Some local residents believe that they do not need to worry about creating a New York estate plan if they only want to divide all of their assets between their children equally. These community members are under the incorrect assumption that the default legal rules will ensure that everything works…
Most New York estate plans have various components and include several legal documents. Most will have a Revocable Living Trust, Medicaid Asset Protection Trust, or both. A pour-over will is also frequently added as a failsafe to cancel an old will and ensure that any assets left outside the trust…
When many area residents are told to consider visiting a New York estate planning lawyer their mind immediately envisions someone who will craft a will or a create a trust. However, estate planning is much more than document creation. Instead, it is best viewed as a process by which an…
Over the last two years, four sets of estate tax rules have been in effect, with the individual exemption ranging from $2 million (2008) to $3.5 million (2009) to unlimited (2010) to $ 5 million (2011). Besides these varying exemption levels, another major change in the new estate rules includes…
by Michael Ettinger, Esq. Commonly used in estate planning today, disclaimer trusts allow the surviving spouse great flexibility in optimizing estate tax savings. Here’s how they work. Each spouse sets up their revocable living trust. Husband and wife are co-trustees of his trust, using his social security number and, similarly,…
We received a call last Friday from a woman who said that her father had died but her stepmother was claiming that he did not have a will. The daughter was certain that he did, in fact, have a will. What happens in such a case? Regardless what the daughter…
by Michael Ettinger, Esq. “Elder Law Estate Planning” is a niche area of the law which combines the features of elder law and estate planning that pertain most to the needs of the middle class. Estate planning was originally for the wealthy few. Middle class families did not consider themselves…
By Michael Ettinger, Esq. Reflecting on this comment made to us by a client recently, the following thoughts came to mind. What do we actually do at Ettinger Law Firm? All we do is save our clients a lot of time, many thousands of dollars and the not so petty…
By Michael Ettinger, Esq. So many clients are advised that they need a will. In fact, will planning is becoming obsolete for persons over sixty for many reasons. Instead of actually solving problems, wills often create them. First, they must be proven to be valid in a court proceeding, the…
By Michael Ettinger, Esq. In our experience, a majority of New Yorkers are unaware (blissfully?) that New York State levies an estate tax. New York’s estate tax starts on estates over one million dollars. What is your estate for tax purposes? All of your real and personal property, your bank…