Beneficiaries

Rethinking Old Trusts and Your Estate Planning

If you have a trust, you may think that their original purpose no longer seems compelling. Your estate plan may designate that your assets will pass into a “bypass” or “credit shelter” trust, which will pay income to your surviving spouse and ultimately pass assets to your children. Historically, it was common for married couples […]

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Beneficiary Designations

Do you know who your beneficiaries are on your life insurance policies and retirement accounts?  Are you sure?  When was the last time you confirmed the beneficiaries of record on these assets? When you set up these assets, you designate primary and a contingent beneficiaries. Do you remember the beneficiaries you designated? Changes occur in […]

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Debtor Has No Right to Information About Creditor’s Estate

On April 1, 2011, Norman Webb lent $150,000 to his then son-in-law, Dan Krudys. The loan was for a term of four years and was memorialized by a promissory note executed by Krudys. In the next four years, Norman died, Krudys and Norman’s daughter, Cheryl divorced, Krudys defaulted on the note and Norman’s son, Scott, […]

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New Jersey Court Bans Medicaid Planning By Non-Lawyers

Over the past three decades, the increasing costs of long term care have led many individuals and families to look for ways to preserve the assets which they have spent a lifetime accumulating. In that regard, the discipline of elder law has arisen and has been a focus of practice for many attorneys. As the […]

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Control Disqualifies Trust From Medicaid Protection

Last month, a New Hampshire Court set an irrevocable trust and declared the assets therein available resources which should have been spent on long term care prior to Medicaid eligibility by the individual who established the trust. Specifically, in the Petition of Estate of Thea Braiterman No. 2015-0395 (N.H. July 12, 2016), the New Hampshire […]

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Conflict of Interest Renders Trustee Liable For Losses

In 1992, Ann Mark created two irrevocable trusts for the benefit of her three children. An attorney, Jared Scharf, assumed the role of trustee of these trusts in 1997. In 2008, Scharf established three separate trusts – one for each child – from assets held by one of these trusts. In April 2010, Scharf invested […]

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Court Finds Bequest to Unformed Charity Lapsed

Muhammed Belal Hussain died on March 10, 2013 with a will, which left 50% of the residuary estate to the Hussain Family Foundation, 25% to the decedent’s surviving brothers, and 25% to the decedent’s surviving nieces and nephew. The Foundation did not exist at the time of the decedent’s death. The attorney who drafted the […]

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