fishkill estate plan

The Basics – Understanding Dynasty Trusts

Published on: August 17, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Dynasty trusts often conjure up images of very wealthy families that have a great deal of money to pass onto their heirs. However, dynasty trusts can actually be an effective tool for families with more average assets to distribute. Investopedia defines dynasty trusts as long-term trusts established to transfer wealth from generation to generation while avoiding the incurrence of transfer taxes such as the estate tax and the gift tax. Before deciding if a dynasty trust is right for your needs, it is important to understand how they work and whether or not their benefits will meet your individual needs.

The Basics

Basically, dynasty trusts are established so that they can survive for 21 years after the death of the last person for whom the trust was established. Theoretically, this means such trusts could be in existence for more than 100 years. Typically, the original beneficiaries are the children of the person that has established the trust. When those children die, the trust typically begins to benefit the grandchildren and possibly great-grandchildren of the individual that established the trust. This is why they are referred to as dynasty trusts because they can continue to benefit several generations of heirs. Dynasty trusts are irrevocable, which means that the person that establishes such a trust will have no control over the trust or its terms once it is funded. Instead, it will be controlled by a trustee appointed by the person that has established the trust.

Estate Planning and Foreign Assets

Published on: August 14, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Estate planning can be a complicated process, especially for individuals that have diversified assets. The process can be even more complex for individuals engaging in estate planning when those individuals have foreign assets to consider. If you have or are considering acquiring foreign assets, including foreign real estate property, it is important that you understand how doing so may affect your estate planning tools. An experienced estate planning attorney can help you further understand the unique nature of foreign assets as well as the mechanisms that you can put in place to protect them.

Validity of Wills

It is possible for a valid United States Last Will & Testament to be considered invalid in a foreign country. Typically, to avoid a Will being deemed invalid it must comply with the requirements of a valid Will in the foreign jurisdiction where a person’s assets are located. This is one reason why it is imperative to work with an experienced estate planner in the country in which your foreign assets are located – otherwise, you risk losing those assets or having them distributed in a way that is not according to your wishes. You also need to check with an experienced estate planning attorney in the United States to see how multiple Wills can affect your Will here.

Improving the Impact of Wealth Transfers

Published on: July 26, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Estate planning is a complicated process that involves a great deal of different nuances and other important aspects that can sometimes be overlooked. One of the most overlooked aspects of estate planning is preparing heirs for inheritance from an early age. According to a recent article from InvestmentNews.com, not doing so is one of the reasons that far less wealth was transferred to baby boomers from previous generations. Now, by engaging in responsible and comprehensive estate planning strategies with an experienced estate planning attorney, you can work productively to make sure that you are able to transfer as much of your wealth as possible to future generations according to your wishes.

Factors that Diminish Wealth Transfers

Being aware of various factors that can diminish wealth transfers may help you avoid those pitfalls. These factors include:

Removing a Trustee in New York

Published on: May 21, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Selecting the right trustee to administer your estate is a crucial part of ensuring that your assets are distributed according to your wishes and that your estate is settled correctly. While many people can and should put a great deal of thought into selecting a trustee to administer their estate, the process of selecting a trustee often stops there. Whether a trustee is a financial institution, attorney, or close family friend, you need to include a mechanism to remove that trustee if the need to do so arises. An experienced estate planning attorney can help you design this type of mechanism, which could help your loved ones avoid the often-lengthy legal process of removing a trustee in the absence of formal instructions.

When can a trustee be removed?

There are many reasons you may wish to revise your estate’s trustee. Perhaps you originally selected a family member that has become estranged because of divorce. You may have selected a sibling that has predeceased you. If you nominated a financial institution, it could have been bought out by another company that you don’t want to deal with. Whatever the reason for wanting to remove a trustee, New York law states that the following constitute some legal reasons for a court to remove a trustee:

Estate Planning and Buy-Sell Agreements for Your Business

Published on: May 16, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Comprehensive estate planning can be an extremely complicated process for an individual. This is even more true when the individual owns a business. The owners of closely held businesses own businesses with a limited number of shareholders and the stock in such businesses is not regularly traded publicly. While this type of business can provide many benefits for business owners, it can also create issues when one of the business owner dies. However, structuring a buy-sell agreement for a closely held business can help make estate planning easier when it comes to your interest in such a business.

Redemption Agreements

With a redemption agreement, the company itself purchases a life insurance policy on the various owners of the company. When one of those owners die, the sole owner of the life insurance policy – in this case, the company – will receive the benefits of the life insurance policy and can buy back the deceased shareholder’s shares. There are some potentially negative tax consequences for this type of arrangement, including the possibility of the business to be subject to the current corporate alternative minimum tax on the proceeds from the life insurance policy.

