Articles Posted in Estate Planning

In the recent case of Leland House v. Webb, a husband initiated legal action against his deceased wife’s executor to quiet title of a property parcel. In response, the executor claimed that the transfer of the property was a gift rather than a sale. After the trial court ruled in favor of the executor, the husband appealed. 

The appeals court found that an aunt had conveyed the parcel to the wife during the wife’s marriage to the husband.  

How property is characterized is often shaped by the time and method through which the parcel was obtained. Among the types of property ownership, there is a presumption in most states that property owned by spouses during a marriage is marital property. If the property is obtained through a gift or inheritance, however, it is often classified as separate rather than community property. 

While most of us are familiar with wills, many people in New York are not certain about the role played by other estate planning tools like guardianships. In short, a guardian refers to a person who makes decisions for another individual, who is not able to make decisions on their own. 

Guardianship is appointed for children, adults faced with development or intellectual disabilities, or incapacitated adults. In the state of New York, there are several types of guardianships, which vary based on the parties who are involved. This article briefly distinguishes the differences between these types of guardianship.

# 1 – Guardian of a Developmentally or Intellectually Disabled Adult

It’s a common occurrence. A person passes away and the terms of a will require that assets be evenly divided among family members. The deceased, however, forget to mention how personal assets should be divided. As a result, conflict arises among surviving loved ones about how these items should be divided. 

Even though wills are involved, families can still encounter strong emotions. This is because the estate planning process involves several highly emotional elements: life, death, and money. While it might not always be possible to avoid estate planning arguments, there are several strategies reviewed in this essay that can greatly reduce the risk of estate planning disputes.

# 1 – Clearly Express Your Wishes with Estate Planning Instruments

It’s often the case that the most critical conversations are some of the most challenging ones to have. If you plan on discussing long term care with your parent or family member this year, it can help to be prepared. After all, this conversation will need to resolve many questions including how the care will be funded, who will be granted decision making responsibilities, and how your loved one will fund the associated costs.

# 1 – Do Not Hesitate to Have this Conversation

There are some vital statistics to understand about the care of an elderly loved one, First, no matter how many children a person has, one child is often tasked with providing the majority of care. Additionally, the challenges faced by adult caregivers has been long recorded. After all, caregivers commonly work long hours. Due to these challenges, it is in your best interest to have an estate planning conversation with your elderly loved one as soon as is reasonable.

If you like murder mysteries and went to the movies this holiday season, there’s a good chance that you saw the film, Knives Out. So far, the film has brought in 70 million dollars in ticket sales and received substantial critical acclaim. Behind the story that makes this film intriguing is a backdrop of estate planning. While the film gets some things correct about estate planning, it gets other things wrong. 

# 1 – “Will Readings” Are Not Common 

During a critical scene, the surviving family gathers to hear the deceased patriarch’s will read. During this reading, an estate planning attorney sits behind a text and reads out the terms of the deceased man’s will. In reality, while many believe that there is a “reading of the will” after a person passes away, this does not occur in real life. Some people are surprised and others even disappointed when they find out will readings don’t exist.

Irrevocable trusts provide the trust’s creator with certain protections. Despite the advantages that these trusts provide, trust creators must give up any control over assets that are placed within the trust. This article reviews 4 important things you must remember about irrevocable trusts in case you intend on making them part of your estate plan.

# 1 – How Irrevocable Trusts Function

Irrevocable trusts refer to trusts where the terms cannot be modified or altered after they are finalized. Instead, the person who creates the trust transfers their ownership of the assets in the trust to the control of the trust. Many estate plans make use of irrevocable trusts in combination with other estate planning documents. Placing assets in an irrevocable trust means that the assets are not subject to estate taxes. These assets are also shielded from creditors. In understanding how these trusts function, it helps to know what three parties are involved:

If you have a pet, you likely have a plan for the pet in place in case you go on vacation or out of town. You might even have created an estate plan to designate a certain person to take care of the pet in case something unexpectedly happens to you. Many people, however, fail to create an estate plan to address a situation where they become incapacitated and no longer able to take care of the pet. As a result, this article reviews some helpful strategies to follow when planning for the care of your pet when you are no longer able to do so.

Realize the Importance of Adequate Planning

The best place to begin planning for your pet is with an understanding of what would happen to the animal if you did not have an adequate insurance plan in place. The likely result is that a court would appoint someone to make decisions on your behalf. This individual would subsequently be authorized to make decisions for the care of your pet. Unless you trust this person to do what is right with the animal, there is always a chance that the individual might decide that it is in your best interest to get rid of the animal. Consequently, it is a good idea to create an estate plan to make sure that the animal receives adequate care.

A 401(k) rollover occurs when a person directs the transfer of the money in their retirement account to a new plan or IRA. The most common period when people decide to rollover 401(k) is when they either change jobs or retire. One of the most substantial challenges in rolling over a 401(k) is deciding whether it’s a good idea for you. If you make a bad choice, you can end up facing some substantial obstacles like running out of funds and not being able to afford daily living expenses.

Options besides Rolling Over a 401(k)

One of the most important things about 401(k) rollover is understanding that it is not your only option. Besides a 401(k) rollover, some of the other options that you might consider include: directly rolling over a 401(k) to a new employer’s 401(k) or not transferring a 401(k) to an IRA but leaving the old 401(k) in place. The best estate planning advisors will be able to tell you what strategy will work best in your situation.

Estate planning is a complex process. For many people, estate planning is overwhelming and results in many unanticipated costs. For other people, it is frightening to accept that they too will one day pass away. Despite how you might feel about estate planning, there are several important estate planning documents that every person should have including an advance healthcare directive. Health care directives play an important role in allowing a person to specify their choices for caregivers in case of illness or mental incapacity. In some cases, these directives also contain instructions about a person’s body should be handled following death. While they play an important role, statistics reveal that a large number of people are still deciding to not include advance healthcare directives in their estate plans. This article takes a brief look at why these directives are important as well as recommends some steps in creating one.

The Growing Importance of Advance Health Care Directives

Trusts and wills have existed for centuries, but health care directives are a new type of estate planning document. These documents first appeared in 1976, but by 1992 all 50 states had laws allowing advance healthcare directives. One of the reasons why advance healthcare directives have grown substantially in number is that they allow us to have certain control over certain issues related to estate administration and our death. One key feature that many health care directives feature is the ability to choose a third-party to act as an agent in case you become incapacitated. Besides making decisions while you are incapacitated, an agent will often also make sure that your wishes are carried out after your death.

There are some surprising conclusions that people reach after creating an estate plan. For example, after putting the finishing touches on estate planning documents, some parents discover that they do not want to pass on an inheritance to the couple’s children. This is often not because the children have done anything wrong, but rather because the children are in a place where they can now take care of themselves and the parents decide their inheritance would do better if passed on to the surrounding community. This article reviews some important pieces of advice that you should remember in case you find yourself in such an estate planning situation.

Remember Your Assets Are Yours

Deciding to not leave your estate to your children is a divisive document. Some parties will argue on both sides of things. Despite this debate, however, it is important to remember that your assets are yours and that you can do whatever you want with them. This is true regardless of whoever criticizes your choices. If you have strong reasons for not passing your inheritance onto your children, this is the only thing that should influence your decision.