A lot of people are wondering how they can help victims of Hurricane Sandy. Obviously, the matter is quite immediately relevant to individuals who live here in the Long Island area, and as you might expect a great deal of assistance is needed.

There are organizations out there like the Red Cross, The Salvation Army and many others that are indeed devoting resources to people in need. As they do so their capabilities must be replenished. If you are in a position to help with a donation it would be greatly appreciated.

To find out who needs assistance and how to get it to them simply click this link: Support Hurricane Sandy Relief Efforts

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.

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

When you are arranging for the transfer of assets to your heirs you must be aware of the impact that the Federal estate tax can have on your legacy. The parameters are changing in 2013 with the exclusion going down to just $1 million so you have every reason to be concerned if the total value of your assets exceeds this amount.

One question that often arises involves the transfer of assets between a husband and wife. If you were to leave everything to your spouse would he or she be subject to the federal estate tax?

The answer is no, your spouse would not be asked to pay the federal estate tax on resources that he or she inherited from you. However, this does not mean that you can simply leave everything to your spouse without worrying about the estate tax.

What would happen after the death of your spouse? Your husband or wife would be leaving these resources behind to your family members and the estate tax would become an issue at that time.

If your estate is in fact in taxable territory the wise course of action is to discuss all of your options with an experienced, licensed Nassau County estate planning lawyer. Your attorney will evaluate your situation and take heed as you explain your intentions.

There are ways to make sure that your spouse is well provided for after your passing while taking steps to gain estate tax efficiency, and you would do well to explore them in detail with the benefit of professional expertise.

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

Planning your estate can seem like an endeavor that is going to reach its conclusion immediately after your passing. This can be the case depending on how you decide to proceed, but if you are so inclined you could carefully consider the wider possible implications of your legacy.

You may be in a position to do what you feel is necessary for your loved ones while also providing resources for the broader community, and this can potentially go on for generations or even into perpetuity. Some people will start charitable foundations to this end, and depending on your resources and the exact nature of your legacy vision this could be a viable option.

While creation of a charitable foundation is a possibility there are other alternatives for you to consider. You may want to provide resources to refurbish a historic building or add a wing to a hospital, museum, or institution of higher learning. Some people are interested in providing for the youth of the community, and this can be done through scholarships or perhaps the building of parks or athletic fields.

People of extraordinary resources sometimes face tax issues, and certain philanthropic actions can yield positive tax consequences as well and this is another thing to take into consideration.

If you would like to discuss legacy crafting with an expert, don’t hesitate to pick up the phone to arrange for a consultation with a licensed, dedicated, and financially savvy Nassau County estate planning lawyer. Your attorney will gain an understanding of your intentions, evaluate your assets, and make the appropriate recommendations.

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

There is an added dimension to planning your estate in light of the emergence of the Internet, and this is something to keep in mind when you are crafting your legacy.

If you are like a lot of people you may have shifted over to paperless billing with a lot of your credit accounts, and you may conduct your banking online as well. These are things that you are going to have to make your estate administrator aware of so that he or she can conduct your final affairs effectively.

Another thing to consider would be your social network identities. The reach of Facebook on the Internet has become truly incredible. One out of every 10 website visits is a Facebook hit, and one out of every four pages viewed is a Facebook page. So, you probably have a Facebook account yourself.

Facebook has addressed the matter of account holders passing away by providing you with the option of memorializing your account. If your family notifies Facebook about your death and requests that your account be memorialized, no further access to it will be allowed.

Your personal information will no longer be available, and your status updates would be deleted. You will no longer show up in searches, and you will not be recommended as a friend. However, existing friends and family members will still be able to post on your wall.

Social networks are something to consider when you are planning your estate in the age of information. To develop a comprehensive plan for the future, the intelligent first step is to arrange for a consultation with a Nassau County estate planning lawyer who has a firm understanding of the way that the Internet is used during our modern era.

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

When you are budgeting for the future, health care expenses and possible long-term care costs are going to be things that you have to take into account. Along these lines it is important to understand that you have a lot of control over what your medical bills are going to look like and you may want to take this very seriously.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seven out of every 10 deaths that occur in the United States are caused by what are called chronic diseases. These would include stroke, cancer, heart disease, arthritis and diabetes.

The fact is that a high percentage of instances of chronic diseases are preventable. You can’t smoke three packs of cigarettes a day for 40 years and assume that you are just unlucky if you develop lung cancer or throat cancer. If you pay no attention to your diet, are carrying 60 or 70 extra pounds, and haven’t exercised since high school you are clearly inviting one of these chronic diseases.

It should be noted that there are individuals who take good care of themselves that fall ill through no fault of their own. But at the same time, countless people who suffer from chronic illnesses engaged in behavior that would logically lead to ill health.

The bottom line is that you can minimize your future health care expenses by making intelligent lifestyle choices along the way. If you work with a Suffolk County financial planning lawyer to create a long-term plan while taking good care of yourself you should be able to make the most of your retirement years on both a physical and a financial level.

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

If you are like most people you would like to see your family members receive their inheritances without a lot of hassles, and some vehicles of asset transfer are more efficient than others. With this in mind you would do well to understand some of the pitfalls that go along with probate.

The last will is the most commonly used estate planning document, and a lot of people are not aware of the fact that the will is going to have to be approved by the probate court before it is deemed valid. Because of this disgruntled parties could step forward and contest the will before the court. Clearly, this can take time to sort itself out and the heirs to the estate cannot receive their inheritances while the will is being contested.

