Monthly Archives: April 2025
What Are the Trustee’s Fiduciary Duties?
Trusts are popular estate planning tools, but your choice of trustee matters considerably. The beneficiaries will have to deal with the trustee, and those creating a trust need someone who is reliable and trustworthy. New York law also imposes certain duties on trustees. These fiduciary duties are designed to ensure the trustee acts in… Read More »
Top 5 Mistakes with Do-It-Yourself Wills
The internet is overflowing with websites and software programs which promise to create a legal, airtight will. All you need to do is enter some basic information and the program will spit out a ready-to-use will that stands up in court. Sounds easy, right? Actually, there are major risks with any DIY will writing… Read More »
Five Wishes Can Simplify Your Estate Plan
The websites of estate planning lawyers and financial planners often encourage you to start your estate plan by making wishes. They tell you to envision yourself watching Broadway shows with your friends during the summer and walking on the beach on the Gulf Coast of Florida with your spouse in the winter. Once you… Read More »
Is High-Risk Borrowing a Sign of Elder Financial Abuse?
The stereotypical image of financial abuse of the elderly is when an opportunistic person ingratiates himself or herself to a lonely but financially secure elderly person and takes advantage of the elderly person’s generosity and physical and emotional vulnerability. The abuser might be a paid caregiver who builds a friendly rapport with the elderly… Read More »
Choosing a Nursing Home
Which nursing home do you want to move to in the future? That is easy. None of them! No one wants to entertain the possibility that they will one day be ill enough that they will require around-the-clock care. If you only need help sometimes, then you have the option of relying on relatives… Read More »
Estate Planning Asset Protection Basics
When you build an estate plan, you have two goals. The first is to provide for your care in your old age, and the second is to plan for the distribution of your assets to your family, or any other chosen beneficiaries, after you die. The less attached you are to wealth and the… Read More »
The Four Parts of Medicare
People who are approaching retirement age often look forward to the free or inexpensive healthcare services they will be eligible to receive, while simultaneously worrying about their out of pocket healthcare costs. Healthcare for retirees is anything but a freebie, and as the cost of living increases and the social safety network erodes, paying… Read More »
Dynasty Trusts
Conventional wisdom holds that you will never be wealthy enough to need the complex estate planning strategies that financial planners advertise. It is not possible to max out the lifetime limit on the annual gift tax exclusion unless you are a multimillionaire. You have a much bigger chance of running out of money and… Read More »