Family Matters & Estate Law Archives - Page 3 of 4

Disinheriting Someone? Don’t Use a “Pour-Over” Will

Posted on January 13, 2017

You have a right to leave money to who you want to and, when you have a will, can leave it to those you want: It is not uncommon to disinherit a family member who would otherwise receive an inheritance if no Will existed. However, your nearest family members (some of whom you may have disinherited) are required to receive a copy of the Will when you die. Clearly you do not want these disinherited people giving your choice of beneficiaries a hard time. Many people rightly resort to disinheriting an heir by bequeathing money using a Trust which has no requirement of placing such family members on legal notice. However, there is one regularly-used shortcut that can defeat your

Trusts: How to Protect a (Troubled) Child from Your Money

Posted on December 3, 2016

Parents: You are responsible for the financial education and well-being of your child. You have more life experience, you are the ones who brought your children into the world, and you are the one leaving your money to them. So take the extra step and make sure you give your children money in a responsible way. We’ve all heard of it: The child who spent all of his inheritance before he received it, the gambler, the substance abuser, spendthrift, and so on. In 2011, I had a 29 year old female client, whom I shall call “Janice” who didn’t have one penny to her name: Janice was living in a homeless shelter, on all types of public assistance, and almost thoroughly ignored

What is a “Guardianship” for Disabled Individuals?

Posted on September 12, 2016

Many people think of a guardianship as being a legal affair that determines who will raise a minor child (such as a parent, or a non-parent if both parents are unavailable); I shall cover this type of guardianship in the future. A Guardianship Proceeding over a disabled individual essentially takes place when a person can no longer make financial or health care decisions. There are two types of Guardianship Proceedings: Those for minors who have always been disabled and are nearing the age of majority, and those for adults who once had mental capacity but no longer do. For people who are disabled as minors the Guardianship Proceeding takes place under New York’s Surrogate’s Court Procedures Act, Article 17-A (lawyers refer to this as a “SCPA 17

Simple Dos and Don’ts of Gifting for College Education

Posted on August 1, 2016

Higher education is usuriously expensive. The fact that a child’s education may cost as much as you paid for your first house should highlight the importance of gifting these funds in the correct way. You can pay an unlimited amount of money for a child’s education expenses, provided you pay the money directly to the educational institution. Qualified education expenses are looked at as a benefit to public policy, and therefore do not require the donor to fill in a gift tax return. The funds are also not deducted from your lifetime gift tax exemption, meaning you can continue to gift additional funds without having to assess a tax. Paying a child back for their student loan payments

When Do I Tell My Children They Are My Financial & Health Agents?

Posted on June 28, 2016

Most people name their children as their agents (or else as successor agents if the client has a spouse). This includes naming a child as a Power of Attorney, Health Care Proxy, Executor or Successor Trustee. Of course, the child sometimes doesn’t know about this, and many attorneys do not discuss the topic in depth with the client. Most children don’t even know where their parent’s legal documents are. This can cause confusion, and can lead to their frantic scrambling at crucial times. Knowing when to tell your children they are agents is tricky, and often relies on a case-by-case analysis of the family and the children. Some 21 year olds may be ready to know their role before some 40 year

Do It the Easy Way: Marriage & Naturalization

Posted on June 9, 2016

Those of you who have known me for a while know of Judith Volkmann. Judy was and still is a mentor and a friend of mine since before I was licensed to practice law, and it was refreshing for me to see how another Attorney / CFP(R) approached estate planning. During her time practicing law as as an practitioner, Judy was very much about keeping things simple to avoid the controversies that arise due to complex estate planning issues, though I was surprised how she approaches two difficult estate planning circumstances: Non-marital couples and non-citizen couples. Unmarried couples lose out on certain estate tax exemptions, such as taking advantage of marital credit shelter trusts and QTIP trusts. Non-spouses also do

The Missing Pre Nup: Add a Family Trusts Band Aid

Posted on May 20, 2016

Attention parents with assets: Tell your children they must have a prenuptial agreement! And when they respond “No, I love him, that is not romantic, we will be together forever!”……panic!!! Then take a breath…PANIC a little more, then contact your T&E attorney to discuss how to protect your family assets using a family trust with a suitable trustee. The Family Court (more appropriately called the “Divorce and Fleece Court”) is known as a “court of equity”, meaning it can look at any factor relating to assets and income, and make a completely subjective (some may say arbitrary) decision as to who gets what. When a child is too shy or stubborn to get a prenuptial agreement, it is your job

Business Card Faux Pas to the Elderly

Posted on May 13, 2016

As a person who works with his share of aging clients, you would think I would be instantly aware of what daily issues affect (sometimes ail) them. However, while many aging individuals do have a noble sense of modesty, many of them do not like to share their physical and mental impairments. While I could spend weeks discussing many poorly-developed products the aging have to endure, let me focus on one of the most obvious: Your funky business card. Small / Faint / Inappropriate Font: I am stunned at the number of professionals who have business cards that have extremely small type, rounded fonts, or light printing. Any one of these three is difficult for the sight-impaired to make out.

Quiet Targets: Protecting Single Aging Men

Posted on April 22, 2016

While single men tend to pass away at younger ages on average than married men, I have met a number of aging single men without children. Unlike aging single women, who tend to both emote their needs and take steps to elicit sympathy and the help they require, aging single men tend to continue toughening up, not ask for help from others, and ignore seemingly unimportant health concerns that turn out to be rather serious. Single men often do not age well, are financial targets, and tend to do age without the familial concerns their female counterparts receive. They also tend not to ask their male friends for help. If you have an uncle, brother or male friend who doesn’t

College Kids in Trouble: Parents as Health Care Agent for Children

Posted on April 13, 2016

When a person may be subjectively considered an adult varies based on the person and the observing individual: My clients presume I was an adult long ago, my parents have begrudgingly accepted I may have final come of age, and an ex-girlfriend stated moments after we broke up that I would remain a child for the rest of my life. Fortunately, that girlfriend is long gone and, fortunately for her other ex-boyfriends and the rest of us in doubt as to our maturity, the law states that we are all considered an adult for legal purposes at age 18. This is an interesting public policy, since we are not physically or emotionally finished maturing at that age, and (probably due