Tips for Selecting a Guardian for Minor Children

Published on: May 13, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Comprehensive estate planning is a deeply personal process. There are so many different factors to consider, and working with an experienced estate planning attorney can help streamline the process and ensure that you explore all of the aspects of estate planning that pertain to you. One of the most difficult parts of comprehensive estate planning is selecting a guardian for your minor children if both parents should become deceased or incapacitated at the same time, leaving neither able to care for any shared children. As difficult as the process can be, it is extremely important to undertake it so that the best interests of your children are provided for in a worst-case scenario. The following are some tips in approaching the guardian selection process and provide some important considerations for you to remember when selecting a guardian, and an experienced estate planning attorney can help you with the process.

Choose Compatible People

Most people put a great deal of planning and thought into how they choose to parent. It is important for your peace of mind as well as your children’s well-being that you select individuals that share a similar parenting style and outlook. If academics are important in your household, make sure that they are also important to prospective guardians. Additionally, making sure that individuals you are considering as guardians are ready to undertake the responsibility that comes with it is extremely important.

Estate Planning and Intellectual Property

Published on: March 30, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

The World Intellectual Property Organization defines intellectual property as “creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names, and images sued in commerce.” Typically, intellectual property is protected by legal mechanisms such as patents, trademarks, and copyrights that help people achieve and maintain recognition and financial benefits from things they have created. While intellectual property has many specific laws to help govern it and some attorneys choose to focus their practice on intellectual property law, intellectual property is personal property and can be an important part of comprehensive estate planning.

Distributing Intellectual Property

There are several considerations that come into play when determining how to distribute intellectual property. For some people, intellectual property can be the main source of their financial livelihood. Others may have inherited or otherwise acquired certain intellectual property rights throughout their lifetime and use them for supplemental income purposes. Regardless of the way in which you came to possess intellectual property, if you want to continue benefiting from it then you can and should keep personal possession of it until you no longer depend on or desire the income from it. If you do maintain control over intellectual property, make sure that you have provided for its distribution in your estate planning in case of unforeseen circumstances.

The Pros and Cons of Adding Your Adult Child to Your Bank Account

Published on: November 25, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

There comes a time in many people’s lives when their adult children begin to help out with daily tasks. For some people this includes writing checks and paying bills. Many people begin to wonder if they should take steps to make being taken care of easier for their caregivers. In these cases, the question arises “why not just add your adult child to your bank account?”.

The Pros

The most obvious and powerful positive for adding an adult child to your bank account is ease of access. As joint owner, your child will be able to access funds from the account in order to assist you with bill paying and other financial matters.

Family Feud Forever: Dr. King’s Family Squabbles Continue

Published on: June 19, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. left behind a legacy of peace and understanding, but he may have been surprised by the legacy that his estate is forging. Last Friday, a Fulton County Superior Court Judge declined to make a ruling in a dispute over two items left behind by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, his Bible and his Nobel Peace Prize. Fox News reports that the case over these two items is likely to go to trial, with King’s estate, controlled by his two sons, against their sister, Bernice. This is only one of many lawsuits that have crept up in years past over the legacy of Dr. King.

Managing Estate Assets and Legacies

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s estate is not technically what many would consider an estate in the traditional sense. It is not a probate estate, with his assets being liquidated according to his will. Rather, Dr. King’s estate is the for-profit Martin Luther King Jr. Estate Inc. with his three surviving children being the sole shareholders and directors. As the sole shareholders and directors, his three children control Dr. King’s name, image, likeness and his possessions.

PRETERMITTED OR OMITTED CHILDREN NOT ADDRESSED IN A WILL

Published on: January 11, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Contrary to the European model, American parents are legally free to disinherit their children, but at the same time, they cannot simply forget or omit their children in their will by mistake. If the child is specifically addressed in the will and, at the same time, the will either fails to pass any property or assets on the child or specifically disinherits the child, there is nothing that the child can do to inherit something from the estate, aside from invalidating the will and potentially inheriting under the intestacy statutes. Children born after a will is created and not properly addressed in the will, via language that is expansive and inclusive that undoubtedly includes even children born or adopted after the specific will is created are referred to in the law by the ungainly term pretermitted children.

Not surprisingly it comes from a latin verb meaning to overlook or forget. New York’s law that addresses pretermitted children and found at NY EPTL §5-3.2, only addresses children born after the creation of a last will and not otherwise provided for by other means, such as life insurance proceeds, a trust or other assets. The children that fall under the pretermitted law protections are entitled to whatever the other children who are addressed in last will. Oddly enough, if the children born before the creation of the will are mentioned but unprovided for, the pretermitted child will not inherit anything. Indeed, the law specifically addresses this possibility, insofar as it indicates that “(1) If the testator has one or more children living when he executes his last will, and: (A) No provision is made therein for any such child, an after-born child is not entitled to share in the testator’s estate.” NY EPTL §5-3.2. Certainly there are many problems with this, insofar as some parents specifically disinherit their children. Anna Nicole Smith disinherited her son in her last will and then had a baby daughter only a short time prior to her passing away, without any change in her will.

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