Rochester Estate Planning Law Blog
How can estate planning help prevent family disputes?
You may trust your family to be reasonable about how you divide your inheritance. But after you pass away, you won’t be around to prevent any fights. However, you can minimize conflict by creating an estate plan. Estate planning is much more than just writing your...
3 benefits of setting up a revocable trust
Estate plans include numerous documents that ensure the safety and security of your family’s future. One option that you can choose as part of your estate plan is a revocable trust. A revocable trust is a document that outlines how your estate gets distributed and...
Why can probate take so long?
The loss of a parent, spouse or loved one is rarely easy even under the best of circumstances. Ideally, the deceased worked with an experienced estate law attorney to draft a thoughtful will or trust, but there may still be delays in the probate process regardless of...
Mental health care directives give patients more control
Advance health directives let you say what you want to happen and not happen if you are ever in an extreme medical situation and unable to speak for yourself. They usually include specific instructions and name a person you want making decisions for you. Anybody can...
Expecting a child is a great time to start estate planning
Expecting parents typically have a to-do list, and even lists of to-do lists, to prepare for the new family member. Even so, most feel less anxious if they give estate planning a prime spot near the top of their pre-baby agenda. Buying life insurance comes first for a...
The delicate job of leaving objects to family
Family heirlooms probably make at least as much conflict between heirs as stocks, bonds, cash and other things many people see as “wealth.” Sometimes siblings become so bitter about what happens to things of so little value that even experts in estate planning are...
The importance of appointing a health care proxy
When you least expect it, an illness or injury can leave you unable to communicate. If you don’t have any direction for your medical care, your family and doctors must decide on how to treat you. But when you are in a vulnerable medical state, you want someone you...
No will leaves the courts to find a way
A will is meant to ensure you take care of your family after you’re gone. If you don’t outline your wishes, the courts probably won’t spend much time guessing. Only 44% of Americans have penned a plan for when they die. The rest, whether they intend or not, are...
Using an irrevocable trust to qualify for Medicaid
To qualify for Medicaid coverage of long-term care in New York, you cannot have more than $15,450 in assets. But with nursing home costs as high as $6,000 to $7,000 a month, you may need Medicaid benefits to afford your care. If you want to qualify for Medicaid...
Gifting goodwill may come back to bite when applying for Medicaid
Medicaid comes in handy for covering the costs of healthcare, but the limitations can be strict. And unloading your assets to qualify might not work as well as you’d like. Medicaid has varying limitations on income levels and resources, but meeting requirements may...
