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If you are considering creating an estate plan or are already knee-deep in the estate planning process, you have likely heard of both a “living will” and a “living trust” as two essential documents that you should include in your comprehensive plan. Despite their similar names, these two very important legal tools are quite different from one another and serve different purposes.

A living will is not actually a will at all, but rather a legal document that allows you to provide doctors with medical instructions regarding the care you would like to receive in the event that an injury or illness should leave you incapacitated. It allows you to approve or deny certain types of medical treatments in advance, even if it means that you will die as a result. Living wills both supersede and work alongside a durable power of attorney for health care or a health-care proxy, which allow you to name another person to make medical decisions on your behalf.

Conversely, a living trust is a revocable trust that you create while you are still alive that is used to facilitate the smooth transfer of assets to your beneficiaries without the need for probate. Creating a living trust involves transferring your property to the trust, which will then “own” it. You then name yourself as the primary trustee and a person of your choice as a secondary trustee, allowing you to manage the property as you please during your lifetime. In the event of your incapacity or death, your successor trustee will automatically step in to continue to manage the property on your behalf or distribute it to your beneficiaries according to the terms of the trust.

Consult with a Nassau County Estate Planning Lawyer

While nobody wants to entertain the thought of their own death, it is an inevitability and must be properly planned for ahead of time. If you are unsure which documents you should include in your estate plan, contact the knowledgeable estate planning attorneys at Davidov Law Group. Having served clients throughout Nassau County, Queens County and the Surrounding Areas for more than 25 years, our team of advocates can help you prepare for life’s “what if” scenarios and allow you to continue forward with peace of mind.

Call (516) 806-4414 or schedule a personal consultation online today to review your legal options.

When a person passes away, their assets are ordinarily collected and distributed according to the terms of their will (or to their closest living relatives if no will is present) through a process known as probate. This process is notorious for being lengthy, costly, and confusing, especially in the event that a dispute should arise among beneficiaries. Fortunately, there are many things that you can do during your lifetime to ensure a smooth transfer of your assets at the time of your death and save your loved ones from the hassle and expense of probate.

The following options can all be used to eliminate the need for probate in New York:

• Living trusts: New York allows individuals to transfer ownership of nearly any asset they own to a trustee upon their death through an estate planning tool known as a “living trust.” Real estate, bank accounts, vehicles, and other assets that are listed in a trust document can be transferred to a trust which you control during your lifetime. At the time of your death, a named successor trustee will take over control of the trust and its assets and distribute it to beneficiaries without the need for probate involvement.
• Joint ownership: Any property that you own jointly with someone else which includes the “right of survivorship” will be directly transferred to the other owner at the time of your death. Forms of joint ownership allowed in New York include joint tenancy and tenancy by the entirety.
• Payable-on-death accounts: You can add a “payable-on-death” (POD) designation to any bank account which names a beneficiary to inherit the monies within at the time of your death. POD beneficiaries have no right to the funds in a POD account during your lifetime, and you may spend the funds as you please.
• Transfer-on-death registrations: Similar to POD accounts, securities, stocks, and bonds can be directly transferred to a beneficiary by registering them in transfer-on-death (TOD) form. At the time of your death, your beneficiary will deal directly with the brokerage company and automatically inherit the account. While some other states allow TOD to be used for the transfer of vehicles or real estate, New York restricts TOD registration to be used for brokerage accounts only.

Estate Planning Lawyer in Nassau County

Planning for the future is something everyone should do sooner rather than later. At Davidov Law Group, our Nassau County estate planning attorneys can help evaluate you situation and guide you towards a solution that best fits your needs. To find out more about how our knowledgeable advocates can help you find peace of mind, call our office at (516) 587-5555 or contact us online today.

Many people believe that having an estate plan means simply having a last will and testament or trust. While these documents are indeed important, they are only a few of the many tools necessary in creating a comprehensive estate plan. If you are looking to create an estate plan or are reviewing your existing plan, it is important you make sure to have the following documents.

