New York Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

Estate Planning Advice After Middle-Aged Divorces

Published on: May 5, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

In the last few decades, the rate of divorce among middle-aged as well as older people in this country has risen. Studies of the issue have discovered that in recent history, the divorce rate for people over the age of 43 in the country has substantially increased. This increase in divorce is even more noticeable when focused exclusively on “gray divorce”, which involves people between the ages of 55 to 64.

Regardless of what caused this increase, the increase in the number of these divorces has raised some special considerations that should be analyzed concerning divorces. This article touches on just a few of those considerations.

Spousal Support

Issues that Could Invalidate a Will

Published on: May 5, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

When considering whether to dispute a person’s will, you should review what factors exist that might suggest a successful basis for challenging the will. While these are an almost unlimited number of factors that exist, some particularly common issues arise concerning wills and resulting challenges.

# 1 – Last-Minute Changes

One of the most commonly encountered situations is when a deceased person executed a will close to the end of life that substantially alters their estate plans. When a will is drafted, an individual who wants to challenge the document should inspect several things to decide whether the document is valid. For estate planning documents created near the end of a person’s life, a detailed analysis should be made regarding whether the person had the adequate mental capacity to execute the document.

Biden Regulations Do Not Qualify Families As Essential Caregivers

Published on: May 5, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

When the Biden administration proposed new nursing home regulations recently, some people were content while others were confused.

The regulation establishes minimum staffing requirements as well as advocates for stronger regulatory oversight and improved public details about the quality of nursing homes. These measures have been the subject of advocate campaigns for years. These regulations, however, do not address the right that residents have to contact family members and friends who provide caregiving services.

What Is an Informal Caregiver?

Restraining Orders by the Elderly Can Help Avoid Estate Planning Pitfalls

Published on: May 5, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

In some situations, courts throughout the country are able to stop other individuals from altering an elderly individual’s estate plan.

In one recent case, White v. Wear, the appellate court considered the creation of a restraining order blocking the respondent from performing any alternatives to estate plans. The order might preempt estate planning changes and as a result, eliminate a further dispute over the estate planning document.

The man at the heart of the case established a corresponding trust several decades ago with the

The Role of the Stop Unfair Medicaid Recoveries Act

Published on: April 18, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Current federal regulations require Medicaid programs run by states to try to recoup the cost from estates of recipients who have since passed away even if the state would rather not pursue such recovery.

Medicaid programs must pursue compensation for the cost of nursing home services as well as home and community-situated services in addition to other associated services if a person who receives Medicaid was at least 55 at the time the services were provided. States have the choice to pursue recovery for other services due. The recovery is restricted by the size of the deceased individual’s estate. No other public benefit program requires that correctly paid benefits be received from a deceased Medicaid recipient’s family members. The minimum revenue created by estate recovery is surpassed by the burden it places on low-income individuals. The burden unfairly falls on families whose loved one’s experience

The Stop Unfair Medicaid Recoveries Act was introduced by an Illinois representative and if passed into law would revise the Social Security Act’s Title XIX to repeal requirements that states create a Medicaid Estate Recovery Program and restrict the circumstances when a state can institute a lien on property owned by a Medicaid beneficiary.

Instability in Nursing Home Staffing Impacts Resident Quality of Care

Published on: April 18, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Nursing home staffing levels frequently decreased on weekends. In 2018, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services distinguished facilities with low staffing on weekends and ordered states to perform surveys in a section of those locations on weekends.

In January 2022, the Center started posting weekend staffing levels at nursing homes. Besides single staffing measures citing two reports about the need for additional staffing details on the Care Compare website.

Study Shows Value of Providing Public with Staff Information

What to Know About New York’s Estate Tax Cliff

Published on: April 18, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

New York’s estate tax cliff can lead to heirs in the state paying estate tax at a rate that surpasses 100%. The existing per-person New York state estate tax exemption is $6.11 million. This is the amount that a person can pass on to heirs at his or her time of death without being obligated to pay New York state estate taxes.

Provided a person’s taxable estate falls into the “Estate tax cliff range”, which occurs between $6.11 million and $6.711 million in 2022, a person falls off the estate tax cliff in New York state, and the amount surpassing the exemption is taxed at a rate greater than 100%. Fortunately, various solutions exist to this challenging situation.

Utilizing Charitable Bequests

Start-Up Poised to Make Estate Planning Accessible to Everyone

Published on: April 18, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

The estate planning start-up, Wealth, is pursuing a $180 billion U.S. market by utilizing a digital dashboard that updates holdings in real-time. Many technology companies have offered potential approaches to solving these issues ranging from WillMaker to EverPlans. The CEO of Wealth has stated that he believes his company is pursuing a more unique strategy by appealing to workers that want to offer more value-added benefits.

The Company’s Founding

The company was founded by the former CEO of the company Emailage, which has since been acquired by LexisNexis. The assets from such a sale allow individuals to create, manage, and visualize estate plans through a detailed ecosystem of proprietary legal documents as well as third-party APIs.

What You Need to Know about Living Trusts

Published on: April 18, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

If you’re creating a plan for what will happen to your estate after you pass away or become incapacitated, you’ve likely familiar with the advantages you can realize by creating a living trust. Items positioned in a trust do not pass through probate, which can be a costly and time-intensive process. Living trusts (also referred to as revocable trusts) let a person appoints a trust administrator to look after an estate after the creator passes away.

Living trusts often simplify how assets in estates are passed on. Unfortunately, countless opportunities exist to make errors, especially if you’re tasked with transferring items to a trust. Certain kinds of accounts should never pass into a trust. These certain accounts should not pass into a trust even in situations where they represent the majority of an estate. This category includes retirement accounts like 401(k) plans as well as other types of retirement accounts.

If you pass on assets to a trust, the Internal Revenue Service will classify the interaction as a distribution and you will be required to pay income taxes.

How to Avoid Disagreements with Trustees

Published on: April 10, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

In the recent case of MBM Family Trust, one party initiated legal action against another concerning a foreign judgment. The party who initiated the lawsuit later added a trustee of a trust that the plaintiff claimed helped the defendant conceal assets. The trustee pursued a special appearance and argued over personal jurisdiction.

Ultimately, the trial court did not accept this object. Instead, the trustee appealed. On appeal, the court found that claims intended to recover assets from a trust can only be brought against the trustee who is the trust’s legal representative.

The appellate court commented that the trial court had evidence that the family trust was a lender and that the trustee stepped in to function as the lender of a home equity line. The home equity line of credit provided the line of credit was secured by a deed of trust to the trustee and apart from the home equity line.