New York elder law

Financial Elder Abuse: Warning Signs and How to Stop It

Published on: October 25, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Elder abuse has been an increasing trend over the past few decades, within roughly one in ten Americans over 60 years of age experiencing elder abuse, whether it be financial, harassment, sexual, physical, or passive abuse through neglect or deprivation. Of the elders subjected to abuse, over 90% of those Americans are abused by someone they know, either a family member, friend, acquaintance, medical staff employee, or caretaker.

Predators seek out opportunities with the elderly in order to become involved in their lives and then later exploit them in their most vulnerable state. Often times, an individual will claim to be helping the elder individual, either by assisting in caretaking or house keeping, and then will later bill them for an exorbitant amount of money or get ahold of their checking account to pay themselves.

Warning Signs

Special/Supplemental Needs Trust

Published on: October 18, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Special needs trust are a type of trust by which the beneficiary is provided for through the trust income, but has no control over the distributions of the trust. Generally, special needs, or supplemental needs trusts, have been used to provide for those loved ones with disabilities or who are unable to care for themselves any longer.

Once a special needs trust is established, family or a loved one can put the assets in the trust for the benefit of the beneficiary in order to provide them with any number of resources they feel the beneficiary deserves. The trust funds can be used to compensate for additional medical bills not fully covered by insurance, for personal leisure, travel, or anything the grantor feels the beneficiary may want or benefit from.

Eligibility for Benefits & Being a Beneficiary

Estate Planning Measures for Unmarried Couples

Published on: October 7, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

According to the 2010 Census, over 7.5 million unmarried couples or 15 million people, live together, a sharp increase from the 3.2 million unmarried couples living together in 1990. This increase in cohabitation has been attributed to a number of different factors, including increased living costs, decisions to marry later or not at all, and until recently, due to legal barriers for same sex couples.

There are many legal benefits to marriage, including rights to social security, immigration rights if one party is not a citizen, surviving spouse benefits, estate benefits, as well as joint bankruptcy filings and the right to refuse to testify against a spouse in a legal proceeding. However, these reasons alone are not justification to get married, which many couples are finding is not for them.

In order to ensure that your partner gets inheritance in the event of your passing, it is critical that the couple executes estate planning documents such as a will or trust. Naming your partner in your will ensures that they will be the beneficiary of the assets and property executed in the document. Additionally, name your partner as your beneficiary on all pensions, retirement accounts, and insurance policies and check those policies to determine if naming a non-family member is allowed or subject to specific rules.

The Housing Issue and The Elderly

Published on: August 18, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

There are many factors that go into maintaining a budget in a family while also trying to save for the future. For Americans, the cost of maintaining a household has gotten continuously more expensive; the average cost of raising a child born in 2013 now costs roughly $245,000 for a middle income family in the United States, with housing for the child accounting for about 30% of those costs. This is compared to a study done in 1960 by the United States Department of Agriculture that stated middle income families could expect the average cost of raising a child to be a little more than $25,000 until age 18. Interestingly in both studies, housing accounted for the largest expense for the families surveyed. The children once focused on in these 1960s studies have now become the focus of our article, and one thing remains the same, housing is still the biggest expense they must account for.

As the aging population refocuses their priorities for housing, they must consider factors such as accessibility to stores, services, transportation, medical care if they experience chronic conditions, as well as access to social settings and connections. The worry of many aging people is that they will be forced to leave their home and instead reside in an assisted living or nursing home in order to retain government assistance with healthcare. There will also need to be a refocus on the ability to provide for a more diverse population of elderly people; with the thousands of individuals turning 65 years old daily over the next two decades will come a much more diverse population that has had drastically different housing situations.

Possible Solutions

MOLST Forms Gaining Attention

Published on: July 31, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

MOLST Forms, What Are They?

Easily identifiable by its bright pink color, another advance directive has been approved for use in New York medical treatment and healthcare administration. Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment are medical forms similar to a DNR Order, being that they both provide for life of end care preferences. However, Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) not only allows a patient to refuse resuscitation in the event it is needed, but it also allows for a patient to state when they would allow or request it. Once the form was approved in 2008, EMT agencies now may use the MOLST form without needing a non-hospital DNR order, however, they must honor the DNR bracelet if worn by the patient or a non-hospital DNR form if it is on file.

How it Differs from DNR Orders

Home Care Workers Secure Compensation Victory

Published on: July 15, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

While most of us know that the baby boomer population is vast, many do not realize the impact this population will have as they start to retire over the next few decades. In fact, over the next 20 years, 10,000 baby boomers will turn 65 everyday. Between 65-70 years old has been the age of retirement for many, with some retiring early and some pushing through another decade of work. However, as this generation gets older, their need for care will continue to grow.

