One of the reasons why you should view estate planning as an ongoing process is because laws can be changed and new ones can be enacted. Some of the changes can impact your estate plan. This scenario unfolded at the end of 2019 when the SECURE Act was enacted. This measure impacted a widely utilized estate planning strategy called the “stretch IRA.” We will look at the implications here, but first, we have to provide an explanation of how individual retirement accounts work in a general …
What Is Medicaid Estate Recovery?
When you see that elder law attorneys specialize in Medicaid planning, you may be confused at first. Why would people that are going to qualify for Medicare have to worry about Medicaid coverage? Plus, since Medicaid is only available to people that are financially needy, folks that retire with some resources wouldn’t qualify anyway. All of this make sense on the surface. However, there is a compelling reason why a significant percent of elders can benefit from Medicaid coverage. Living …
Wills Serve Varying Purposes
One of the primary reasons why you should discuss your family situation and your estate planning goals with an attorney is because there are many different approaches that can be taken. As a layperson, there is no reason why you should choose one course of action over another. With this in mind, do you know that there are quite a few different types of wills that are used in our field? If you are not aware of this, keep reading, because we going to look at a number of them in this …
Can a Person With a Disability Fund a Special Needs Trust?
Most Americans get health insurance through their employers. A significant percentage of people with disabilities do not have the ability to work, so this is not an option for them. And of course, the lack of employment will impact them in hand-to-mouth ways. Fortunately, there are government benefits that are designed to provide for folks that are in this situation. Many people with disabilities qualify for Medicaid, which is a jointly administered federal/state government health …
What Is Medicaid Planning?
When you think about retirement, the leisurely days engaging in your favorite activities will naturally come to mind. You can keep yourself in shape, enjoy time with your family members and friends, cross things off your bucket list, and simply enjoy your free time to the fullest. Without question, these golden years can be a fantastic reward for a life of hard work and sound money management. This being stated, you should also consider the twilight years that will inevitably follow. …
Use the Exclusion or Lose It
Currently, each person can give $11.58 million during life or at death. However, that amount will be cut in half by January 1, 2026. It may go down even sooner. Read on to learn why and how you should use it before you lose it. …
Is There an Inheritance Tax in New York?
In this post, we will provide some clarity about inheritance taxes per se. But first, we will share some general information about estate transfers and taxation. Regular Income Taxes Since you are supposed to report just about any type of income imaginable, a lot of laypeople would be ready to pay taxes on their inheritances. Fortunately, a direct inheritance is not subject to regular income taxes, and this would include life insurance proceeds. IRAs are a different matter, and we will discuss …
Estate Planning for Small Business Owners
Everyone should explore their options before they make any final estate planning decisions, because there are many different ways to proceed. Some situations are more complicated than others of course, and when it comes to estate planning for small business owners, there can be some inherent challenges. This being stated, people sometimes come to us with situations that they think are going to be very hard to figure out. In fact, there are usually tried-and-true inheritance planning solutions …
A Simple Will May Not Be the Right Choice
A lot of people that have not explored the subject very deeply boil the process of estate planning down to a single act. You execute a simple will at some point in time, and that's all there is to it. This is an oversimplification, because there are other things to think about beyond the matter of asset transfers, but we will get into them in at another time. In this post, we will explain some of the reasons why a will may not be the best centerpiece for your estate plan. Probate Hassles If …
What Is a HIPAA Release?
The acronym HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. In this post, we will explain why this piece of legislation is something to take into consideration when you are planning your estate. Advance Directives for Health Care Everyone is well aware of the fact that you have to facilitate postmortem asset transfers when you put your estate plan in place. A lot of people think this is the long and short of it, but a proper estate plan will also address …
Do I Pay Capital Gains Taxes on Appreciated Assets?
We are going to look at the guidelines for capital gains taxes on inheritances in this post. But before we focus in on that subject, we will provide a general overview of taxation as it applies to your estate. State and Federal Income Taxes Since the taxman always wants a piece of the pie, a lot of people assume that you would have to claim an inheritance as taxable income. In fact, this is not the case, and there is a rationale behind this arrangement. To explain through the use of a …
Do I Have to Report Living Trust Income?
A living trust is a very effective estate planning tool that can be the right choice for a lot of people that assume they should use a will. We are going to explain taxes on living trust distributions in this post, but first, we will provide an overview of the advantages they provide. Total Control and Flexibility One of the reasons why many folks assume that they should not use a trust is because they are afraid of losing control of their assets. There are irrevocable …
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