And even if there are no challenges probate can be very time-consuming. The executor is going to have to take care of valid creditor claims, and he or she will inventory the assets, get appraisals, liquidate property, and ready everything for distribution.

This is not going to happen overnight. Depending on the precise circumstances it can take anywhere from several months to multiple years for the process of probate to reach its conclusion.

However, you do not have to use a last will. Efficient transfers of assets can be enabled through implementing probate avoidance strategies, and one of these would be the creation of a revocable living trust. To explore these options, don’t hesitate 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.

Unless you have the simplest possible situation, there can be a lot more to planning your estate then simply drawing up a last Will and in fact even if you do use a last Will there are other things to take into consideration.

One of these would be the possibility of incapacity. Who would handle your affairs if you were to become incapacitated? Some 40% of people who reach the age of 85 suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, which causes dementia and of course there are other types of incapacity and other causes of dementia. So, failing to plan for the possibility is rather reckless.

There is also the matter of possible long-term care to consider, as well as your choices with regard to whether or not you would want to be kept alive via the use of artificial life-support measures should you fall into a terminal condition.

But in addition to these factors that are applicable to everyone, every family faces its own unique situations. For example, you may have someone in the family who has special needs who is receiving government assistance. Providing something for this individual while not impacting his or her eligibility for this assistance can require some advanced estate planning techniques.

The same thing is true if you are in possession of significant assets. The potential for asset erosion that exists in the form of the federal estate tax is very real to say the least. It can take some complex strategies to optimally position yourself depending on the exact nature of your resources.

The stakes are high when you are crafting your legacy and your choices can have a significant impact on generations to come. To be certain that your legacy is all that it can be it is important to work alongside an experienced, dedicated Nassau County estate planning attorney to craft a personalized plan that is tailor-made for you and your family.

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

Planning for the future obviously includes taking care of financial matters. You must inventory your assets to determine whether or not your assets are sufficient to be subject to the estate tax. If they are, you are going to have to take steps to gain estate tax efficiency.

It is also a good idea to consider the tendencies of the people who will be receiving inheritances from you. It is possible to arrange for assets to be transferred to an heir incrementally and with certain controls in place if you would feel more comfortable with such an arrangement.

In addition to the above, Nassau County estate planning lawyers are going to advise their clients about the fact that there are some matters to consider that have nothing to do with money. For example, there may come a time when you are unable to communicate while suffering from a terminal condition.

Due to the advances that medical science has made it is possible under some circumstances to keep someone who is in a vegetative state alive indefinitely through the use of artificial means. For this reason it is advisable to execute a living will that expresses your wishes with regard to being kept alive via the use of artificial life-support systems.

When you are considering the above you also may want to ask yourself if you would like to volunteer as an organ donor. You can state your wishes in this regard in your living Will if you choose to do so.

People can also agree to become organ donors by signing up for the organ donor registry online. Here is the link: New York Donate Life Registry.

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

When you are going through life accumulating assets and you become aware of the fact that you will have a considerable store of financial resources remaining after you pass away you have some decisions to make.

This is what estate planning is all about, and as a layperson you probably don’t have a lot of detailed knowledge about the tax code as it applies to your estate and gift giving while you are still alive.

Perhaps unfortunately, the more successful you are the more the tax man wants to get involved in your affairs. It is important to understand this every step of the way and make informed decisions with the implications of the tax code in mind.

Many people are not aware of the fact that there is a gift tax in place and it is unified with the estate tax. So if you give gifts while you’re still alive in an effort to share your wealth with your loved ones they are subject to taxation.

There is a lifetime gift tax exemption, but it is unified with the estate tax exclusion. So the amount of your available estate tax exclusion will be reduced by the amount of any gifts that you give throughout your life using the unified exclusion.

In spite of the above, there are some gift tax exemptions that exist in addition to the unified lifetime exclusion. One of these allows you to pay the school tuition of students as a gift free of the gift tax. You can also pay other people’s medical expenses as a gift, and this includes the purchase of health care insurance.

In addition, each year you can give as much as $13,000 to any number of people as a tax-free gift without impacting your lifetime exclusion.

Measured gift giving utilizing these exemptions can be a part of an intelligently conceived estate plan. To learn more about estate planning in light of the intricacies of the tax code, don’t hesitate to pick up the phone to arrange for a consultation with a licensed and experienced Suffolk County NY estate planning lawyer.

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

Making assumptions without having all the information necessary to draw an accurate conclusion can be a costly mistake. This is something to keep in mind when you hear people say that the estate tax is only imposed on “the rich.”

You are allowed to transfer a certain amount of money to your loved ones when you are alive and after you pass away without incurring any tax liability. At the present time this figure is $5.12 million and it is in place because of provisions that are contained within the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010.

However, this figure is going to be reduced to $1 million when the aforementioned tax relief act expires or sunsets at the end of 2012. At that time the rate of the tax is going to rise from the 35% that is presently in place to a top rate of  55%. (This is assuming that no changes to existing laws are implemented.)

A lot of people would say that you don’t have to be truly wealthy to have accumulated assets in excess of $1 million if you consider the value of any real estate that you may own, any inheritances that you may have received, and your savings over a lifetime. In fact, according to CNN Money there are over 10 million households with assets that exceed $1 million in the United States and this figure is expected to double by 2020.

The suggestion here is to make no assumptions when it comes to estate tax liability. The intelligent course of action is to develop an ongoing relationship with a good Nassau County estate planning lawyer and proceed with the benefit of expert advice.

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