Federal Level

In late June, the Supreme Court decided not to hear Home Care Association of America v. Weil, a case that was attempting to deprive home care workers of their ability to qualify for minimum wage and additionally, for overtime pay for those hours worked over 40 per week. These home care workers have been part of the ‘Fight for 15’ movement to get equal pay and higher pay for minimum wage. Home care workers have previously been labeled by the Labor Department as ‘companions,’ which does not allow them to qualify as employees who are subject to minimum wage and overtime pay. The rules governing home care workers were not fixed until this past year, when the Labor Department determined that home care employers needed to follow the same rules as any other employer and pay their employees according to minimum wage standards.

Back to the Basics – What is a Bequest?

Published on: July 5, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

When writing a will, many people seek to ensure that certain people in their lives get specific things, such as a family heirloom necklace, property, or an allotted amount of money. The gifting of property or assets to a certain person through the provisions of your will is called a bequest. There are few types of bequests and different situations in which to use them.

(1) Specific Bequest: It is the gifting of a specified property or asset to an identified person or entity, distinguished from the property in the estate. For example, a specific bequest would be gifting your home to your son, or gifting your diamond earrings to your niece. The main issue faced by the estate is when, upon death, the specific gift that is to be given, i.e. the property or the diamond earrings, are no longer owned by the testator. In this situation, the intended beneficiary then gets nothing, because there is nothing to satisfy or substitute from the estate.

(2) General Bequest: A general bequest is what most people think of when they think of gifts in a will. This bequest is a gift that is payable from the assets of the estate. Most commonly seen are provisions gifting a specified amount of money to a certain person, for example, $10,000 to my nephew, or a stock or securities bond. Unlike specific bequests, these type of bequests are not for a specified item, so other assets in the estate may be sold to satisfy the gift if it is not available when distribution comes.

Float like a Butterfly, Sting like a Contested Estate: Muhammad Ali’s Unhappy Heirs

Published on: July 2, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

It seems that Muhammad Ali’s estate is destined for trouble, similar to other celebrity estates that we have covered on this blog recently. It is unknown if the boxing legend died with a will, but even if he did, a will contest may be likely. Forbes reports that Mr. Ali died with an estate worth in between $50 and $80 million, had nine recognized children, four different marriages, and struggled with a debilitating disease that affects the mind. These are the circumstances that set the stage for a drawn out estate contest.

Troublesome Children

The large amount of children Mr. Ali had, as well as his four marriages, makes the number of people who may have an interest in contesting Mr. Ali’s estate quite high. One child in particular, Muhammad Ali Jr., has been estranged from his father since Mr. Ali’s fourth and final marriage in 1986 and has been cut off from the family fortune ever since. Ali Jr. in particular blames Mr. Ali’s fourth wife for driving him and his father apart.

MULTI-GENERATIONAL HOUSING

Published on: May 27, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

FAST GROWING TREND

Multi-generational housing is one of the quickest growing forms of households in the country. Thanks in large part to the advent of the Great Recession, many families consolidated and reduced their finances, including one of the largest chunks out of their monthly bill cycle, namely housing. Then to add to that larger trend is the aging of the baby boomers with the myriad of medical issues that come with that. There are positive benefits associated with grandparents and grandchildren living in the same household.

The wisdom, patience and love that come from a grandparent is irreplaceable to the children and always a joy to the grandparents. There is added money for repairs, upkeep and any number of projects that homeowners have the joy of attending to. While there may sometimes be more elbows than space or too many cooks in the kitchen, there is a reason why it is a growing trend. In the course of a generation, multi-generational not only halted the decline from the 1940s to the 1980s, but between 1980 and 200 increased it one quarter (12% to 15%) and then from 2009 to 2012 it increased an additional 20 percent (15% to 18%). With approximately 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 every day, the likelihood of the multi-generational housing will decrease is unlikely. Multi-generational housing is generally defined as homes with more than one adult generation living under its roof.

NURSING HOMES UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Published on: May 24, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

FURTHER INVESTIGATION INTO NEW YORK NURSING HOMES

Nurses are often on the frontline of dealing with issues of elder law, with their often compassionate personal sacrifices, mixed with their almost always professional approach to the care and treatment of their patients in any number of nursing homes across the state. They deal with some of the most intimate, personal and human experiences up front and personal. The vast majority of nurses across the state that work in nursing homes and with the elderly (as well as in other fields and venues) are quiet professionals who are content to simply do their job and move one in life.

New York, however, is one of only a handful of states that has lax licensing regulations and enforcement. New York’s nursing licensure schema requires nurses to self report any criminal convictions and may take years before it actually disciplines a nurse for egregious conduct. Currently the New York state Department of Education, Office of Professions sets the rules and regulations for nurses and issues nursing licenses in the state. This blog explored a well reported ProPublica investigation into nursing home abuse almost three months ago. Following the extensive investigative journalism piece, the federal government opened its own investigation on several different levels.