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WHAT IS AN EXECUTOR OF A WILL IN KEW GARDENS NEW YORK?

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If you use a last will to arrange for the distribution of your assets after you die, who is actually going to put the plan into action? Is the document going to act on its own?

Clearly, there is a human element to take into consideration. When you are drawing up your last will you must include the nomination of an executor.

This is the person who will be charged with the responsibility of administering the estate. If you did not choose your own executor, the court would be forced to appoint a personal representative to act as the estate administrator.

What Does an Executor of a Will in Kew Gardens New York Do?

Imagine the situation that would exist after you pass away. You were in possession of all different types of property. There is a last will that contains your final wishes regarding the distribution of this property.

This is well and good, but the executor must make these wishes come to fruition in reality. This can be a very challenging task.

First off, the executor must secure the physical assets that comprise the estate. Why must this be done? Imagine Uncle Harry rummaging through the house grabbing this and that, contending that the decedent wanted him to have these items. Then Cousin Jane arrives doing the same thing, and an old college buddy, and so on.

The executor must make sure that all of the property stays secure so that it can be properly distributed in accordance with the wishes of the decedent.

The last will must be admitted to the Surrogate’s Court so that the process of probate can be initiated. This is another responsibility that is probably going to fall to the executor.

During probate the executor is in charge of administering the estate. This can include paying final debts including taxes. The assets that comprise the estate must be prepared for distribution to the heirs. This can involve arranging for appraisals and liquidation.

The executor is the point of contact for anyone who has an interest in the estate. He or she must be prepared to answer questions along the way.

Choosing an Executor of a Will in Kew Gardens New York

When you consider the length and breadth of the estate administration tasks, you can see that the executor has a great deal of responsibility. It is not an honorary or ceremonial role.

When you nominate an executor of a will in Kew Gardens NY you should make sure that the person can handle these business oriented tasks. In addition, the executor must have the time that it will take to administer the estate.

This may sound like an instance in overstating the obvious, but you should also make sure that the person that you would like to nominate to act as executor is actually willing to take on the responsibility.

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When you evaluate the surveys that are done periodically, you find that far too many people procrastinate when it comes to estate planning. One of the reasons for this is a lack of information. Invariably, once you understand the facts you recognize why estate planning is important. With this in mind, let’s look at the process of probate in Kew Gardens NY.

A Last Will

Someone who is procrastinating may justify it, thinking that immediate action could be taken if necessary. If there are any indications that you should take precautions, you draw up a quick last will and you are covered.

This is an assumption. Assumptions can get you into trouble. However, when it comes to estate planning assumptions, you won’t be around to pay the price. If you make mistakes, your family will be left behind to deal with the outcome.

Let’s say that you draw up a last will without considering any alternatives. You pass away. Your family is not going to receive their inheritances until the estate has been probated.

There could be immediate financial need, and this could present a problem. Short of this, the sooner you get your inheritance the better, even if it is not absolutely needed.

Probate in Kew Gardens NY – How Long Does It Take?

The process of probate in Kew Gardens NY can sometimes be quite time-consuming. It is not just a mere formality. The Surrogate’s Court will be charged with the responsibility of determining the validity of the will. If interested parties wanted to contest the will, they could do so.

If the will was hurriedly constructed without professional guidance, there could be problems.

The extent of the assets, and the form that they are in, will impact the time frame. The family dynamic will also be a factor.

Under complicated circumstances probate can take multiple years. Even simple, routine cases will take months.

Informed Decisions

While it is true that probate will not run its course overnight, it is not necessarily a bad thing. Probate provides protections. What if a challenge to the will was valid? What if you signed it while you were woozy from medication? What if you did not really understand what it contained?

This is just one type of scenario.

Over the years the state of New York as made an effort to streamline the process, so it is not something that is all bad.

On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with arranging for the transfer of your assets outside of probate if this is your choice.

The key is to make informed decisions. Consult with a licensed Kew Gardens NY estate planning attorney before making any assumptions. Ultimately, you can construct an estate plan that works for you, whether it involves probate or not.

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At some point in time you may get serious about preparing for the eventualities of aging. There are certain contingencies that you may face when you reach an advanced age, and they are easier to address if you made preparations beforehand. The best way to make these preparations is with the assistance of a licensed elder law attorney.

Elder Law Attorneys

What does an elder law attorney do? Generally speaking, an elder law attorney will advise people who need legal advice regarding matters that are of particular interest to senior citizens.

One of the major issues that elder law attorneys must address is that of long-term care costs. Medicare does not pay for an extended-stay in a nursing home or an assisted living community. These facilities are very expensive and out of the reach of many people.

