New York Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

It is important to consider two different scenarios when planning for retirement and drafting an estate plan. The first thing is to consider what will happen to your estate after you die. However, the second is to consider what will happen to your estate if you live a long life but are not in the best of health and require permanent assistance from others. Creating a comprehensive estate plan can help prepare for both of these scenarios by protecting assets that can either be passed down to heirs or used if you become disabled and need long-term support.

The Need to Plan for Long-Term Care

Most seniors drafting an estate plan today ignore the biggest risk to their estate – needing money for long-term health care. According to the U.S. Department of Health, over 70% of our country’s population over the age of 65 will need some type of long-term care, and more than forty percent will need nursing home care for some period of time.

Some assets are fantastic to hold onto in estate planning but others can be bad for you and your heirs. One of the key objectives when planning your estate is to keep the tax bill as low as possible for your heirs when they are bequeathed portions of your estate. The following is a ranking of the good, the bad, and the ugly of retirement assets that you should leave for your heirs.

The Good

Depleted partnerships: The best asset to keep in an estate plan is also a bit of a head-scratcher. While the taxation of partnerships is complex and at time counterintuitive, there are two important things to keep in mind.

The tragic death and apparent suicide of master comedian Robin Williams has left millions of family, friends, and fans grieving for his loss. Reflecting on his legacy and memory, many people now wonder what is next for his family. He is survived by his third wife, Susan Schneider, to whom he was married for three years, and three adult children ranging in age from 22 to 31 from his two prior marriages.

Williams’ Estate

Robin Williams complained to an interviewer last year about the lifestyle changes he has had to make because of how much money he lost in his previous two divorces. Reportedly, it amounted to around $30 million. He admitted to returning to television, The Crazy Ones, because of bills to pay and listed his Napa Valley property for sale. Public records show that his real estate has significant value. The Napa property, named Villa Sorriso, has been on the market since April for $29.9 million. Williams also owns a 6,500 square foot property in Tiburon, California, valued at around $6 million. After deducting the mortgages on the homes the real estate alone is worth around $25 million.

Many people believe that estate planning is only for the elderly or those at retirement age. However, there are some documents and tools within estate planning that should be considered at a much earlier age. If you have a child that is about to leave for college or go on a gap-year trip there is one last thing that you should do as you prepare for the separation: ask your child to sign a durable power of attorney and health care proxy forms.

Why These Forms are Important

Estate planning forms like a durable power of attorney and health care proxy forms are important for a number of reasons. Without them, most states will not allow a parent of an adult child to make health care decisions or manage money for their kids. This applies even if the parent is paying for college, claiming the child as a dependent on tax returns, and still covers their kid for health insurance. Without these estate planning forms if your child is in an accident and becomes disabled, even temporarily, you would need a court order to make decisions on their behalf.

A new show premiered on the Reelz Channel this week called Celebrity Legacies, a documentary series highlighting the estates of famous deceased celebrities. The show explores a different celebrity’s estate plan every week, discussing their legacy, estate, and problems that arose after the celebrity’s death. It also explains how a celebrity’s estate can continue to increase after their death and why some deceased celebrities still make the “highest paid” lists years after they are gone.

Premiere Episode: James Gandolfini

The premiere episode of the series focused on the estate of James Gandolfini, and subsequent episodes include famous names like Anna Nicole Smith and Jim Morrison. Gandolfini died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age fifty-one in 2013 while on vacation in Italy with his son. The actor, known primarily for his work on the television show The Soproanos, left behind two children from two different marriages and a messy, largely unfinished estate plan.