Author Archives: Jay Butchko
SCPA 2103 Discovery Proceedings: Recovering Estate Assets Someone Is Hiding
Families rarely talk openly about money while everyone is still alive, which is part of why so much confusion follows a death. Maybe a sibling who lived closest to a parent quietly moved bank accounts into joint names “to help out” long before anyone else knew there was a problem. Maybe a caretaker walked… Read More »
Family Limited Partnerships and Family LLCs in High Net-Worth Estate Plans
Once a family’s wealth grows past a certain point, a will and a revocable trust start to feel like only part of the picture. If you own a business, a portfolio of rental properties, or a farm that has been in the family for generations, the goal is usually not just to transfer the… Read More »
The Federal Estate Tax Exemption After the 2026 Tax Law: What Changed and What Didn’t
For years, estate planning articles carried the same warning: the generous federal estate tax exemption from 2017 was scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025, and unless Congress acted, it would roughly cut in half. Writers made it sound like a countdown clock, urging wealthy families to give away as much as they… Read More »
Naming a Donor-Advised Fund vs. a Charitable Trust in Your Estate Plan
Giving to causes you care about does not have to end when your estate settles. Plenty of people build charitable giving into their estate plan, whether that means supporting an animal shelter, a house of worship, or a scholarship fund at their old school. The harder question is not whether to give, but how…. Read More »
Portability of the Estate Tax Exemption Between Spouses: Is It Worth Electing
Married couples often assume that whatever one spouse does not use of their estate tax exemption will automatically carry over to the other. At the federal level, that assumption is correct, but only if the surviving spouse’s executor takes a specific, timely step. In New York, the same assumption is simply wrong. Understanding the… Read More »
When an Irrevocable Trust Can (and Cannot) Be Modified Under New York Law
The word “irrevocable” sounds absolute, and many clients assume that once they sign an irrevocable trust instrument, its terms are frozen forever. That is not quite true. New York law gives grantors, trustees, and beneficiaries several legitimate paths to change an irrevocable trust when circumstances shift, even though the trust cannot simply be torn… Read More »
Handshake or Gavel? Closing the Books on a New York Trust
Every trust eventually reaches the point where the trustee has to show the work. Money came in, money went out, investments rose and fell, and the beneficiaries are entitled to see how it all adds up. New York gives trustees two ways to settle that accounting. One is private, fast, and inexpensive. The other… Read More »
No Health Care Proxy? New York Has Already Picked Someone for You
Most people assume that if they never signed a health care proxy, nobody has the authority to speak for them in a hospital. The reality is closer to the opposite. New York has a default answer to the question of who decides, and it is written into state law as a ranked list. The… Read More »
Does Your Estate Plan Require Your Children to Sell Their Childhood Home?
In crafting your estate plan, you have probably put a lot of thought into protecting your children from financial burdens. Maybe you have been giving cash gifts to family members for as long as you have been able to afford it, to make sure that your estate is not subject to federal estate tax…. Read More »
The Elder Care Financial Crisis Can Begin Long Before a Medical Emergency
There are plenty of ways to measure the vast divide between the fortunate few and everyone else. You have managed to live a happy life by being at peace with the fact that everyone has finite financial resources. Most of the time, it does not cause you great emotional distress. You are fine with… Read More »