New York Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

Understanding the Inheritance Tax

Published on: February 7, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

There are a lot of considerations when it comes to comprehensive estate planning, not the least of which is choosing the vehicles you will use in your estate planning strategy to meet your needs. However, individuals inheriting from you may also need to be concerned with important considerations like the potential tax consequences of being a beneficiary.

What is the inheritance tax?

One of the most common tax considerations when it comes to estate planning is the estate tax itself, a federal tax applied to estates valued at over a certain amount. The new tax bill doubles the exemption, and many people will not have to worry about the federal estate tax at the moment. However, many states also have estate taxes – including New York. In New York, the current state tax exemption is approximately half of the new federal exemption amount and sits at $5,250,000. That means any estates worth over that amount in New York are subject to the state estate tax even if they are no longer subject to the federal estate tax.

Divorce and Planning Ahead

Published on: February 4, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Comprehensive estate planning is an important part of life. It is an effective way to make sure the assets you have earned are protected and can be distributed to your loved ones when the time comes. Often, younger married couples engage in mutual estate planning together – especially when children enter the picture. While that is a crucial step in securing your financial future, some marriages end in divorce. When that happens, you need to effectively plan ahead for the issues you might face as a result of your divorce.

Hold onto Assets

Maintaining control of your property is important. A divorce can invalidate an ex-spouse’s claim to your property, which means there is little chance that they might obtain things like a home should you suddenly pass away.

Understanding ABLE Accounts

Published on: February 2, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Comprehensive estate planning can be an extensive process, especially if you have many different assets. However, there are also other important considerations when it comes to an effective estate plan, including family members with disabilities. For a long time, special needs trusts were the vehicle of choice in ensuring that a family member with special needs can continue to receive care even after a caretaker passes away. In the last few years, a new option has become available: an ABLE account.

The Basics

ABLE accounts were created by the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014. While anyone can establish a special needs trusts, only individuals who reside in states that permit ABLE accounts or whose state has contracted with another state to offer such accounts are eligible. New York has an ABLE account program in place, and utilizing it may help you better address your family’s needs.

How to Future of Elder Care Could Take its Toll on Millenials

Published on: February 1, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

A recent article by the New York Times covered some of the trends in aging and the economy that could have a tremendous impact on how families, particularly women and millenials, care for elder family members in the future. While it is no secret an increasing percentage of America will become older with the wave of Baby Boomers entering their golden years, the societal and economic impacts are less discussed and more profound.

According to data cited in the article, an estimated one in five working age adults in the U.S. is retired, approximately 15 percent of the population. Of those retirees, as many as 14 million adults may not be able to live independently and require some sort of in-home or skilled nursing care to survive.

Experts studying the issue believe the burden of caring for older family members may be one reason by women have less earning power over all than men. The article points out that about a quarter of women 45 to 64 years old and one in seven of those 35 to 44 are caring for an older relative.

Does New York Offer Paid Family Leave?

Published on: January 29, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Starting January 1, 2018, most employees who work in New York State for private employers will be eligible to take paid family leave to care for a newborn child or a sick family member. If you are a public employee working for the state, your employer may choose to offer paid family leave so check to see if your office is eligible.

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the law in 2016, giving New Yorkers the country’s strongest and most comprehensive policy for paid family leave. As a result of the bills passage, working families will no longer have to choose between caring for their loved ones and risking their economic security.

New York’s Paid Family Leave provides job-protected, paid time off so workers can:

College Savings Plans and Estate Planning

Published on: January 27, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

We have recently written about various estate planning mechanisms that can enable you to pay for a young person’s college tuition. If you are interested in making those types of arrangements, it is important to understand how they might affect your estate plan. A college savings plan could become an important part of your comprehensive estate planning strategy.