Elder law attorneys will assist people who want to take steps to prepare for these expenses.

Locating an Elder Law Attorney in Kew Gardens NY

How do you find the right elder law attorney in Kew Gardens NY? One way to go about it would be to broach the subject among people that you know. Family members, friends, neighbors, and coworkers may be able to provide you with recommendations.

If you know someone who has had a good experience with a particular elder law attorney, it is likely that you will have a similar experience.

Checking for affiliations with respected professional organizations can also be very worthwhile when you are looking for an elder law attorney. For example, we are members of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys. If you were to check their database for members, you would find reputable law firms that focus on elder law matters.

Once you identify an elder law attorney that you are interested in working with, communicate openly. Don’t be afraid to ask questions while you are on the phone initially. If the person that you are speaking with does not seem to be welcoming and empathetic, you may want to look elsewhere.

Estate planning involves discussing some very sensitive and personal issues. A good estate planning attorney will be well aware of this fact. You want to feel totally comfortable with your attorney, so you should be discerning when you are making a connection.

Some firms will provide you with a free consultation. Our firm is one of them. If you sit down and speak with an attorney face-to-face, you will certainly come away with a distinct impression.

Our objective is to assist our clients in the present as we build long-term relationships, because estate planning is an ongoing process. If you take a moment to request a consultation, you will invariably find us to be quite responsive and genuinely interested in the well-being of your family.

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When you are preparing for your senior years, you are invariably going to envision your active retirement years. This type of planning is important. However, you should also consider the twilight years that will follow your active retirement years. The eventualities are something that you should discuss with an elder law attorney in Kew Gardens New York.

Questions to Ask an Elder Law Attorney in Kew Gardens

HOW WILL YOU PAY FOR LONG-TERM CARE?

This is one question that you should definitely ask an elder law attorney. Long-term care is very expensive, with the average annual expense for a room in a nursing home exceeding $130,000 in the state of New York. These expenses are very high right now, but long-term care costs have been rising by a few percentage points year-by-year. If you are not concerned because you are going to be qualified for Medicare, you should definitely become apprised of the facts. Medicare won’t pay for long-term care. Assistance with your activities of daily living is considered to be custodial care rather than medical care. Medicare does not assist with custodial care costs. When you discuss this matter with your elder law attorney, you will hear about Medicaid planning. Medicaid is a government health insurance program that will pay for long-term care costs. As you are probably aware, Medicaid is a need-based program. If you have significant assets and income you cannot qualify for Medicaid. However, many people who were not poor throughout their lives ultimately rely on Medicaid to pay for long-term care. Some of them suffer great losses. They do not plan ahead, and they wind up spending everything that they have paying for long-term care. At that point, once they actually do have significant financial need, they can qualify for Medicaid. Others take a different approach. If you decide that you want to be prepared to apply for Medicaid at some point in the future, you can take steps now to position your assets with Medicaid eligibility rules and regulations in mind. It may be possible to preserve resources for the well-being of your loved ones while still being able to gain eligibility if you take the right steps.

THIS CAN HAPPEN TO YOU

When you are considering the relevance of Medicaid planning, you may take it with a grain of salt. You have always been healthy enough to take care of yourself. You don’t see that ever changing, even if things may become more difficult. In fact, according to the United States Department of Health at Human Services, most Americans will need help with their day-to-day needs eventually. This is something that is relevant to everyone, regardless of your health or lifestyle at the present time. Hopefully you will never need living assistance. However, prudent individuals will definitely prepare for the possibility.

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High net worth families must be aware of the existence of the federal gift tax. Actually, everyone is potentially exposed to the gift tax. The reason why most people don’t pay this tax is because there are exclusions. One of these exclusions is the annual gift tax exclusion.

$14,000 Per Person, Per Year

Under currently existing laws, you can give as much as $14,000 per year to any number of gift recipients free of the gift tax. This is not $14,000 total; this is per person, per year. You could give $14,000 to everyone watching a Yankee game with you at Yankee Stadium free of the gift tax.

However, if you gave one person $15,000, the transfer of $1000 would be taxable.

Unified Gift/Estate Tax Exclusion

Though that $1000 would be taxable, you could use a portion of a different exclusion to give the gift entirely tax free. There is another exclusion that you could use that exists in addition to the annual $14,000 per person gift tax exclusion.

The federal gift tax is unified with the estate tax. The gift tax exists to prevent wealthy people from giving gifts tax-free while they are living to avoid the estate tax.

There is a unified lifetime gift and estate tax exclusion. The amount of this exclusion in 2014 is $5.34 million. We must emphasize the fact that this exclusion is something that is completely separate from the annual per person exclusion.

