New York Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

Back to the Basics – Estate Planning Mistakes to Avoid

Published on: April 24, 2015 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Celebrity estate stories are rife with lessons about mistakes to avoid when creating an estate plan, such as problems with the estates of James Gandolfini, James Brown, and Anna Nicole Smith. Poor estate planning can lead to probate, taxes, and family disputes. Failing to create an estate plan or drafting a poorly written plan can lead to many issues for your loved ones after you pass away, but there are some mistakes that you can avoid in order to minimize the chances of problems in the estate planning process.

Mistake #1: Thinking You are Too Young or Possess Too Little

In 2012, a report from Texas Tech University revealed that only around 54% of all Americans possess an estate plan. Many do not create a will or other estate planning documents because they believe that they are too young or do not possess enough to warrant a will. However, a good estate plan does not just pass your assets to your loved ones when you die; it can also protect you while you are alive.

Florida’s Gray Belt Giving a Glimpse of America’s Future

Published on: April 20, 2015 | by Ettinger Law Firm

In Citrus County, Florida, more than one-third of the residents are senior citizens which is one of the highest rates in the country. However, in just fifteen years over one-quarter of the state will be 65 years old or older. Seeing how Citrus County operates now is giving policy makers and researchers a glimpse into the future of how the entire country will look in just a couple of decades.

A Look at Citrus County

Billboards across the county advertise home health care services, and health care is the dominating labor force for people still working. In addition, lawyers and doctors make house calls, and elderly citizens that can still get around use the county minivan system to be transported to and from the store.

New York DFS Issues Guidelines about Elder Financial Exploitation

Published on: April 16, 2015 | by Ettinger Law Firm

In late February, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued guidelines to financial institutions located within the state regarding prevention of elder financial exploitation. The guidelines were issued to remind banks and other lending institutions that they are allowed to report possible instances of elder financial exploitation to New York’s Adult Protective Services (APS) in addition to outlining the best practices used to identify, investigate, and report instances of elder financial abuse to the authorities.

Federal and State Reporting Law

While not mandated, DFS strongly recommended that financial institutions report any suspected elder financial abuse to APS. A joint task force of the federal OCC and FDIC released their own report in 2013 that clarified that it is not a violation of state or federal law to report suspected elder financial abuse to the relevant authorities.

Department of Veterans Affairs Proposes New Pension Rules

Published on: April 13, 2015 | by Ettinger Law Firm

In January, the Department of Veterans Affairs proposed new regulations regarding when and how a veteran is entitled to the VA pension. The proposed regulations have sparked considerable controversy and outrage over the potential penalties involved with making gifts and eligibility for the pension program.

VA Pension Program

The Department of Veterans Affairs established the VA pension as a way to help veterans and their families once a person has retired from the military. It provides tax-free, supplemental income through the pension program. Additional benefits through the pension program called “Aid and Attendance Benefits” are also offered to veterans who are unable to perform daily living activities, such as bathing, eating, dressing, and so forth. One of the main purposes of the Aid and Attendance benefits is to help veterans offset the high costs of nursing home care.

Estate Planning Tips for Newlyweds

Published on: April 13, 2015 | by Ettinger Law Firm

When a couple is getting married the last thing that they are typically worried about is estate planning. However, once the honeymoon is over you should sit down with your new spouse and update your individual estate plans to reflect the new status of your marriage. The following tips are a good place to start when combining two individual estate plans into one.

Visit the HR Department

Nowadays, your employer typically handles your retirement accounts and life insurance forms. Once you have been married, you should visit your HR department to update the beneficiary forms for these documents to include your new spouse. Beneficiary accounts are different from other assets in an estate, so if the beneficiary is left as someone different the value of the account will go to them and not the spouse.

Estate Planning Tips for U.S. Expatriates

Published on: April 10, 2015 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Living and working abroad while maintaining your United States citizenship can add a layer of complexity to the estate planning process. International property, assets, accounts, taxation, and other issues that can affect estate plans must be considered that normally do not complicate the estate planning process. If you expect to be working as an expat, consider looking into the following issues for your estate plan before you go.

Review Your Estate Plan

It may seem basic, but review your estate plan before you go abroad. Update any necessary documents or beneficiary forms before leaving and make sure that everything is set with your attorney in the United States before going abroad. It would also be helpful to review the interactions between the U.S. legal system and the laws where you will be going to so that you can understand how your estate plan may be affected by the move.

Trouble with Advance Directives

Published on: April 2, 2015 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Two weeks after major surgeries, medical treatments, and life-saving procedures a doctor found his patient’s advance directive in his medical chart. Suffering from dementia and unable to communicate, the patient was unable to tell his doctors about the document that stated “he wanted comfort care only, no heroics.” This story illustrates one of a number of growing problems that medical professionals have with advance directives.

Advance Directives and Living Wills

Advance directives, which commonly include living wills and advance healthcare proxies, dictate the wishes of a person’s future care. A living will is used to communicate which treatments and procedures you would like performed in the case that you are unable to communicate them yourself. It is most commonly known for dictating whether a person wishes to be resuscitated in life threatening situations.

Woman Admits to Digging Up Father’s Grave Searching for “Real Will”

Published on: April 1, 2015 | by Ettinger Law Firm

In a bizarre care, a woman in New Hampshire admitted in court that she told police that she dug up her father’s grave in search of his “real will” but was rewarded with only vodka and cigarettes. Melanie Nash, 53, pleaded guilty last week as one of four people who opened her father’s vault and rifled through his casket last May.

According to the prosecutor, the scene was reminiscent of an Edgar Allen Poe tale. Ms. Nash believed that she was unjustly shorted out of her part of her father’s estate when he died in 2004. She did not receive anything when he died and had been thinking of digging up her father’s grave for years to try and prove that her sister hid the will in his casket. Her sister, Susie Nash, has always maintained that there was only one will created in 1995 along with the rest of the estate planning documents and that everyone involved in the process knew about it.

In Search of the Real Will

Legal Plans for Seniors with Alzheimer’s

Published on: March 31, 2015 | by Ettinger Law Firm

While it is important for everyone to plan for their future, it is especially important for a person that has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. The sooner that the planning begins after a diagnosis, the more likely that the person can contribute to the conversation and it becomes the less likely that problems will arise in the future. The Alzheimer’s Association has many resources available for seniors that have Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia as well as for their loved ones, including steps to take regarding legal plans for the future.

Legal Capacity

In most cases, a person who is suffering from dementia is able to understand the meaning and importance of a legal document. As such, they possess the legal capacity to execute the document. So long as the person suffering from Alzheimer’s possesses the legal capacity to make decisions regarding their care, they should take part in legal planning.

Court Rules Payable-on-Death Accounts Not Part of Estate

Published on: March 30, 2015 | by Ettinger Law Firm

A Florida Court of Appeals sorted through a complicated question of bank accounts and estates in a case at the end of last year. This case illustrates the complexities of banking law and administering estates in addition to the importance of reviewing the state law regarding estate administration before creating an estate plan.

Facts of the Case

In the case of Brown v. Brown, Elizabeth Brown died in 2007, leaving behind six adult children. She had an estate plan in place that distributed several specific bequests and left the remainder to be distributed equally amongst her children. She named one of her children as the executor of the estate, and he filed this lawsuit against one of his siblings, Joseph.