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Over the last few years, New York State has been looking to change its Medicaid program. As part of former Governor Cuomo’s budget for fiscal year 2021, New York State drastically amended its laws to provide for a thirty-month look-back period for community-based long term care services (i.e., home care), among other changes. Due to […]

If there’s one thing that partner Moira Laidlaw tells all of her estate planning clients, it’s that planners win. “The law is complicated, and implementing a really good estate plan could save a family hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars and always justifies the costs associated with the planning.”   While this is

As they grow older, many individuals in New York look towards Medicaid to provide vital long term care services such as personal care services (i.e., homecare) or nursing home care.  Currently, in order for an individual over the age of 65 to qualify for Medicaid in New York, that individual must have less than the

The average person spends two and half hours on social media a day. Social media consumes much of our lives, but what happens to these accounts on our deaths? It is projected that Facebook will have more dead users than living users by the year 2070 based on the site’s current growth trajectory, so it

Possession is 9/10ths of the law. Squatter’s rights. Use it or lose it. These are popular terms or phrases that most people have heard or used in casual conversation. While they may not be precise restatements of modern law, they are grounded in legal concepts that were developed thousands of years ago. When it comes

As you may be aware, Congress is working on a reconciliation bill (the “Bill”) which has tax components that could affect your current estate plan.  The major changes fall into two categories: (1) grantor trust estate tax inclusion, and (2) estate and gift tax exemption reduction. The Bill could be enacted as early as the

As estate-planning professionals, we help clients plan in the event of incapacity, not just death. While clients may come into our offices worried about death and taxes, we educate them that equally worrisome, and sometimes far more legally complicated, is incapacity. We proceed to help them guard against it by using our main- stay advance

The New York State Department of Health (DOH) has once again delayed the implementation of a thirty (30) month look-back period for Medicaid Applications filed for Community-Based Long Term Care Services (i.e. home care).  The look-back period would apply to gifts made on or after October 1, 2020, but only for those applications submitted after the new

As an estate planning attorney, I quite frequently talk to people about whether they have engaged in estate planning (i.e., signed estate planning documents). The answer in many instances to this inquiry is a simple yes. But when I inquire further and ask what specific documents were signed, I receive some variety of this question

There are many reasons why people do not execute a Last Will and Testament during their lifetime; they are too busy or it’s on their to-do list, they don’t think they are “rich enough” to need one, they think it’s too expensive, or they do not think they are “old enough” to need one, etc.