You don’t have to use any of this exclusion until and unless you give a gift to someone in excess of $14,000 during a calendar year.

Marital Deduction

It should be noted that you do not have to use any of your annual exclusion or unified lifetime exclusion to give a tax-free gift to your spouse if you are in fact married. There is an unlimited marital deduction that allows you to transfer any amount of money to your spouse free of taxation. This applies to lifetime gifts, and it also applies to the value of your estate when you leave your spouse an inheritance.

Combining Annual Exclusions

While we are on the topic of spouses, you should understand the fact that your spouse has a $14,000 annual gift tax exclusion. You have your own annual $14,000 gift tax exclusion. If you combine the two, as a couple you could give as much as $28,000 to an unlimited number of gift recipients every year tax-free.

If your assets exceed the amount of the estate tax exclusion, you would naturally be looking for ways to transfer assets in a tax-free manner. The utilization of this annual gift tax exclusion could be part of the plan.

If you make measured divestitures over a significant period of time utilizing this annual gift tax exclusion, you can transfer assets tax-free to people who would otherwise be inheriting them. At the same time, you would be reducing the taxable value of your estate.

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The process of estate planning should involve a significant amount of research. You don’t want to limit yourself and make less than ideal decisions based on a lack of information. There are misconceptions out there, and you can make mistakes if you buy into them. One of them is the notion that trusts are only for the rich.

Different Types of Trusts

There are certain types of trusts that are used exclusively by wealthy people. In many instances these trusts provide estate tax efficiency.

There is a federal estate tax in the United States, as well as a New York State estate tax. In 2014 the federal estate tax carries a $5.34 million credit or exclusion. In New York the estate tax exemption is $1 million. If you are arranging for the transfer of more than this amount to your heirs, you must take steps to mitigate your exposure.

Certain types of irrevocable trusts are used in the field of estate planning to provide estate tax efficiency. Trusts that are irrevocable can also be useful for asset protection purposes.

However, these are not the only types of trusts. Different types of trusts accomplish different objectives.

Revocable Living Trusts

In addition to irrevocable trusts there are also revocable trusts such as the revocable living trust. Revocable living trusts are quite useful for those who are not especially wealthy. In fact, these trusts would not be a good choice for people who are looking for estate tax efficiency and/or asset protection.

This is because you do not surrender incidents of ownership when you create a revocable trust. You maintain control of the resources that you convey into a revocable living trust.

You may act as both the trustee and the beneficiary while you are living. You can dissolve the trust entirely if this is your choice and do anything you want to do with the assets that have been conveyed into it.

Because you retain this level of control, assets in the trust would be looked upon as part of your taxable estate, and they would be fair game for individuals or entities seeking to attach your personal resources.

The reason why these trusts are popular is because they facilitate the transfer of assets outside of the process of probate. Probate avoidance is appealing to many people because the process can be costly and time-consuming.

When you maintain direct personal ownership of assets up until the time of your death and arrange for transfers through the terms of a last will, the heirs to the estate will not receive their inheritances until the estate has been probated.

If you create a revocable living trust, the trustee that you name to succeed you distributes assets to the beneficiaries according to your wishes outside of probate. As a result, the heirs receive their inheritances in a much more timely and efficient manner.

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You may be under the impression that Medicaid is not relevant to you because you are a middle-class individual without a great deal of financial need.

It is true that Medicaid is a need-based health insurance program that is jointly administered by the federal government along with each respective state government. Medicaid is a safety net for those with virtually no financial resources. This would include people of all ages.

If you have paid taxes all of your life as you have earned income you will accumulate enough retirement credits to qualify for the Medicare program when you reach the age of 65. If you are going to qualify for Medicare you may feel as though Medicaid will not be relevant to you as a senior citizen.

Long-Term Care Costs

All of the above makes sense on the surface, but there is the matter of long-term care costs to consider. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the majority of Americans will need long-term care eventually. Nursing homes and assisted living communities are very expensive, and Medicare does not pay for this type of care.

Nursing homes and assisted living communities provide custodial care rather than medical care. Medicare does not pay for custodial care. It will only assist with up to 100 days of convalescent care after surgery.

This is why Medicaid enters the picture. Medicaid will pay for long-term custodial care. However, to qualify you must somehow stay within the upper asset limits. The resource allowance for an applicant in New York State is $14,550.

In spite of this, most of the senior citizens that are receiving long-term care are enrolled in the Medicaid program. How can this be?

