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Making the decision to place a loved one in a nursing facility is heart-wrenching. Most seniors prefer to live at home, and everyone has heard horror stories about substandard care provided at some of these facilities. However, even with those concerns, there are times when it is absolutely essential that…
We previously discussed the Supreme Court case Astrue v. Capato. At root in the case was the issue of whether or not children conceived after the death of a parent are entitled to federal survivorship benefits. It is important to note that this refers only to those whose actual conception…
The Medicaid program is a joint federal and state effort–the public bodies split the cost. The state cost itself is further subdivided into payments made by county governments and those coming straight from Albany. This interconnected relationship is helpful in that it doesn’t place the burden too heavily on any…
Law enforcement officers, senior care agency officials, and senior care advocates all believe that having neutral, third-parties with an eye on a senior’s finances is an important way to identify when financial exploitation occurs. Those outside parties can identify particularly suspicious transactions and alert authorities. Our New York elder law…
New York estate planning is a family affair–husbands, wives, children, grandchildren and others all have a stake in ensuring that planning is done properly and timely. This might lead some to wonder whether each individual with a stake in the planning needs their own lawyer. In particular, in blended families…
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…
TV Star Gary Coleman died unexpectedly nearly two years ago in May 2010. He was only 42 years old. Coleman had some previous estate planning measures handled, because his former manager was apparently named as executor and beneficiary of his estate as early as 2005. However, the plan does not…
Most discussion about taxes and death involve the “estate tax.” This is a tax imposed on certain assets usually given to others as an inheritance by a deceased individual. However, after a passing there are still other tax issues that surviving family members have to deal with, even if estate…
Well-known architect and designer Eliot Noyes died thirty five years ago, in 1977. Some of his prized possessions were large mobiles by famous sculptor Alexander Calder. Calder was a personal friend of Noyes, and the artwork was commissioned especially to fit the family home. Upon Noyes’s death there was no…
One of the most common estate planning mistakes is failure to change names on the title of assets and beneficiary designations. This rarely a problem when one first visits with an estate planning lawyer to create a new plan, because, so long as the work is competent, the professional will…