Historically, charitable giving rises about one-third as fast as the stock market. While the stock market gains of 2010 remain slight (Dow is up 1.13% at the time of this writing), New York residents may still want to consider using the charitable remainder trust (CRT) in their estate planning. This…
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. Recently, a couple came in to see me. They were people of means, having accumulated an estate in excess of two million dollars. Sadly, the husband, a fine gentleman, had contracted an incurable form of cancer. They knew it was time for a review of their…
By Michael Ettinger, Esq. One of the situations that call for the lawyer to recommend himself as trustee is in second marriage planning. It is a firmly established legal principal that there is no ethical prohibition against the attorney recommending himself to act as a trustee on behalf of a…
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…
By Michael Ettinger, Attorney at Law . Historically, estate planning consisted of setting up a will and leaving everything to one’s children in equal shares, “per stirpes”. The “per stirpes” is latin for “by the roots”, meaning that if any of the children predecease their parents then their share goes…