People are leading increasingly complicated lives, in that they spend their time in several locales, some of which may not be their place of residence. If a person is fortunate, they may develop an affection for a particular area and buy a second home in such area. Likewise, they may…
Evil stepmothers are not only found in popular culture, as epitomized in Cinderella . Such persons are commonly the subject of events reported by the New York press. Estate conflicts often arise between children of a prior marriage and a more current spouse. Such persons inherently have potentially differing interests.…
Memorial Day weekend is eagerly anticipated by many of our readers, especially this year after the harsh winter that we endured. Fortunate travelers expect to enjoy their vacation homes this weekend. As you head out for the weekend, we wish to remind you of certain legal issues pertaining to vacation…
New Yorkers seem to be “taxed to death”, paying the highest average property taxes in the country. We are the only state that charges a tax for the making of a mortgage. The tax burden does not end at death, as New York also has its own estate tax. Governor…
Our clients have inquired as to the consequences of the termination of a martial relationship upon rights in a New York estate. The resolution to this issue depends upon whether the relationship was legally terminated through a divorce and whether the estate is being conducted as an administration or a…
The Associated Press recently reported about a controversy concerning treasured possessions belonging to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King’s daughter Bernice King is currently in possession of his Nobel Peace Prize Medal and personal Bible. Her brothers, who control the Estate, have been attempting to seize these items, so…
In our last blog post , we described trusts in general terms. This blog post will define and describe particular specialized trusts, including their purposes and benefits. A Medicaid Trust allows for the assets to be held in trust so that the settlor will qualify for Medicaid and other governmental…
Trusts provide a valuable tool in estate planning because they serve the purposes of preserving assets, protecting intended beneficiaries, and potentially saving or eliminating estate taxes. A trust is a legal document that conveys a “corpus”, or body of assets, from the settlor (the person who creates the trust and…
From time to time, our attorneys become aware of updates relating to matters that we have discussed in our blog posts. This week, we have three such cases in which there have been new developments. The Huguette Clark estate litigation has been the subject of a previous blog post .…
The fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington was recently acknowledged, celebrating the great civil rights battle for equality for our African-American citizens. More recently, same-sex couples have also been engaged in their own battle for equal treatment in issues such as the right to marry, taxation, health and pension…