The answer is complicated. For one thing, everything that you own does not count when Medicaid is determining the extent of your assets. Your home does not count up to a particular equity limit. The vehicle that you use for transportation does not count, and your personal effects, including wedding and engagement rings and heirloom jewelry, are not considered to be countable assets.

Plus, if you are married your spouse could retain ownership of shared assets up to a particular limit without impacting your Medicaid eligibility.

Given the complexity of Medicaid rules and regulations it is difficult for the layperson to make the appropriate preparations without experienced legal counsel.

If you would like to learn more about Medicaid planning we have a ready resource available that you may find to be of value.

We have prepared a special report on the subject of Medicaid planning. The report is yours absolutely free of charge. To access your version of the report, click this link: Free Medicaid Planning Report.

Should you have further questions after reading the report, contact our firm to request a free consultation.

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f you fail to update your estate plan, your assets may be given to the wrong people. Updating is something that many people forget to do. Making updates can often be an easy process, with the help of an attorney. If you want to control your assets, take a look at the following information. If you have any questions, or if you’d like to review and update your estate plan, contact an estate planning attorney.

If you have an estranged family member, you may have a lot of stress and anxieties about the future. It can be difficult thinking about whether another family disagreement will occur. If you wish to have no contact with a family member, you likely also want to make sure that your assets aren’t going to be distributed to him or her.

Take a look at this example:

Susan, 39, created her estate plan early in life. She wanted to make sure that her family was always protected. When handling her estate planning affairs, she decided to designate her younger sister, Alicia, as the beneficiary of her life insurance policy. Several years later, Alicia began abusing alcohol. She not only became a raging alcoholic, but she also began to steal Susan’s belongings. Susan was forced to cut her sister out of her life completely. Unfortunately, she forgot to update her beneficiary designations. When Susan suddenly died a few years later, Alicia received her life insurance assets as well as a large portion of her estate.

If you’re not careful, this can happen to you! You need to make sure that all aspects of your planning are reviewed and updated on a regular basis. This will ensure that your wishes are always respected.

  • Check beneficiary designations.
  • Meet with an attorney to review your plan every 3 to 5 years.
  • If you experienced significant life changes, take the time to make updates!
  • Don’t put your planning aside for good, once it’s completed; update.

By taking a little extra care, you can ensure that your assets are given to the right people. If you have any questions, or if you’d like to update your estate plan, consult with a qualified estate planning attorney.

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New York residents who are in possession of a significant amount of wealth have some great responsibilities, and some great opportunities. Accumulating wealth is challenging, but it can be just as challenging to keep these assets in the family over a number of generations. This is where legacy wealth planning in New York becomes important.

What is legacy wealth planning? In a general sense it is the process of positioning assets in a manner that allows them to stay intact and perhaps even grow over a number of generations.

Your first thought would be that this is quite simple. Assets properly invested are going to appreciate. Plus, each generation will have an opportunity to add to the family fortune. As assets are passed on from generation to generation there is no particular reason why the sum total should decrease.

This may be a logical line of thinking if death taxes did not exist.

In the United States we have a federal estate tax that carries a 40 percent maximum rate. This tax is unified with the federal gift tax, and this levy carries the same top rate. As a result, you cannot give away assets while you’re living in an effort to avoid the estate tax. This has been true since 1924 when the gift tax was first implemented.

The estate tax was first enacted in 1916. Subsequently, John D. Rockefeller gave much of his wealth to his son before he passed away to avoid the estate tax. You have to think that he was not alone among wealthy individuals at the time. The gift tax was enacted to close this window of opportunity.

At the present time the amount of the federal estate tax exclusion is $5.25 million. If you do nothing to position your assets in a tax efficient manner anything that you try to pass along that exceeds this amount is subject to the federal estate tax and its 40 percent maximum rate. New York State also has an estate tax- it charges a tax on an estate that is greater than $1,000,000. In determining whether your estate is greater than or less than the exemption amount, the government includes everything you own, including the value of your life insurance policies and the value of your home.

Legacy wealth planning is going to involve the implementation of estate tax efficiency strategies. These strategies will mitigate your estate tax exposure.

Legal devices that are utilized to this end would include charitable lead annuity trusts, generation-skipping or dynasty trusts, family limited partnerships, grantor retained annuity trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, and asset protection trusts.

Reacting to the estate tax is certainly a large part of what legacy wealth planning is all about, but this is just part of the equation. You may want to consider the proclivities and personal circumstances of the people who are going to be receiving inheritances from you. Those who are not good money handlers, minors, and people with disabilities can all be provided for in the appropriate fashion.

This is just a brief look at legacy wealth planning. If you would like to learn more, contact our firm to request a free consultation.