Senior citizens rely on experienced and trusted assisted living facilities to provide premier living conditions staffed with professional associates to provide the best medical and personal elder care. More than one-and-a-half million Americans live in nursing homes throughout the country, so that makes for many in search of quality assisted…
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New York Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog
The Basics: The Importance of Living Trusts in Estate Planning
An important element of estate planning is ensuring the financial security of your family after you are gone. Like most people, we have worked our lifetime to provide financial stability for not only ourselves but our loved ones. An easy, burden-less way of providing for your loved ones is through…
A Court Order Delays Life Support Termination
Legal battles between families and hospitals over whether to disconnect life-support systems are nothing new. Optimistic family members plead with hospitals and insurance companies to keep their loved one on life support, while doctors argue the person has already died and the machines are the only thing keeping the heart…
Family Fights for Years to Get Email Access After Untimely Death
What is considered an “asset” today may not be the same as what was an asset one hundred years ago (or fifty years in the future!). Estate planning is one area of the law that changes with the times, as it must account for what is valuable, important, and logical…
Don’t Let Qualifying for Medicaid Force You Into Poverty
If a New York senior is in immediate need of close, skilled, long-term care and lacks the resources to pay the (quite high) fees for such care are out of pocket, then the only recourse is usually the New York Medicaid system. But far too many residents fail to appreciate…
The Challenges of Dementia Care Around the Holidays
This time of the year generates mixed emotions for many New Yorkers. November and December are filled with many holiday celebrations, from Thanksgiving and Christmas to Hanukkah and New Years. There are work parties, gift exchanges, light displays, television specials, and more. Many local families have deep memories associated with…
Clarity in Estate Planning – Who Owns Fawcett’s Warhol Painting?
Unintended consequences are rampant in do-it-yourself Will creation and other estate planning. Even arrangements that seem simple at first blush may prove to have hidden ambiguities or uncertainties that only come to light during probate–when it is too late to fix. Partner vs. University To get an idea of how…
Gift Tax Benefits Expiring At End of Year?
Timing is critical in estate planning for many reasons. Most obviously, because plans are intended to help ease the burden in the aftermath of a death, they must be in place before one dies (or loses the capacity to make legal decisions). But timing also matters to the extent that…
Understanding Legal Capacity in New York
New York elder law attorneys work with local families on a range of issues affecting seniors. Most notable among these is assistance arranging long-term care for seniors with physical and mental challenges. This frequently requires use of the Medicaid system, which itself comes with “spend down” requirements and other complications.…
Bucking the Trend – County-Run Nursing Homes
News regarding New York nursing home care in recent months has centered on one development–the privatization of formerly public-owned facilities. In the past, most New York counties owned and managed their own facilities to provide long-term care for seniors in their community. However, due to a range of factors, those…