| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

How Can I Use Estate Planning To Prepare For Medicaid?

The Medicaid program can help you pay for nursing home care or home healthcare as you grow older. Most people pay for care out of savings, then apply for Medicaid once their assets are “spent down.” Of the 294 surveyed Medicaid applicants approved in 2012, 14% had over $100,000 in total resources. Therefore, estate planning and Medicaid go hand...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

Is a Healthcare Proxy in an Estate Plan Important?

If you’re starting to worry about what will happen to you and your family as you age, it’s time to consider choosing a healthcare proxy. A healthcare proxy is an important part of any estate plan. A well-planned estate eases the burden on your family. It explains your wishes for after your death as well as for your medical...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

Get to Know the Six Estate Planning Mistakes When You’re Remarrying with Children

Estate planning protects your property and assets if you become incapacitated or die. It guides your family about your wishes for health care and finances when you can’t make those decisions anymore. If you don’t have a written estate plan, the state may make these decisions for you. When you’re remarrying, it’s time to update your estate plan to...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

Estate Planning: The Documents Your Children Should Sign Before Heading To College

Sending your son or daughter off to college is an exciting milestone for both you and your child. There is so much to prepare during this time, from housing arrangements to class schedules to moving day. If estate planning for your child is not on the to do list, it should be. With certain estate planning documents in place,...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

Estate Planning: How Can I Transfer My Business Through My Estate Plan?

Without a doubt, if you own a business you have thought of when and how you might transfer the interest in your business. When anyone addresses estate planning issues, they have to make some decisions. But business owners have special considerations when it comes to their estate plans. If you are in this situation, you are likely wondering: Is...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

Here’s Why Single People Need Estate Planning Too

A common misconception is that estate planning is only for the wealthy, the elderly, and married couples with kids. In fact, estate planning is for everyone—even single people. Arguably, estate planning for a single person is more important because there is no spouse, the most natural inheritor of an estate. It is imperative that a single person specify who...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

A Family Affair: Estate Planning Is Important and You Need to Tell Your Kids

It is virtually impossible to overestimate the importance of estate planning, because estate planning is a family affair. The execution of your estate plan might begin while you are still living. You might become incapacitated (unable to make decisions or to communicate them) years before you die, for example. In any case, executing your estate plan is going to...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

Have You Included Your Retirement Plan in Your Christmas Budget?

One of the most important rules of financial management is to pay yourself first. Likewise, while you are shopping for Christmas presents, you should buy a present for yourself first in the form of an investment in your retirement plan. With the old year coming to a close, the Christmas season is the perfect opportunity to start planning for...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Elder Law

How Do I Know If an Elderly Loved One Needs a Nursing Home?

One of the most challenging questions family members will find themselves asking as their loved one ages is whether or not to place that loved one in a nursing home. Every situation is unique, and there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Instead, you must consider all of the factors and then decide if nursing home care is...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

COVID-19: Should I Remove a Loved One from a Nursing Home?

You trust that a nursing home will care for your loved one. After all, that is what you are not only paying them to do, but the entire reason you put them there in the first place. Amid a pandemic, you may wonder if you should remove your loved ones. The news stories about COVID-19 running amok in nursing...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

What Are the Top 5 Reasons to Revisit Your Estate Plan?

You have done your due diligence and created an estate plan. So, you are protected for good, right? If that is your way of thinking, you may have critical gaps in protections for yourself and your loved ones. While you do not have to revisit your estate plan monthly (or sometimes even annually), there are reasons to revisit it...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

Will Medicare and Medicaid Cover Coronavirus Testing?

COVID-19 testing sites are up and running across the state, but will the test be covered? Yes, Medicare and Medicaid both have expanded their coverage to include coronavirus testing. Because the Department of Health and Human Services designated this test a health necessity, both government insurance plans must pay for the test if the patient is suspected of having...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

What Happens If You Don’t Designate a Beneficiary?

In addition to creating a will, you must designate beneficiaries to receive any assets that you owned. In the state of New York, the intestacy laws will apply if you do not designate a beneficiary. It is important that you name your beneficiaries, because without anyone named specifically, the state will dictate how your assets are distributed among surviving...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Elder Law

What Is the Difference between Elder Law and Estate Planning?

Most people use the terms “estate planning” and “elder law” interchangeably. If you find yourself curious whether they are the same or not, you are not alone. Estate planning deals mostly with helping plan for disability, death, and taxes. The purpose of estate planning is to make sure loved ones receive their inheritance and are taken care of after...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

How Do I Prepare for Estate Planning?

Getting ready for estate planning requires you to not only gather the right documents, but also to create a list of what you want, to determine your expectations, and to be ready to answer important questions during the estate planning process. To ensure you are ready at your estate planning appointment with your attorney, ask for a checklist of...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

What Is the Average Cost for Estate Planning?

A common question asked is how much estate planning will cost. Unfortunately, this is not easily answered by any attorney. Numerous factors play into the cost. Not only do attorneys have set rates and hourly fees that vary, but then there are those factors that can increase the complexity of an estate plan and cost more. Instead of scouring...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

Can You Just Write a Will and Get It Notarized?

Today we are in a do-it-yourself society. You fix your plumbing. You perform your vehicle maintenance. You might even self-diagnose on the web versus visiting a doctor when you’re feeling unwell. While there are some things you could do yourself, legal paperwork is not one of them. You might find yourself tempted to write your will and have it...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

What Is the Difference between a Will and Estate Planning?

A will might be part of an estate plan, but it is not estate planning. All too often these terms are used synonymously, but in reality, they are quite different from one another. A will is a single drafted legal document, while estate planning dives deeper with multiple documents to protect your estate and your loved ones. Wills and...

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| Read Time: 4 minutes | Estate Planning

What Is Digital Estate Planning?

We live in the digital era. Most of your assets are online, including your bank accounts, social media, and personal data. If you think that you do not need digital estate planning, then you may want to consider just how much of your life and assets are online and stored in computers – not in physical form. Digital estate...

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