long island estate planning lawyer

Female Focused Estate Planning: Distributing Assets

Published on: October 28, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Estate planning is vital for all people wishing to have control over the distribution of their assets following their death. Women, in particular, should take time to plan their estates. In the U.S., women control nearly 40% of the nation’s investible assets and nearly half of those assets are managed solely by women.

Surviving Spouses

Many women outlive their husbands by a number of years. Outliving your partner tends to mean that you inherit their estate. Most spouses will be sole beneficiaries of each other’s’ estates. This means that the surviving spouse will be in full control over the final disposition of the assets. If your spouse didn’t make plans and you are aware of special instructions or requests they would have wanted, it is your job to make those plans now. For instance: if your spouse had children prior to your marriage and wanted them to have an inheritance but didn’t plan, it is now up to you to decide whether or not to include those wishes in your own estate plan.

Revoking Your New York Will

Published on: July 14, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

People are taught to hang onto important documents. Every person is instructed to hold onto deeds, mortgages, bank records and tax returns in a safe place where no one else can access them lest important information fall into the wrong hands. But wills, which might be the most important document a person can have, should not be held onto after a new one has been executed, and while it may be a good idea to keep it in a safe place, hiding it like the other documents may have unintended consequences.

Written Revocation

There are many ways to revoke an old will and it is always a good idea to do so if you have drafted a new one. The easiest and most common way to revoke a will is to draft a new one and have an explicit clause that revokes any previous wills and codicils that you have executed. Because your new will is dated later than the previous wills, the revocation will be effective.

QUALIFIED TERMINABLE INTEREST PROPERTY TRUST

Published on: November 30, 2015 | by Ettinger Law Firm

QTIP TRUSTS – WHAT IS IT?

In our society, with divorces as common as it is, many people would likely benefit from a qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trust. The QTIP trust gives a stream of income produced from a trust to a surviving spouse. That money passes without payment of any estate tax, as the spouse enjoys the unlimited marital deduction for estate taxes. The surviving spouse does not obtain title to the income producing property or control over it. The QTIP trust documents control where it goes after the surviving spouse passes away. It allows for the interim benefit of the surviving spouse, while preserving the income producing property. After the surviving spouse passes, the property goes to the heirs as designated by the QTIP trust.

ELEMENTS OF A QTIP TRUST