There are several strategies: leveraging exemptions, using trusts (including “Inheritance Protection Trusts”), making lifetime gifts, structuring distribution timing, and coordinating with both federal and state tax rules. The firm’s “Wealth Preservation Strategies” page describes trust‐based planning for those goals. 

If your total estate value (after deductions) is well below applicable thresholds, estate tax may not be a pressing issue. But you might still benefit from planning: for example to avoid probate, control distribution, prepare for disability, or anticipate future growth of your estate.  Our free three-year review ensures continued monitoring of your estate plan for reduction or elimination of estate taxes whenever possible.

Yes — married couples often benefit from planning that helps preserve both spouses’ tax‐exempt amounts. For example, trusts allow one spouse’s exemption to be preserved and those assets to be used for the benefit of the surviving spouse and heirs. 

Yes — potential income tax, capital gains tax (when assets are sold), gift tax (on lifetime transfers), and state‐specific rules. Good planning looks at the tax picture broadly and considers every avenue for tax reduction or elimination within the bounds of the law.

In New York, when applying for Medicaid long‐term-care nursing home benefits, asset transfers made within the prior five years (“look-back” period) may trigger penalties. A MAPT must be funded sufficiently in advance to avoid those penalties. There is currently no look-back period for home care in New York.  

No. A properly drafted MAPT allows you to continue living in your home or even rent it. The trust owns the property, and you have life rights.  The trust can sell the house and purchase another residence if you so choose.  This does not start the look-back period over.

In New York, although the trust is “irrevocable,” there is a rule that allows you to undo it.  If all parties who are beneficiaries/trustees agree in writing, the trust may be revoked. Even better, since you as the “grantor” reserved the right to change the beneficiaries and to change the trustees, if one will not sign you may remove them from the trust and their signature if no longer required. 

That’s often referred to as an “immediate need” for Medicaid. While a MAPT may not be available in the same way (because of the look‐back), other strategies may help: exempt asset conversion, caregiver agreements, Medicaid annuities, etc.  Even when someone is in a nursing home, or on the doorstep so to speak, at least half of the assets may be protected with advanced elder law strategies.

Eligibility depends on: your income, your assets, your transfer history (look‐back), and the level of care needed (medical necessity). Some assets are exempt; others must be “spent down” or converted.  There are many ways to protect income and assets.  Ettinger Law Firm is very familiar with the rules, having filed over 5,000 successful Medicaid applications. 

If you transfer assets for less than fair market value within the look‐back period, a penalty may apply (i.e., a period of ineligibility). That’s why proper planning and accurate documentation are critical. 

Yes. If one spouse applies for Medicaid and the other remains at home (the “community spouse”), certain asset and income protections apply to ensure the spouse at home has enough to live on.

Times vary by county and by whether the applicant is already institutionalized or applying from the community. Because the rules are complex and errors can delay approval (or raise issues), working with experienced counsel helps streamline the process.

Yes. Medicaid eligibility decisions can be appealed through administrative or court channels. Ettinger Law Firm has extensive experience, and has had numerous successes, with filing Medicaid appeals.

When a person with a trust (revocable or irrevocable) dies, the successor trustee must carry out the terms: gather assets, notify beneficiaries, invest assets prudently, keep records, distribute as specified, file tax returns. Estate administration is usually handled by the law firm that set up the trust.

Tools include revocable living trusts, jointly‐held assets, accounts with beneficiary designations, and other title strategies. Avoiding probate speeds up distribution, maintains more privacy, and often reduces legal fees/time.  However, avoiding probate is not the only thing a complete estate plan does.  A complete estate plan with a trust also (1) provides who takes over if you become disabled, (2) keeps your assets in the bloodline, and (3) protects your assets from the costs of long-term care.

Important duties: locate the trust document and decedent’s papers, list and value assets, pay debts/taxes, manage trust investments, communicate with beneficiaries, keep separate records, avoid conflicts of interest, follow the trust terms precisely and, most of all, consult with the estate planning attorney who prepared the trust.

Yes. When family members lack time, expertise or prefer to avoid friction, a professional trustee can bring neutrality, continuity, and experience.