Estate Planning for Children with Special Needs Part II

For the Children Parents who have a child with special needs often undertake estate planning to insure that any inheritance left for that child will be preserved for his or her benefit.  Proper planning will preserve eligibility for needs based government programs such as SSI and Medicaid while allowing the child’s inheritance to flow into […]

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Estate Planning for Children with Special Needs

Part One: For Parents Drew and Libby have two children, Becca and Corky.  Corky has Down’s Syndrome.  Although he is on the high end of moderate functioning, he won’t be able to handle more than a minimum-wage job.  Outside of being able to purchase small items at convenience stores, he has little understanding about financial […]

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The Perils of Joint Accounts

Joint Tenancy With a Right of Survivorship (JTWROS) is a manner by which many of us hold bank and other financial accounts with others.  It is a traditional method of account ownership that has many benefits.  It commonly reflects the unity between spouses.  It avoids probate when one party dies.  It can be used for […]

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Big and Bad News for IRA Owners

Historically, individuals who have invested in IRAs have had the ability to roll over each IRA on an annual basis.  Known as the one-rollover-per-year, the IRS’ own Publication 590 has detailed that each individual IRA can be rolled over once in any twelve month period.  However, that has just changed. In 2008, Alvan Bobrow rolled […]

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Examining the Estate of Philip Seymour Hoffman

Examining the Estate of Philip Seymour Hoffman

On February 2, 2014, Philip Seymour Hoffman died of a drug overdose at the age of 46.  He was an Academy Award winning actor who appeared in many productions on stage and screen.  He was survived by his life partner, Mimi O’Donnell, and their three children, Cooper (10), Tallulah (7) and Willa (5).  His estate […]

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Fiduciaries Must Account, or Else…

When someone serves as an executor, trustee, guardian or agent under a Power of Attorney, they are known as a fiduciary.  By law, all fiduciaries must account for their actions.  Over the years, this duty has often been ignored.  However, there is an increasing trend in litigation to sue fiduciaries for alleged financial abuse.  Many […]

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Estate Planning for Your Business: The Buy/Sell Agreement

A Buy/Sell Agreement is the legal cornerstone for the successful transition of a closely held business.  A formal Buy/Sell Agreement creates a market for each owner’s interest in a business in the event of his death, disability or retirement.  In the absence of such an agreement the deceased business owner’s heirs may become unwelcome or […]

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How Much Does it Pay to Be Executor?

A commonly asked question in both estate planning and estate administration is “How much does the executor get paid?”  In order to evaluate that question, three issues need to be addressed: (1) the statutory allowance for compensation, (2) the options in drafting compensation clauses in a Will, and (3) the effect of case law of […]

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The ABCs of Life Insurance and Divorce

The ABCs of Life Insurance and Divorce

The effects of divorce upon the right to life insurance are often greatly misunderstood,  and many individuals don’t realize the impact that divorce has upon this asset. As such, upon death, many policies are paid in a manner which is unintended. Divorce Supersedes Beneficiary Designations When individuals obtain life insurance, the insurer requires that they […]

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Benefits of Marriage

Benefits of Marriage

Millions of Reasons to Say “I Do” Lillian Garis Booth and Michael Dabich, residents of Bergen County, were companions for 51 years.  They met in New York when Booth was 42 and Dabich was 27.  According to Dabich, they held themselves out as husband and wife before his family and society in general in his […]

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