1. Last Will and Testament: Possibly the most well-known estate planning tool, a person’s will is the backbone of their estate plan. With this document, you can provide instructions to your family on how you want your assets distributed upon your death, designate beneficiaries, and choose guardians for your minor children to care for them in your absence.
2. Living Trust: While a will designates who will receive your assets, it doesn’t make the transfer of these assets to them very smooth. In fact, when you pass away, your assets will be distributed to your beneficiaries through probate – a notoriously complicated and expensive process. Fortunately, a living trust can allow you to avoid probate and transfer real estate, savings accounts, mutual funds, and other investments to your beneficiaries with ease.
3. Durable Power of Attorney: A durable power of attorney is a legal document that gives another person the authority to act on your behalf in the event that you should become incapacitated. This person can be given the power to make financial and legal decisions when you cannot make them yourself. A durable power of attorney can also be given the power to make health decisions on your behalf, though many of these decisions can be made by yourself ahead of time in a living will.
4. Living Will: In the event that you should become unresponsive due to injury or illness, do you want to be kept alive on life support? A living will allows you to express your preferences ahead of time and give doctors instructions on how you want to be cared for in your final days.
5. Funeral Instructions: You can save your family a considerable burden and heartache by making your own funeral and burial arrangements ahead of time. Many states typically provide that a deceased person’s “next of kin” have the authority to make funeral and burial arrangements. If your next of kin is not the party that you would choose to arrange your funeral and burial, creating your own funeral arrangements can help to ensure that your wishes are honored.

Create Your Estate Plan with Davidov Law Group

At Davidov Law Group, our Nassau County estate planning lawyers have been helping individuals and families secure their futures for more than 25 years. If you are looking to create a legally sound estate plan, our highly-trained attorneys can provide the steadfast guidance you need to help you prepare for many of life’s “what if” scenarios.

To get started, call (516) 806-4414 or schedule a personal case review today.

People who are in their gray years will naturally and gradually lose the abilities to take care of themselves and manage their finances or estate. Rather than allow this process to slowly damage their wellbeing, it is important to establish a legal guardian ahead of time that will be tasked to control and care for their estate, as well as making important health related decisions for them. Sometimes called a conservator for a ward, a guardian fulfills a crucial role and can be assigned different responsibilities depending on the needs of their ward.

Some roles of a legal guardian can include:

• Allocating funds to pay monthly bills.
• Selecting medical processes to protect ward’s health.
• Ensuring their ward does not neglect their own health.
• Planning tax procedures for their ward.
• Completing monetary transactions for their ward.

Two Guardianship Roles & How to Get Them

In New York, there are two types of guardians: A-81 and 17-A guardianships. In an A-81 guardianship, the conservator “cares for” an elderly person who cannot care for themselves or their estate due to mental or physical debilitations. In a 17-A guardianship, the conservator is assigned to a special needs child near adulthood who will soon need to make difficult decisions but requires the help of their guardian.

In either situation, the responsibilities and how to gain them are similar. It often begins by asking the court through a petition to grant guardianship, citing why it is necessary. There are few restrictions to who can create a petition in New York but the court often favors close friends and family members when there is more than one petitioner. An evaluator will then look into the private life of the potential conservator, determining if they have the capability of representing their ward and that their guardianship is even necessary.

If the evaluator approves of the petitioner, a hearing will be set with the same court that accepted the petition. At this hearing, the petitioner will need to bring an argument as to why they are seeking guardianship of an individual and why it is necessary. Although this process has already been somewhat completed by the evaluator, it is important that the potential conservator be able to explain it back to the court. Depending on what the court hears, and if there are no official opposition papers filed against the petitioner, a decision will be rendered the same day.

Legal Help for Guardians in New York & Long Island

Sometimes the people who want to help others need help themselves. If you are seeking guardianship over a loved one but do not know where to begin, Davidov Law Group can be your guide. Our Nassau County guardianship attorneys can put 25+ years of experience to work for you, ensuring that both yourself and your ward are set for a comfortable and beneficial future. Contact us today for more information.

Mixing up Medicare and Medicaid is pretty simple to do, thanks to their incredibly similar names. Despite how frequently Medicare and Medicaid are switched around inadvertently in conversation, the two government-sponsored programs are not all that similar to one another at all. If you are thinking you need government assistance to afford your healthcare costs, knowing the differences and details between the two could save you major frustrations.

What is Medicare?

Using Social Security as a sort of catalogue, Medicare is a federal program that is available to anyone over 65 years of age; in some situations, it is available to younger people with severe disabilities. There is no income requirement to qualify for Medicare, making it a widely popular coverage option for people from all walks of life.

There are four parts to the overall Medicare program:

• A: Coverage to help pay for hospitalization
• B: Medical insurance coverage for miscellaneous medical expenses
• C: Additional insurance coverage for most services not covered in A or B
• D: Coverage to help pay for prescription drugs

Both A and B are funded by payroll taxes and Social Security income deductions – you have surely seen mention of this somewhere on your paychecks throughout your life – so all Medicare participants will be granted them. C and D, however, are optional and available only to people who choose to opt into them. Some costs related to C and D coverage will come out of the participants own pocket, often capped to 20% of total fee but it all varies depending on each circumstance and necessity.

