Asset Protection

April 28, 2017

Fives Ways to Protect Your Estate Plan

Estate planning should be a lifelong process. It is never too early to start the estate planning process, even with minimal assets at a younger age. Once you have a comprehensive estate planning framework in place, it is important to update it as life events change your circumstances. Much like your life is always evolving, so should your estate plan. It must be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure it is up-to-date and continues to comply with changes in laws governing it. When you put this much time and effort into such an important component of protecting your loved ones, it is important to ensure there are mechanisms in place to protect it. The following suggestions, adapted from a recent article from CNBC, can help you ensure your estate plan is secure.

Pre-Paid, Pre-Planned Funerals

When a loved one passes away, it can be an extremely difficult experience. One of the most difficult parts of the grieving process is trying to make funeral arrangements while grieving, and funeral expenses can often be very high. By pre-paying for your funeral arrangements, you can spare your family from the unexpected costs related to funeral expenses while also saving yourself money by locking in prices before they grow over time. Pre-planning your funeral arrangements allows you to ensure that your wishes for your funeral are carried out and help your family avoid stressful decisions during the grieving process.

April 20, 2017

Beneficiary Forms and Estate Planning

by Ettinger Law Firm

Understanding the different aspects of estate planning is a crucial part of creating a comprehensive estate plan that accomplishes your individual goals. For probate assets, many individuals utilize a Last will and Testament to direct the distribution of assets subject to probate. Non-probate assets, such as life insurance policies and assets held within a trust, are distributed upon death according to the mechanism for distribution contained within the asset and are usually directed by the nomination of a beneficiary. It is extremely important to remember beneficiary nominations when creating, reviewing, and revising your estate plan.

Common Beneficiary Pitfalls

One common beneficiary pitfall occurs with assets like bank accounts that often have a payable on death beneficiary option. With these options, a bank is directed to distribute assets within the account covered by that designation to the person listed as the payable on death beneficiary. This can cause unintended problems if your Last Will and Testament directs your bank assets to be distributed differently, and may result in an unintended Will contest that could jeopardize other aspects of your Will. Making sure that beneficiaries for these types of assets are properly aligned with other provisions of your estate planning documents is an important part of ensuring your wishes are carried out.

April 15, 2017

Business Ownership and Estate Planning: Recapitalization

by Ettinger Law Firm

The estate planning process can be complex and confusing, which is one of the reasons it is a good idea to work with an experienced estate planning attorney as part of creating a comprehensive estate planning strategy. This is especially true for business owners. Recently, we wrote about some important estate planning considerations for business owners. One potential question many business owners may have when considering estate planning for their business is whether or not it is a good idea to remain in control of their business or transfer their business to their heirs.

When a business owner wants to remain in charge of their business, this can be a difficult question because transferring the ownership of a business can often mean transferring the management responsibilities of the business, too. While the answer as to whether or not remaining in control of your business is right for you depends on each business owner’s individual circumstances, one possible technique to consider is business recapitalization. Business recapitalization will allow you to separate ownership from management, and could be the right strategy for you.

Benefits of Recapitalization

April 11, 2017

How Does it Work – Funeral Planning

by Ettinger Law Firm

In general, estate planning can be a difficult topic for many people. It can be especially difficult and personal when it comes to determining specific funeral plans that you may have. However, even though it is a difficult subject, it is important to consider how funeral planning as part of comprehensive estate planning can actually help your loved ones be more at ease when the time comes for them to make decisions regarding your funeral arrangements. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal serves as a reminder that if you are considering estate planning or have already created a comprehensive estate plan, you may want to consider including a funeral planning document to help your loved ones make decisions related to burial in accordance with your wishes.

Funeral Planning Documents

While planning for end-of-life care can be complex, ensuring that you do so accurately and completely is critical to saving your loved ones from unnecessary hardships as well as for ensuring that your wishes are adhered to. Including funeral planning documents can be an important part of the process. Many people are aware of other end-of-life forms, like a Healthcare Proxy nomination, but overlook funeral planning.

March 17, 2017

Tips to Minimize Fighting Over Your Estate Plan

by Ettinger Law Firm

Estate planning is not something that should be taken lightly, and understanding the gravity that comes with your estate planning decisions is an important part of creating a comprehensive estate plan. However, one of the most common problems with estate plans is that while they may accurately reflect your wishes, they don’t always reflect what your family thinks those wishes should be. That can leave them vulnerable to attack in court, which can cause unintended consequences for your assets. Aside from utilizing the services of an experienced estate planning attorney, there are some ways to avoid common issues that can give rise to litigation of an estate plan.

