Every family has unique estate planning needs and yours is no different. If you are the parent of a special needs child, you have to consider his or her needs when drawing your estate plan. According to Fidelity, special needs children may remain dependent on others...
Is it time to update your estate plan?
Your estate plan is a constantly evolving piece of legal work. You do not just create an estate plan and allow it to sit there, as-is. You want it to reflect your most current life circumstances at any given point in time. To this end, it is important to understand...
The New York health care proxy: What is it, and do you need one?
When you begin your estate planning tasks, you will likely hear or see terminology that is not 100% clear to you. For example, do you know what the term health care proxy means? Most Mount Morris, New York, residents do not have a firm grasp of this term and how such...
What should you know about incentive trusts?
You may have heard of incentive or conditional trusts. They are typically established by people as part of their estate plan to motivate beneficiaries (often adult children) to do things like finish college, maintain a job, participate in charitable organizations or...
Do you need to plan for estate taxes as a New York resident?
There are so many considerations you have to keep in mind when planning your estate. You need to think about all of the assets you have and the needs of the people you love. You may also have to think about whether creditors or government insurance programs can make a...
If you have an estate plan, you’re in the minority
Estate planning is a necessity for almost everyone in the United States. If you have any assets whatsoever, you need a legal plan to pass them on to your designated beneficiaries. That’s true regardless of your net worth, even if the value appears to be negligible....
How to set up a trust without ruining your kids
If you are like most parents, you want your money to go to your children after you die. It is your way of continuing to be there for them financially when you can’t be there physically. Setting up a trust may seem the logical thing to do, but do it wrong, and you...
Do you have a medical power of attorney?
Imagine that you came down with a serious illness and could not tell your doctors what type of treatment you wanted to try. Or, imagine that the same thing was true after a serious injury, perhaps in a car accident. Regardless of what happened, you can’t communicate....
Why should I update my will?
While it is crucial that you have a will in place, it is equally important that you update will documents as necessary. There are many different circumstances that can directly impact your will, from bringing a new child home to getting a divorce. If you neglect to...
Understanding intestate succession
Many in Mount Morris have avoided estate planning; you may be among them. The typical assumption is that many avoid estate planning because it forces them to confront the reality of their own mortality. Yet of you are like many of those that we here at Sciarrino &...
