Whenever a client’s Estate Plan deviates from the expected disposition, it raises questions for the slighted beneficiaries. These questions usually revolve around methods to have the plan overturned. Most states give clients tools to protect their carefully crafted plans, even after their death.
Understanding Undue Influence – Part I
Whenever a client’s Estate Plan deviates from the expected disposition, it raises questions. Most of the time, clients have consulted with a competent attorney regarding their reasons for structuring the plan the way that they have. Sometimes, other factors are at play and the plan doesn’t represent the testator’s true wishes, but rather, another individual’s testamentary desire. That’s undue influence and there are ways to guard against it.
Death and Your Digital Footprint
As more and more individuals get comfortable in the digital world, Estate Planning has evolved to address the collection and transfer of digital assets. The widespread use of a legacy contact and password managers gives owners of digital content control in determining what happens to the digital information after they die.
Pondering Portability
The Internal Revenue Code grants spouses several tax benefits both during life and at death. Portability represents one of those benefits. Portability allows the surviving spouse to use the unused portion of the Applicable Exclusion Amount from their predeceased spouse. In Revenue Procedure 2022-32, the Internal Revenue Service extended the time during which a surviving spouse may elect portability without a Private Letter Ruling from two years to five years.
NY Elder Law Info: Can a Healthy Spouse Accept a Beneficiary’s Income?
The Medicaid program may never cross your mind as it applies to you personally, but it may in fact be quite relevant at some point. This jointly administered federal/state government health insurance benefit will cover long-term care for senior citizens. Medicare does not pay for custodial care, and since nursing homes are extremely expensive, Medicaid […]
Living Trusts: What Are the Benefits in NY?
Revocable living trust benefits in New York are considerable, and far too many people overlook this option. They have been led to believe that a simple will is the best asset transfer method to use unless your estate is very complex. In reality, this is simply not the case. In this post, we will look […]
Have You Considered the Estate Administration Process?
A lot of people try to reduce estate planning to a single action. You record your final decisions regarding the way you want your assets to be transferred after your passing. When the time comes, everything falls into place, and your wishes will come to fruition. In reality, there are hands-on tasks that must be […]
How Do I Avoid Medicaid Estate Recovery in NY?
We will look at the subject of Medicaid estate recovery in NY in this post. But first, we will explain some inconvenient realities about Medicare and long-term custodial care. Living Assistance for Seniors When you have been capable of taking care of your own day-to-day needs all your life, it can be hard to imagine […]
Legacy Planning: A More Comprehensive Approach to Estate Planning
A bare-bones estate plan will typically include a will, and advance health care directives may be included as well. If you are not familiar with the latter documents, they are used to prepare for possible incapacity. One of the directives is a a durable power of attorney for health care or health care proxy. This […]
How Do I Set Up a Special Needs Trust?
There are different ways to get assets into the hands of someone after you pass away. A method that is acceptable for one person may be disastrous for another. With this in mind, lets look at inheritance planning for people with disabilities and the special needs trust. Need-Based Government Benefit Eligibility In the United States, […]
