Receiving healthcare through a Medicaid-funded program can make a huge difference in your well-being, but qualifying for assistance can leave you with questions about how to pay for your other needs. Housing is one of those needs. As New Yorkers know, figuring out how to pay for housing in this great state can be a constant concern, especially on...
Continue ReadingIf you or a family member needs skilled nursing care, you have plenty of issues to tackle regarding medical care, costs, and protecting assets. What to do with the house when the elderly enter a nursing home is often a primary concern. When you are facing the issue of an elderly person moving into a nursing home you must...
Continue ReadingLast month, New York finally adopted regulations implementing budget cuts from the state’s 2020 budget. Several of these regulations imposed a major change in Medicaid eligibility. These regulations also introduced a “lookback” period into New York’s state’s Medicaid program. While many agree that reforms to New York state’s regulations were necessary, the reception to the new rules is mixed....
Continue ReadingSending 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,...
Continue ReadingIt is tempting to try to create a will on your own, outside of a lawyer’s office. Bookstores, online services, libraries, and even friends may present templates for you to create your will. Your goal may be to save money and time and create the will yourself. However, when you make your will without an attorney, you are taking...
Continue ReadingWithout 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...
Continue ReadingIn an effort to move into retirement with as many issues settled as possible, it is necessary to address decreasing retirement savings tax issues. Taking steps in this regard will aid in having a more pleasurable and lucrative retirement. Here are 6 ways to lower your retirement savings tax issues. Tip 1: Have a Retirement Date Goal For retirement...
Continue ReadingA 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...
Continue ReadingIf you want to become an administrator of an estate in New York, you will need to comply with certain rules and procedures. Although these rules can be confusing, New York probate attorney Andrew Lamkin can help you navigate the maze. It is important to understand the distinction between “executor” and “administrator” in New York, however, because not all...
Continue ReadingIt 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...
Continue ReadingSince March 2020, probate courts across the United States have slowed down or even suspended probate cases out of concern for public health and safety. New York is no exception to this widespread trend. Even when courts resume their previous pace, however, a large backlog of cases will take quite some time to resolve. Fortunately, the Law Office of...
Continue ReadingThere are many reasons you might wish to keep your home in the family after you die—like an heirloom, for example, or to provide a fallback residence for your children in case of financial difficulties. Regardless of your reasons, there are a number of ways to protect your family’s home after you die. Although each method has its pros...
Continue ReadingThe ongoing retirement of the Baby Boomers is marking one of the greatest demographic transitions in US history. If you are looking toward retirement a few years down the road, or even longer than that, there are certain preparations you need to start making now. Some of these are obvious, while others are less so. Below is a general...
Continue ReadingThe digital revolution, by moving information from paper to digital form, has saved countless forests from destruction. It has also created quite a bit of wealth in the form of digital assets. Most people own some form of digital assets, even if their value is relatively difficult to quantify. Some common examples of digital assets include: Digital photographs, Videos,...
Continue ReadingProbate is the process of distributing your assets after you die. Depending on the details of the estate, the probate process will be relatively complex or relatively simple. In many cases, especially with large estates, the process is far too complex to manage without the assistance of an experienced probate legal practitioner. Following is an overview of the basic...
Continue ReadingMost people have a general idea of what estate planning is. Fewer, however, are familiar with the concept of elder planning. In a nutshell, estate planning is concerned with what happens to your assets after you die, while elder planning includes both estate planning and planning for what happens to your assets before you die. Ultimately, elder planning is...
Continue ReadingWhich court you must use to open probate depends on where the decedent lived and where their assets were located. Depending on the circumstances, you might not need to open probate at all. On the other end of the spectrum, you might need to institute probate proceedings in more than one jurisdiction. The larger and more complex the estate...
Continue ReadingA conservatorship is a type of guardianship. Guardianship is an arrangement whereby one person (the guardian) is empowered to make important life decisions on behalf of another person (the ward) who has lost the capacity to make these decisions themselves. The decision-making powers that the guardian can exercise might include the power to manage the ward’s finances or healthcare...
Continue ReadingAlthough parents generally retain their parental rights even after a guardian is appointed, the rights of a guardian can override the rights of the parents, to the extent ordered by the court that established the guardianship. Nevertheless, a parent may seek revocation of a guardianship. What Is a Guardianship? A guardianship is a legal arrangement that gives a guardian...
Continue ReadingThe Uniform Rules for New York State Trial Courts, Part 207 imposes no formal probate time limit on executors. Theoretically, you could wait for decades to apply for probate, and some people have. Once you begin the process, however, individual courts do set their own probate time limits for when various documents must be submitted. Although there is no...
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