One new study found that many LGBTQ+ individuals worry that prejudices held by long-term care facility staff could continue placing these elderly individuals in an environment rife with discrimination and misunderstanding. Many elderly LGBTQ+ individuals even feel the need to go “back into the closet” due to fears about being…
Most people should have a will. Wills are the legal mechanism for distributing property, naming guardians for children and exceptional individuals, and cancelling out debts, among other tasks. Having a will guarantees that you, rather than New York State, decide who gets your property and how your affairs would be…
A recent study by Merrill Lynch and Age Wave found that almost half of Americans over 55, have no idea what will happen to their assets when they die because they don’t have an estate plan or will. People often put off planning their estate because they are not ready…
Earlier this year New York City welcomed the opening of the nation’s first ever LGBT Senior facility. The SAGE Center (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders) is located in Manhattan on 27th Street in North Chelsea. As our New York elder law attorneys noted in a previous post on the…
The New York elder law estate planning attorneys at our firm have worked for years with local GLBT residents on the unique issues that they face when planning for their long-term financial, social, and physical well being. Even though New York leveled the playing field this year by passing legislation…
In January, new legislation initiated by President Obama went into effect whereby hospitals participating in Medicaid and Medicare must now allow all patients to decide visitation rights, as well as whom to entrust with making medical decisions on their behalf, regardless of sexual or gender identity. To read the bill,…
Unfortunately current economic hardships may exist more acutely for the LGBT elder community because of a lifetime of federal law discrimination that has affected their financial security and health care options. Of all the so-called financial safety nets, including Social Security and retiree health insurance benefits, the harshest effects on…