate value also includes the cash you have on hand. In today’s world, it is not uncommon for high-value estates to be low on cash. While the estate itself may be worth a great deal because of many of the holdings within the estate, there is often a lack of ready cash to take care of important expenses like funeral costs or even state and/or federal estate taxes. If you find yourself in that position, a second-to-die life insurance policy could be an important part of your estate planning toolkit.

Benefits

A second-to-die life insurance policy has many benefits for many different types of families. However, they can be especially useful in situations where there is a large estate involved. With new legislation, the federal estate tax exemption has doubled and a lot more people do not have to worry about owing the estate tax as the exemption for an individual has been raised to around $11 million and for a couple to around $22 million. The exemption for New York’s state-level estate tax is currently at $5,250,000. Only estates valued over these amounts will be subject to the estate tax.

Health Officials Say 2018 Flu Season Could be Among the Worst in Years

Published on: January 22, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently put the country on alert, warning that this year’s flu season and the H3N2 virus could be one of the worst in recent years as hospitals experience record setting hospitalization rates. Physicians for the CDC warned Americans over the age of 65-years old are being hospitalized at a higher rate than any other segment of the population and elders need to take care to ensure they do not fall victim to complications with the virus.

CDC Director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald cautioned that although infection rates appear to be peaking, many more Americans will be diagnosed with the flu in the coming weeks before flu season ends across the country. While recent years have been categorized as “active” flu seasons, where large numbers of people become sick, this year is expected to be “severe” with an unusually number of patients being diagnosed with some form of the flu virus.

Fortunately, this year does not appear as though it will be as bad as the 2015 flu season where infection rates were as high as 29.9 people out of every 100,000. The flu typically hits populations at the ends of the spectrums, the very young and the very old, with at least 20-children succumbing to the virus this season so far. The only silver lining to these tragedies is that the numbers are far less than in years past, 110 last year and 92 in 2016.

The Importance of Domicile on Estate Planning: Avoiding Double Taxation

Published on: January 18, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Unfortunately, the old adage that death and taxes are unavoidable is true. Unfortunately, they are also both closely related. For individuals with estates that are subject to a federal and/or a state-level estate tax, there exists the possibility of being double taxed if you maintain a residence in more than one state. Unfortunately, this is all-too-common of an occurrence. A comprehensive approach to estate planning can help avoid this unpleasant surprise.

How It Happens

Double taxation typically occurs in situations where individuals have multiple properties spread across different states. It is not uncommon for an individual to have a home in New York and another home in, say, Florida. Potentially, the second home could be even closer – like Pennsylvania. Wherever your multiple residences are, you need to be aware of the potential tax consequences of maintaining property in various states.

Financial Risks to Your Estate

Published on: January 16, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

With all of the discussion surrounding repealing the estate tax and other significant tax reforms, it can be difficult to understand exactly how these proposed changes might affect your estate. For most people in the United States, the estate tax is not a concern. That is because you need an individual estate worth $5.49 million or more before the tax will even apply. However, there are still a number of other concerns to keep in mind in order to make the most informed decisions about your estate plan because there are a number of other factors that could impact the overall value of your estate. A recent article from Financial-Planning.com helps put some of these risks into perspective.

Intestacy

One of the biggest risks to assets in an estate is dying without an estate plan in place to protect them. While your estate may not be subject to the federal estate tax, it could be subject to significant state-level taxes and those penalties can take a large chunk of your assets if you do not have an estate plan in place. Intestate succession will also determine the percentage of your assets that will be distributed to the heirs covered by your state’s intestate succession statute. This may not be in line with how you want your assets to be distributed, so making sure that you have a valid and up-to-date estate plan is the first step in avoiding any hidden financial risks that could impact your assets.

Estate Planning Is for Everyone

Published on: January 14, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

It is a common misconception that estate planning is only a concern for those individuals with sizeable estates. This is simply not true. Everyone can benefit from comprehensive estate planning, even individuals with average or small estates. A recent article from CNBC reminds us of the importance of having a Will regardless of our overall financial situation, age, or other factors that may lead us to believe a Will is not necessary.

Engaging in Estate Planning

As the article points out, even a checking account and a car present a reason for having a Will regardless of any other assets that might exist. The law requires that title to that vehicle must be changed to whomever the new owner is and there must be someone to distribute the assets in your checking account. Absent a Will, you risk losing a great deal of assets to the state either by default because of failure to nominate an heir or because of the legal costs involved in the probate process where those assets will end up.

Estate Planning and Funeral Arrangements

Published on: January 11, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Regardless of the size of your estate, comprehensive estate planning can help you make the most of the assets you have worked hard to build. It is important to make sure that you take a thorough approach to estate planning in order to preserve as many assets as possible, and also to make sure that you make dealing with a loss as easy on your family members and friends as possible. One of the most common ways to do that is to include funeral arrangement and instructions for the disposition of your remains. There are a number of approaches to doing this, and ultimately the terms you set forth will be unique to you and your family’s wants and needs. However, a recent article from the National Law Review provides some helpful information about this aspect of estate planning.

Pre-Death Arrangements

Most states allow you to iron out many of the details of your funeral arrangements and the disposition of your remains ahead of time. In many cases, these are integral pieces of a comprehensive estate plan. You can dictate whether you wish to be buried or cremated; specify the location of your burial; specify any memorialization; and even designate one individual to make sure your funeral arrangements and the disposition of your remains are conducted in the way you have chosen. Depending on the state you live in, nominating an individual to carry out your particular wishes gives them priority over other individuals that would otherwise potentially have the right to make these decisions for you. This can be helpful because, no matter how carefully you plan, it is impossible to predict all of the circumstances that could arise and you will want someone that you trust in the position to determine the best course of action. More and more, these types of arrangements are becoming commonplace alongside powers of attorney and healthcare directives. In many ways, completing this type of directive can be just as important – and it will likely help your family avoid additional stress and grief during a difficult time.

Debt and Estate Planning

Published on: January 9, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Debt is an all-too-common part of our everyday life. In fact, Marketwatch.com lists American personal debt – including homes, student loans, and auto loans – at approximately two billion dollars. This figure does not include credit card debt. However, as daunting as debt may seem, making sure to consider your debt when determining how best to engage in comprehensive estate planning is an important part of your debt management strategy.

Understanding Your Debt

One of the first things to consider when approaching debt and estate planning is whether your debt will become someone else’s responsibility when you die. An article from NerdWallet.com helps shed some light on what happens to various types of debt after the individual responsible for that debt passes away. Some common examples of debt and what may happen to that debt include:

Federal officials study how to cut drug prices for Medicare patients

Published on: January 8, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

In the wake of rising drug prices over years for Medicare patients, federal officials appear ready to finally take some kind of action to help with out of pocket costs many seniors and disabled persons struggle with. Recently, federal officials have begun to explore the possibility of achieving lower drug prices by getting some of the same discounts insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) that administer Medicare’s Part D drug program already get for themselves.

Supporters of the idea hope the approach could reduce the overall price tag of prescription drugs and save Medicare the cost of making up the gap. Under the plan, the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Studies (CMS) would apply those fees that PBMs and insurers pay and apply those to what enrollees pay for their prescriptions.

Unlike the health insurers and PBMs able to negotiate with manufacturers willing to pay discounts so their products land a spot on a health plan’s list of approved drugs, CMS cannot haggle on drug prices. The restrictions have long been criticized by critics and supporters of how CMS is currently administered. Advocates for the pharmacy industry have also criticized the current drug price exchange which allows PBMs and insurers to recoup their benefits from pharmacies at a later date.