Your pet may be a big part of your life and when you are engaged in estate planning it is important to make provisions for your pet or pets as well. In the same manner that it may be more relevant to people who are getting up there in years, you never know what the future holds so pet planning is important for all pet owners.

Pet planning is going to involve two different steps. The very first thing that you are going to have to do to provide for the ongoing well-being of your pet in the event of your death is going to be to find a capable caretaker.

A lot of people will have a friend or extended family member who already has a relationship with the pet. If you simply ask someone that you trust it is likely that he or she will agree to care for the pet should you predecease the animal.

Once you know who will be taking over for you if it becomes necessary you have to provide the potential caretaker with financial resources to utilize for the care of the pet.

One way of doing this would be to provide for a bequest directly to the caretaker if you are using a last will to direct the distribution of your assets. In the state of New York one may also create a pet trust, and this is an option that is available to you as well.

If you are interested in gaining more information about pet planning, simply take a moment to pick up the phone to arrange for a consultation with a good Nassau County estate planning lawyer.

The Law Offices of Saul Kobrick, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

During the winter months there is nothing more beautiful than watching snowflakes fall from the sky and accumulate on the countryside around us. They say that each snowflake is unique from every other, and this is true of families as well.

Families are comprised of varied individuals who take different paths through life, and this is something that estate planning attorneys are well aware of. Exactly how you should plan your estate is going to depend upon the dynamic of your family, your own specific wishes, and the extent and form of your assets.

With all of these factors to consider there is no “one-size-fits-all” estate planning approach. The intelligent course of action is to engage a professional to evaluate your situation. He or she will listen as you explain your vision for the future and make recommendations that will protect your assets and keep them intact to the extent that it is possible given the realities of the tax laws.

If you are like most people your family is the most important thing in the world to you. You can’t be with them forever, but you can do everything possible to provide for them after you are gone.

The best way to go about doing this is to ask yourself exactly how you would like your legacy to play out. Once you know what you are looking to achieve, the next step is to shape a cogent plan with the assistance of a licensed and experienced Nassau County estate planning lawyer.

The Law Offices of Saul Kobrick, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

There are various outlets pushing out the idea that estate planning is a simple matter that anyone can take care of without any professional assistance. These marketers offer to sell you a blank generic document and all you have to do is fill in the blanks and you have an estate plan. It’s as simple as that.

In reality, every family is different and every individual has his or her own specific intentions. There is no one estate planning document that is appropriate for any and all circumstances. In fact, a comprehensive estate plan is going to include multiple different documents that are intended to serve varied purposes.

Plus, preparing for the eventualities of aging and your eventual death includes more than just directing the assets that you have into the hands of your loved ones. Retirement planning is important as well, as is incapacity planning.

Small business owners are a good example of a group with specialized planning needs. One thing to consider as a small business owner is how you intend to step away from the business. Will you be selling it, or will you be leaving it to your family? How you answer this question is going to impact how you go about things over the years.

The wise course of action is to tap into professional expertise if you are interested in creating a long-term financial plan as a business owner. If you are ready to do so, take action right now to arrange for a consultation with a licensed and experienced Nassau County financial planning attorney.

The Law Offices of Saul Kobrick, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Many people are opting for revocable living trusts these days rather than utilizing last Wills to arrange for the transfer of their assets.

There are advantages that you gain if you go this route, and one of them is the fact that you can include an incapacity component when you draw up the trust agreement. Expressing your wishes with regard to the preferred course of action in the event of your incapacity is an important part of a holistic estate plan.

In addition, the utilization of a revocable living trust allows for the transfer of assets outside of the process of probate. Probate is often avoided because it is time-consuming, it is expensive, and it is a proceeding that is public.

However, if you use a revocable living trust to direct the eventual transfer of your assets you are probably going to have certain resources in your personal possession when you die that you did not place in the trust. How these assets would be distributed would have to be sorted out by the probate court. That is, unless you also include a pour-over Will in your estate plan. With this document you state your desire to have resources that you have left over directed into the trust that you created for the benefit of your heirs.

If you are interested in the possibility of creating a revocable living trust along with a pour-over Will, don’t hesitate to pick up the phone to arrange for a consultation with a good Suffolk County Estate Planning lawyer.

The Law Offices of Saul Kobrick, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

There are various terms that are utilized in the field of estate planning that the typical layperson may not be familiar with. One of these is “intestacy,” and we would like to provide a brief explanation of what this means literally and what it can result in.

Intestacy is the condition of dying without having executed any estate planning documents to assert your wishes with regard to the distribution of your assets. As you may imagine, if you were to die intestate you would be leaving your affairs in utter disarray.

Imagine if you were to go away on a trip to Europe for a month and vow to do absolutely nothing at all except relax and take in the sights. You would have all sorts of things that you would have to take care of before you left.

Now imagine what should logically be done if you were to leave permanently. If none of this is handled, quite a mess would be left behind.

In addition, your family members may disagree about what you would have wanted to do, and this can lead to disagreements at an extraordinarily inopportune time.

There are intestacy laws of succession that would be followed by the probate court so your closest relative would ultimately inherit your assets. However, most people would have wishes that are a bit more sensitive to the needs of their entire families.

If you were to pass away intestate, you would be leaving your family in a difficult position. The good news is that an appointment with a licensed and experienced Nassau County Estate Planning attorney is just a phone call away.