The Basics

College savings plans, or 529 plans, come in a variety of shapes. There are many characteristics that you need to consider when determining the plan that is right for you. One of the most popular 529 plans is the prepaid tuition plan. With this type of plan, you make cash contributions to an account that invests that money and gains interest over the life of the account. The earnings the account makes are tax-free so long as they are used for qualifying expenses related to higher education.

Loans to Family Members Can Affect Your Estate

Published on: January 25, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Most people want to help their family members have everything they need. In fact, one of the main reasons to create a comprehensive estate plan is to make sure that you are able to distribute your assets in a way that provides the most security for your beneficiaries. During our lives, there are times when we have family members in need and may be in a position to help them. If we choose to do so with a loan, it is important that the details of that loan are written down and thoroughly understood by all parties involved in the transaction. Otherwise, there could be potential problems when it comes to administering your estate.

Pitfalls of Loans

One of the biggest problems with loans happens when the lender passes away, often unexpectedly. If there is an outstanding loan to a friend or family member, especially one that may also be a beneficiary, there is likely to be some disagreement over the terms of various documents within the estate plan.

The Role of a Second-to-Die Life Insurance Policy

Published on: January 22, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

There are many different assets that combine to form your overall estate, and there are many different options when it comes to protecting those assets. Your estate can include real estate, stocks, copyrights, bonds, vehicles, and many other types of property. Your estate value also includes the cash you have on hand. In today’s world, it is not uncommon for high-value estates to be low on cash. While the estate itself may be worth a great deal because of many of the holdings within the estate, there is often a lack of ready cash to take care of important expenses like funeral costs or even state and/or federal estate taxes. If you find yourself in that position, a second-to-die life insurance policy could be an important part of your estate planning toolkit.

Benefits

A second-to-die life insurance policy has many benefits for many different types of families. However, they can be especially useful in situations where there is a large estate involved. With new legislation, the federal estate tax exemption has doubled and a lot more people do not have to worry about owing the estate tax as the exemption for an individual has been raised to around $11 million and for a couple to around $22 million. The exemption for New York’s state-level estate tax is currently at $5,250,000. Only estates valued over these amounts will be subject to the estate tax.

Health Officials Say 2018 Flu Season Could be Among the Worst in Years

Published on: January 22, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently put the country on alert, warning that this year’s flu season and the H3N2 virus could be one of the worst in recent years as hospitals experience record setting hospitalization rates. Physicians for the CDC warned Americans over the age of 65-years old are being hospitalized at a higher rate than any other segment of the population and elders need to take care to ensure they do not fall victim to complications with the virus.

CDC Director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald cautioned that although infection rates appear to be peaking, many more Americans will be diagnosed with the flu in the coming weeks before flu season ends across the country. While recent years have been categorized as “active” flu seasons, where large numbers of people become sick, this year is expected to be “severe” with an unusually number of patients being diagnosed with some form of the flu virus.

Fortunately, this year does not appear as though it will be as bad as the 2015 flu season where infection rates were as high as 29.9 people out of every 100,000. The flu typically hits populations at the ends of the spectrums, the very young and the very old, with at least 20-children succumbing to the virus this season so far. The only silver lining to these tragedies is that the numbers are far less than in years past, 110 last year and 92 in 2016.

The Importance of Domicile on Estate Planning: Avoiding Double Taxation

Published on: January 18, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Unfortunately, the old adage that death and taxes are unavoidable is true. Unfortunately, they are also both closely related. For individuals with estates that are subject to a federal and/or a state-level estate tax, there exists the possibility of being double taxed if you maintain a residence in more than one state. Unfortunately, this is all-too-common of an occurrence. A comprehensive approach to estate planning can help avoid this unpleasant surprise.

How It Happens

Double taxation typically occurs in situations where individuals have multiple properties spread across different states. It is not uncommon for an individual to have a home in New York and another home in, say, Florida. Potentially, the second home could be even closer – like Pennsylvania. Wherever your multiple residences are, you need to be aware of the potential tax consequences of maintaining property in various states.