What is Medicaid?

Medicaid is a program consisting of federal and state rules and regulations. Due to this division of responsibility and funding, a Medicaid program in one state will have slight or significant differences compared to that of another state. Overall, however, Medicaid was created to provide healthcare, medical, and nursing home care coverage, at least in part, to low income families and individuals. Thus, there are strict guidelines regarding how much a participant owns and makes in an average month.

Some of the services covered by the typical Medicaid program include:

• Hospitalization
• Lab tests and diagnosis procedures
• Nursing services
• Family planning
• General doctor services
• Clinical treatments

Medicaid is also dissimilar from Medicare in the way that it can provide long-term care coverage. It is rare to even find a health insurance company that offers this sort of coverage. Due to this unique offering, Medicaid and its 50 unique variations have become the number one source for long-term care funding in the country.

For more information regarding Medicaid, Medicare, and how elder law and estate planning can both be used to create a more comfortable future for yourself, contact Davidov Law Group. Our Nassau County estate planning attorneys have more been serving the people of New York and Long Island for more than 25 years. Schedule your personal consultation today to learn more.

Estate planning and probate are both processes which determine how your estate will be distributed among your inheritors upon your passing. Estate planning refers to the preparations and instructions you make for how you would like your assets to be handled. Probate is the process by which your wishes are carried out and your estate is distributed after your death. On the surface this may seem simple but in practice these processes are usually more complex.

What Is Estate Planning?

Estate planning may sound like an activity reserved for the financially well-off or those entering into retirement, but creating an estate plan can be beneficial to anyone. Everyone has an “estate” composed of everything they own and control. This can include everything from cars, real estate, and bank accounts to books and electronics. Estate planning refers to the creation of instructions for distributing your assets amongst your beneficiaries after you pass.

Estate planning is an ongoing process and will require revisions as new personal or legal factors present themselves. Some events which can affect the contents of an estate plan include marriage, divorce, income changes, or death in the family. It is never too early to start thinking about the future and having a detailed and well-drafted plan can prevent delays and fees when your assets are distributed.

Processes associated with estate planning can include:

• Creation of a will: A will is a document outlining the process and terms for how your assets will be handled after your death.
• Creation of a living trust: A trust appoints a trustee to manage an asset (or assets) on your behalf. Unlike a will, this agreement is active during your lifetime and assets named in a trust are transferred to the inheritor upon the time of your death.
• Power of attorney: If you become incapacitated and can no longer manage your medical or financial matters, you can appoint a person to legally handle your affairs.
• Appointing an executor: An executor is the person you choose to manage your affairs and estate during the process of probate after you pass.
• Reduction of taxes upon the transfer of your estate: The goal of estate planning is to transfer your belongings as you see fit. The process for best reducing taxes might not always match up with the way in which you would like your assets to be distributed. A good attorney can help you find the right balance.

Understanding Probate

Probate is the process of dividing, managing, and distributing your estate after you pass. This is a court-supervised process that aims to ensure your belongings are divided exactly as you set forth in your will. A legal representative will assist the executor named in your will to carry out your last wishes.

There are several disadvantages to probate which cause many people to avoid the process entirely. One of the most common issues is that it can be tremendously time consuming, potentially lasting years. During this time inheritors generally do not have access to the assets which have been left to them. Another complaint is that a long period of probate can be very costly. In many cases, fees are paid with funds drawn from the estate.

With proper planning you can minimize or even eliminate the probate process. There are several tools which sidestep probate including life insurance, living trusts, and joint ownership agreements. A knowledgeable attorney can help to determine what course of action is best for you.

If you fail to create an estate plan, and in the absence of a will, the government will distribute your belongings according to probate laws. Without a valid executor, a court appointed representative will be in charge of how your estate is divided. Many times this will go directly against what you may have wanted. The court may also choose an executor, such as a spouse, if that person would have reasonably been chosen by the deceased.

Dedicated Estate Planning Attorneys

Creating a detailed estate plan and preparing for probate can allow your inheritors timely access to your assets and save them from the headache of an extended period of probate. Our Nassau County estate planning attorneys at the Davidov Law Group can help you plan for the future and ensure your legacy carries on exactly as you intend.

It is never too early to start planning for your future. Contact us and schedule a personal consultation today.