The Law Offices of Saul Kobrick, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

When you are sitting at your desk at work you may occasionally find your mind wandering. You envision a time when you no longer have to set an alarm clock because your working years are behind you. Each day is your own and you can do whatever you would like to without any constraints.

Having the financial ability to enjoy your golden years to the fullest is quite possible if you are proactive about planning ahead in advance. The key is to see a holistic picture, recognizing the fact that your working years are leading to a destination called retirement. If you devise a plan and stay the course over a number of decades you should be able to make your retirement vision a reality.

When you are budgeting for the future you should also look past your active retirement years. It is not uncommon for senior citizens to require assisted living at some point in time, and this can be expensive. Medicare does not pay for long-term care and this is something to be cognizant of when you are budgeting for your latter years. Incapacity is possible as well and this is a contingency that should be planned for in advance.

When you see the whole picture when you are planning for your elder years you won’t run into any unpleasant surprises along the way. If you’re interested in developing a long-term plan, right now would be a good time to arrange for a consultation with a good Westchester County financial planning lawyer.

The Law Offices of Saul Kobrick, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

As you turn the calendar and enter into a brand new year, you may recognize the need to take care of certain annual responsibilities. Getting together with your Estate Planning attorney to review your existing estate plan should be one of them.

Countless things can take place in your life that can make aspects of your estate plan obsolete. For one thing, your financial status may change considerably over the years, and the extent of your resources has a lot to do with how you should plan your estate. The form that your assets are in is a factor to consider as well.

If your estate was planned as though you would not be exposed to the federal estate tax and you accumulate assets over time that do in fact exceed the exclusion, you’re going to have to take action. In addition to your financial situation changing, the amount of the exclusion changes frequently as well and this is something to take into consideration.

In fact, just such a change is looming over the horizon. When the tax relief act that was passed at the end of 2010 expires at the end of this year, the estate tax exclusion is going down from $5.12 million to just $1 million. This may very well make it necessary for you to revise your existing estate plan.

The suggestion here is to make sure you schedule an estate plan review every year to be certain that your existing plan is protecting your assets while reflecting your current wishes. If this make sense to you, take action right now to arrange for a consultation with a good Nassau County Estate Planning Lawyer.

The Law Offices of Saul Kobrick, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Long-term care is a top priority within the elder law community, and the costs involved are stifling to a significant percentage of Americans. These costs have been rising steadily year-by-year, and industry experts expect this upward trending to continue into the foreseeable future.

How expensive is long-term care? If you combine the average length of stay, which is between two and four years, and couple that with the average annual cost for a private room in a nursing home in New York you may be looking at an expense that exceeds a quarter of a million dollars.

This is a lot of money to many people, and Medicare does not cover long-term care. As a response elder law attorneys will sometimes assist their clients in an effort to position themselves to be able to qualify for Medicaid, a federal program that will pay for long-term care.

There are upper resource limits that you must stay within if you want to qualify for Medicaid. However, the community spouse (this is the term used to describe the spouse who does not need long-term care) can keep half of shared assets up to a certain limit without impacting the institutionalized spouse’s Medicaid eligibility. Last year this limit was $109,560; it has been raised for 2012 up to $113,640.

Qualifying for Medicaid can allow you to receive long-term care without going broke in the process. To explore Medicaid eligibility strategies simply take a moment to arrange for a consultation with a good Harrison, NY elder law attorney.

The Law Offices of Saul Kobrick, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

When you examine the numbers you may be surprised at what you find regarding estate planning preparedness. If you ask the typical person on the street whether or not they thought that it was important to have a last will and a living will in place pretty much everyone would say yes. Yet, polls tell us that less than half of Americans have executed even one of these important estate planning documents.

The thing about estate planning to keep in mind if you’re someone who is prone to procrastination is that this is a type of planning that you are not doing for your own benefit. When you go through life without leaving any type of instructions for your loved ones to follow should you become incapacitated or pass away you are putting them in a potentially difficult position.

And of course if you make no financial provisions for those that you love they may suffer financial hardships simultaneous to bearing the burden of grief that goes along with the loss of a loved one. This factor is especially important for people with dependent children still in the home to consider. And this being stated, younger adults are less likely to have an estate plan in place than older ones.

It is very simple to get yourself ready for all eventualities. All you have to do is take a moment to pick up the phone and make an appointment to speak with a good Nassau County estate planning lawyer. He or she will give you personalized attention, evaluate your unique situation, and make the appropriate recommendations.

The Law Offices of Saul Kobrick, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

If you know that you are going to go on a trip you’re going to want to map out a route that is efficient and effective. You would never think about setting out without any plans to follow, and this is just plain common sense. A simple trip is really not a very important matter in the big picture but you are not foolish enough to go forward unprepared.

Yet, a very high percentage of Americans go through their lives without any type of long-term financial plan in place. Apparently they feel as though staying in the moment and letting the chips fall as they may is an acceptable mindset.

However, if you do approach life this way you may never be able to retire in full comfort. And, you may be neglecting responsibilities that will ultimately fall into the hands of your loved ones.

We all go through different stages of life, and there are financial necessities that we all must face. If you recognize the need for planning early on in your life you will have plenty of time to accumulate the resources that you need to provide for your family, offer educational opportunities to your children, and ultimately enjoy your golden years to the fullest.

Not everyone is a financial expert and this is understandable. But there is knowledge and expertise out there. If you recognize the need to start planning for the future, the wise first step is to arrange for an informative consultation with a good Westchester County financial planning lawyer.

The Law Offices of Saul Kobrick, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.