Determining who you should select to serve as the Executor of your estate can often be a difficult decision. It is important to understand the duties and responsibilities of an Executor before you make your final decision. Here are some…
In making the decision to meet with an estate planning attorney to create a Last Will and Testament, you will need to decide who to nominate as your Executor. Among other responsibilities, your Executor is the person that will be…
In New York State, in order to contest a person’s Last Will and Testament, the challenger must have the right to do so. This right is known as “standing”. A challenger has standing under the following circumstances: When he or…
There is a common expression we hear a lot, “penny wise and pound foolish,” but we rarely hear it being used by a state supreme court justice to describe a situation that could have been avoided. Since we live in…
Often we are asked by our clients to differentiate between “per stirpes" and “per capita”. For this blog post, we would like to revisit a blog that explains the difference between the two: You may have heard or read the…
It is safe to say that estate planning is generally not a prime consideration for most young adults in their 20s or 30s. The truth is that estate planning for people in this age group is just as important as…
Whatever the reason may be, many put off estate planning. Often times, we receive a call from someone stating their loved one has dementia and has no legal planning documents in place. At this time, whether or not they can…
When it is said that a person has died intestate, it means that they died without leaving a Last Will and Testament. A Last Will and Testament is among the documents we call, “the four must-have legal planning documents.” The other three documents include: Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Proxy, and Living Will.
The purpose of a Last Will and Testament is to express your wishes and identify who is to receive your property and assets upon your passing. It is imperative to complete a Last Will and Testament if you want to have a say on who receives your assets when you are no longer with us.
Using a Will or a Trust that you found by searching on Google is like using WebMD to diagnose a serious illness.
A rational person would not consult WebMD to learn how to treat a serious illness. You might use it as a source of reference, but if you are in pain or want to prevent health issues, you consult to a doctor.
The same is true when planning your estate. You may save a couple dollars by creating your own estate plan, but you are going to cost your loved ones ten times that with the expense of going to court, and by hiring an attorney to interpret and administer the errors in the DIY estate plan you created.
The tragic death of Bobbi Kristina, Whitney Houston’s only child, has left her estate in limbo.
Houston’s will left the entirety of her estate, including jewelry, clothing, cars, record profits and music royalties, in a spendthrift trust to the sole heir, Bobbi Kristina. The provisions of this trust stated that Bobbi Kristina would receive the distributions in three installments: 1/10 at age 21, 1/6 to be received at age 25, and the remainder of the estate upon her turning 30. Based on these provisions, Bobbi Kristina was only entitled to 1/10 of the estate when she died since she was only 22 years old at the time of her passing.