Estate planning is not just for the well-off or those approaching their golden years. Everyone, regardless of age or the value of their possessions, can benefit from preparing for the future. Each person has an “estate” that is comprised of everything they own and estate planning simply refers to the process of determining how your possessions will be distributed after you pass. By planning early, you can help to ensure that your legacy carries on in exactly the manner you wish.

Deciding who will be included among your beneficiaries can be an emotional process which many people discover to be surprisingly difficult. You can never be sure where complexities will arise and the lack of clear instructions regarding your estate can lead to confusion during the distribution process. For example, if a person not mentioned in a will comes forward with a claim to part of an estate, a legal dispute can arise. It is important allow yourself the time to create clear and proper instructions to ensure your assets are distributed among precisely those who you intend.

After you pass, your estate will be evaluated and distributed amongst your named inheritors during a process known as probate. Not every item in an estate will go through probate, however it is a likelihood that is best to prepare for early. A poorly drafted will can lead to unnecessary delays with the probate process, keeping your loved ones from timely access to their inheritance. A long probate period can also burden your loved ones with unnecessary and expensive legal fees. By identifying critical areas early on, you can utilize tools such living trusts to minimize the time and fees associated with probate – or even eliminate the need for probate completely.

Without a plan in place, the courts may be left to decide the distribution of your assets on your behalf. If you are no longer able to manage your estate, the courts may distribute you assets according to probate laws. This can leave your loved ones with only a fraction of their entitled inheritance and will more than likely contradict what you would have wanted. For this reason, creating an estate plan early is among the most thoughtful and caring things you can do for your loved ones.

Compassionate Estate Planning Services

Understanding estate planning can be a complex process and starting early gives you and your loved ones the most amount of time to finalize your plans and make necessary revisions as they arise. At the Davidov Law Group, our Nassau County estate planning attorneys can provide compassionate legal advocacy every step of the way.

Contact us today and attend an upcoming workshop to learn about your options at no cost.

Stay in touch with Davidov Law Group online! Our firm has a variety of social media and other online accounts. Like, follow, friend, and share using any of the platforms shown below. You can also stop by our office, give us a call, or send us an email if you need a Nassau County estate planning attorney. We look forward to hearing from you!

CONTACT DAVIDOV LAW GROUP

Address: 1981 Marcus Avenue, Suite 231, New Hyde Park, NY 11042

Phone: (516) 806-4414

Email: Fill out a contact form here.

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When you hear that many elders rely on Medicaid to pay for long-term care, you may become alarmed. Most people are aware of the fact that Medicaid is only available to people who are financially needy. If a high percentage of seniors are on Medicaid late in their lives, they must be impoverished, right?

Unfortunately, there are people who wind up spending all of their resources paying for long-term care because they did not plan ahead effectively. However, if you are proactive about the implementation of a Medicaid planning strategy, you may never directly experience any financial hardships.

To qualify for Medicaid, your countable assets cannot exceed $14,850. People typically give assets to their loved ones before they apply for Medicaid, but you have to act in advance and get the right legal advice to make sure that you are complying with the Medicaid rules.

There is a five-year look back. You have to complete your gift giving at least five years before you submit your application to obtain eligibility.

Divesting yourself of assets is not necessarily going to result in poverty during this five-year interim. Your home is not considered to be a countable asset, so you would not have to dispossess yourself of ownership. (There is however an $828,000 equity limit in New York in 2015.)

Medicaid would not count the vehicle that you use for transportation, and you can maintain ownership of your personal effects and household belongings. Wedding rings, engagement rings, and heirloom jewelry would not be counted either.

You could continue to draw income during your spend down, so that would not be interrupted. Plus, if you are in a position to do so, you could create an income-only Medicaid trust.

The assets that you convey into the trust would not be counted for Medicaid purposes, and this can be an effective way to divest yourself of direct ownership of assets. Though you could not take back those assets, you could receive income from the earnings of the trust, and this could help you maintain your lifestyle.

Relevant to Everyone

Most seniors will need long-term care eventually, and it is difficult to pay out-of-pocket, so Medicaid planning is relevant to just about everyone.

Nursing home care is very expensive, and in New York the costs are particularly high. If you have to stay in a nursing home for two years, the bill can exceed $280,000, and some people stay longer. About 10 percent of nursing home residents remain in the facilities for at least five years.

If you take the right steps, you can potentially qualify for Medicaid without losing everything that you intended to leave to your loved ones.

Download Our Free Report

To learn more about Medicaid planning, download our special report. This in-depth report is free, and you can access your copy through this page: Medicaid Planning Report.