Pay Attention to Laws of Intestate Succession

Intestate succession laws help determine how a person’s assets are to be divided when they die if that person has no Will or their Will is found to be invalid. While you are certainly free to distribute your estate as you see fit, understanding the laws of intestate succession can help you distribute your estate in a way that will discourage Will contests because beneficiaries that stand to benefit little from having a Will invalidated will often think twice about doing so.

February 14, 2017

Follow-up Care for Your Estate Plan

by Ettinger Law Firm

Estate planning is an important step in making sure your assets are secure and will be distributed according to your wishes when you die. It can be a complicated procedure, but an experienced New York estate planning attorney can help you make sure that your estate plan is comprehensive and in line with your particular wishes. However, it is important to remember that once you create an estate plan you should take steps to make sure it is secure and remember circumstances may arise that require you to revisit your estate plan and even possibly revise it.

Where should you keep your estate plan?

It is important to keep your estate plan in a secure location with limited access that will protect it from being damaged. Some individuals choose to use a safe deposit box at a bank while other choose a secure home safe option. If you elect to use a safe deposit box at a bank, it can sometimes be difficult to access that box if you pass away. This difficulty will prolong opening your estate and carrying out your wishes. However, safe deposit boxes do offer an extra layer of security for important documents within an estate plan.

January 27, 2017

Changes in Retirement Could Mean Changes to Your Estate Plan

by Ettinger Law Firm

The financial market is expansive and can change overnight. NextAvenue.org recently wrote about several important ways retirement is likely to change in 2017 that could impact millions of people and require you to engage in or reevaluate your estate planning. According to the article, several things you should pay attention to include:

Tax Cuts Are Likely

Tax laws are continuously changing, and the new administration has proposed some rather significant changes to the tax code. If these changes become a reality, it may important for people to look at investments like their IRA and convert it to a more tax-friendly asset, like a Roth IRA. This can help investors and those planning retirement accounts to take advantage of more favorable tax consequences that could help them keep more of their money in the long run.

January 22, 2017

Protecting Yourself from Elder Financial Abuse

by Ettinger Law Firm

All too often, unscrupulous people attempt to take advantage of others. This is especially common with elderly individuals. When this happens, it is known as elder financial abuse, and it can have a significant negative effect on your estate. Recently, USA Today reported on this growing problem by discussing testimony from a hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Aging. Below are important steps that you can take to protect yourself and your assets.

Understand Risk Factors

When elderly people face cognitive impairment, this increases the risk that they will be taken advantage of. Additional risk factors include individuals that attempt to isolate an elderly person from their family, friends, or community. Doing so can put an elderly person at increased risk for elder financial abuse.

January 18, 2017

Back to the Basics – Pet Trusts

by Ettinger Law Firm

In a recent blog, we discussed pet owner’s options for naming their pets as beneficiaries in their wills. Another option for pet owners to provider for their pet after death is creating a pet trust. Pet trusts offer a wide variety of options to provide for the pet and can be used in conjunction with a will. Pet trusts are created during the grantor, in this case the pet owner’s, life, and can take effect immediately, or upon death of the grantor.

Unlike wills which leave interpreting some provisions up to the discretion of probate court, trusts are legally enforceable agreements that are carried out according to the provisions of the document. All the traditional rules of trust administration will be in effect for a pet trust as they are for any other trust. There will be a trustee named which will carry out the best interests of the maker of the trust and will be able to enforce the terms of the trust in court if necessary.

One feature of a pet trust that is distinct are the caretaking options. When establishing a pet trust, the maker can name who will take care of their pet in the event of incapacitation, who will have immediate custody upon your death, and how the animal is cared for.

December 16, 2016

Can Elderly Parents Be Claimed as Dependents?

by Ettinger Law Firm

Healthcare coverage has been an unsure and confusing issue for both young and elderly citizens over the past decade, with the potential to only become more complicated as a new president takes office. While laws have been amended throughout President Obama’s term to now allow young adults to remain covered under their parents insurance until they are 26 years old, there are no hard rules regarding whether parents can qualify under their adult childrens’ health insurance plans.

Narrow Exceptions To Covering Parents

There are limited situations in which an adult child could get their elderly or ailing parent covered under their company’s insurance provider, however, they must meet a number of requirements. Parents can be covered under their child’s insurance plan if they can qualify as a dependent and meet specific criteria. Dependents traditionally have been considered those children under the age of 26 who do not maintain coverage, spouses or domestic partners, however, parents can qualify generally if they meet the IRS definition of dependent upon their adult child.