Actually, yes! When someone dies, the first step is to determine if the decedent owned any assets individually, meaning there were assets with no joint owner or designated beneficiary. A very common fact pattern is where a surviving spouse dies owning a house. Once it is determined that individually owned assets exist, someone needs to…
No. When someone appoints you as his/her attorney in fact (people casually refer to their title as “power of attorney”) to handle their financial affairs, you are acting as an agent to that person. You are called a fiduciary and fiduciaries must act according to certain fiduciary standards. For instance, a fiduciary must act in…
This is a very common issue with revocable trusts and it results from not respecting the formalities of the trust. In order for a revocable trust to work as intended, that is, to avoid probate, your assets must be transferred to the trust. For instance, if you own a house, the deed needs to be…
Assuming by your question that you are a beneficiary of your parent’s estate, you are entitled to certain information. For instance, where the Estate is not required to file an estate tax return, an Executor must file an Inventory of Assets with the Court within six months of his appointment. Where the Executor is prepared…
The answer to this question is dependent on the County you live in. Regardless, the probate process can take quite some time and delay the distribution of assets to your heirs. The probate process begins by retaining us to prepare certain documents that must be filed with the Surrogate’s Court in the County where the…
You can appoint as many people as you wish, however there are a few things to consider about the person you appoint. First, you should always have a conversation with the person you appoint prior to making such appointment to ensure he is willing to accept the position of agent. Second, when considering your…
Often confused, the look-back period and the penalty period are two distinct concepts in Medicaid planning. It is important to understand the applicability of each. The look-back period is the five-year retroactive period beginning on the date you enter a nursing facility. Thus, if you enter a nursing home on November 1, 2017, the look-back…
Unfortunately, we cannot control if and when we may fall ill but we can be proactive to protect our financial assets by planning early. The risk of requiring a nursing home within five years of creating a Medicaid Trust is generally a risk associated with waiting too long to meet with and elder law attorney….
It is worth noting at the outset that there are many types of irrevocable trusts. I think it is safe to assume that when you reference an irrevocable trust, you are speaking of the trust that we regularly use to protect your assets if you need to apply for Medicaid in the future. For our…
