Financial Planning News shared a helpful article earlier this month about a difficult situation faced by many New York families: Planning for retirement with a special needs child. If you have a child with various special needs, those circumstances must obviously be built into both an estate plan and a…
As estate planning attorneys, we spend most of our time talking about how to structure an inheritance: putting the legal framework in place so that one can be confident that their wishes will be carried out. Professionals are eager to give advice about use of wills and trusts to save…
Retirement saving–it is a topic on the minds of many New York families. The days of working in the same spot for several decades and then enjoying retirement on a defined benefits pension plan are long gone for most residents. With Social Security offering only the barest funds, it instead…
Structuring an estate plan to account for taxes can be a complex task. While state and federal estate taxes make up the majority of discussion about taxation, there are other issues to consider. For example, there are ways to structure disbursement of various assets–insurance policies, retirement accounts, and more–so that…
Last week we discussed the recently unearthed will of former Sopranos star James Gandolfini. The document was filed with a Manhattan court late last month, with the actor’s assets being left to a wide range of people including his two children, wife, sisters, and several friends. Those earlier reports noted…
Estate planning attorneys work with families before a death to ensure the legal pieces are all in place for a smooth transition of assets free of conflict, tax savings, and the carrying out of one’s specific wishes. Sadly, many New York families will lose a loved one without having conducted…
Last month many in the entertainment world were shocked and saddened by the sudden death of New Yorker James Gandolfini at the age of 51. His passing from an apparent heart attack is a somber reminder that none of us know for sure what the future holds. This week reports…
It will take some time for all of the implications of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) Supreme Court decision to be fully understood. Over the past week we discussed a few of the most critical effects on estate planning for New York married same sex couples. All those wondering…
When someone passes away, the basic principles of settling the estate seem straightforward: collect assets, pay off debts, and distribute what is remaining per the deceased’s wishes. While that cursory sketch appears easy enough, in practice, dealing with these matters can take years, have a significant cost, and result in…
If you read a bit about estate planning you may come across the term “Per Stirpes.” It is an awkward phrase to say, and there is little reason to use it outside the context of inheritance planning. It comes up when one lays out their inheritance designations, perhaps with a…