If you want to have a comprehensive plan for aging in place you are going to have to consider the possibility of incapacity striking at some point in time.

There are a number of different reasons why people who reach an advanced age become unable to make sound decisions but the most common culprit is Alzheimer’s induced dementia. According to the Alzheimer’s Association one out of every eight senior citizens suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.

As you might expect, the likelihood of contracting the disease increases as you get older. An estimated 40% of the “oldest old” (individuals 85 years of age and over) are victims of Alzheimer’s disease.

If you were to become incapable of making your own decisions without engaging in any type of incapacity planning the court could appoint a guardian to act in your behalf and you may not have any control over who this individual is. The majority of people would prefer to choose their own potential decision-makers and this can be done through the execution of durable powers of attorney.

People who are engaged in incapacity planning will generally execute two different durable powers of attorney: one for health care, and one for financial matters. It should be noted that you are not required to name the same person to act as attorney-in-fact for both types of decisions.

Being prepared for the future takes broad vision and pragmatic action. If you have not yet addressed the possibility of incapacity right now would be a good time to make an appointment to sit down and discuss the matter with a licensed and experienced Long Island elder law attorney.

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

If you are under the impression that you will probably not need long-term care at any point in your life you may want to reconsider your position. The United States Department of Health and Human Services tells us that approximately 7 out of every 10 senior citizens are going to need living assistance.

Considering this statistic if you do not plan ahead for the possibility you are putting yourself at risk. And, Medicare does not pay for long-term care and this is something to be aware of as well.

There is some assistance available to veterans who served during wartime that can come in handy in the form of the Veterans Aid & Attendance special pension. If you qualify as a single eligible veteran you could receive as much as $1632 monthly to defray your assisted living costs.

You do have to prove that you in fact need help with your day-to-day needs, and you must have served for at least 90 days with a minimum of one of these days taking place during a time of war.

Because this benefit is intended to assist people who have some financial need there is an upper resource limit of $80,000. However, valuable personal possessions such as your home and your vehicle do not count toward this number.

Veterans and civilians alike must plan ahead for the possibility of incurring long-term care expenses. If you would like to develop a cogent plan for aging, take action right now to arrange for a consultation with a good Nassau County elder law attorney.

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

Probate can be briefly defined as the legal process of the estate administration. Many people are not aware of the fact that your will is not going to be confidentially read among family members after you pass away. When you use a last will to direct the final distribution of your resources the probate court is going to determine its validity and then supervise the administration of the estate.

The actual tasks that must be undertaken will be handled by the executor of the estate. If no executor has been named in the will the court will have to appoint a personal representative to administer the estate.

Depending on the specific situation in question the executor is going be faced with a lot of different legal and financial complexities that require professional guidance to navigate. This is why it is so important to retain the services of an experienced and savvy Nassau County probate lawyer.

Probate attorneys understand the expectations of the court and have a great deal of experience with the typical matters that the executor will have to resolve. These could include payment of final taxes, appraisal of property, property liquidation, satisfying creditors, and various other details.

It is actually a good idea to arrange for the attorney who executed your estate planning documents to act as the probate attorney after you pass away. This is a turnkey solution for the executor and obviously the professional who created the plan in your behalf is going to be the ideal person to guide the estate through the sometimes complicated process of probate.

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

Adjustments are probably going to be necessary after you put your initial estate plan in place and this is something to be aware of from the start. It is not uncommon for people to procrastinate before initially taking action to execute estate planning documents. So, once they do finally act they may be prone to procrastinating about making the appropriate revisions as changes come down the pike.

Doing so can wind up costing your family members a great deal of money. At the present time we are faced with a pending change that could call for an estate plan update and we would like to bring this situation to your attention.

As of this writing the estate tax exclusion is $5.12 million and the top rate of the tax is 35%. If you were planning your estate using these figures you may not be concerned about the estate tax if the value of your resources is less than $5.12 million.

However, these parameters are scheduled to change in 2013. At that time the estate tax rate is going up to 55% and the exclusion is being trimmed down to just $1 million. So in fact if your estate is worth more than $1 million and you plan to live beyond the end of this year you are going to have to take steps to gain estate tax efficiency.

If you have concerns about how these pending changes may affect your existing plan, simply take a moment to pick up the phone to arrange for a consultation with a licensed and experienced Suffolk County estate planning attorney.

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

The high cost of long-term care is something to keep in mind when you are making long-term financial plans, and there are a couple of misconceptions that you should also steer clear of. For one thing, there are those who are under the impression that Medicare will pay for long-term care if they need it. In fact, Medicare does not pay for assisted living expenses.

And secondly, some people don’t worry about budgeting for long-term care costs because they don’t expect to ever need the care. This is a mistake because the United States Department of Health and Human Services states that seven out of every 10 senior citizens will someday need long-term care.

As of 2011 the average annual cost for a private room in a nursing home in the United States was over $87,000, and the same period of time residing in an assisted living community would cost you approximately $41,700 on average. These are some large figures and they are expected to rise into the foreseeable future.

An alternative to residing in an assisted living facility would be to make modifications to your home to make it easier for you to take care of your living needs. Things like handrails, grab bars, motion sensor faucets, automatic door openers, stair chairs, and even elevators can be installed in your home to help you meet the challenges that you may face.

In addition to this you could have an in-home health aide visit to assist you when necessary. The cost of such an aide is going to be considerably less than the cost of residing in a nursing home or assisted living community.

If you want to be prepared for all the contingencies that you may face as you get older planning is key. The best way to go about it is with the assistance of a licensed and experienced Nassau County elder law attorney.

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

Many people would like to include a charitable giving component when they are making estate plans, and this can of course be very rewarding on a personal level. However, even if your intentions are purely selfless there are tax benefits that go along with certain acts of giving and this is something to take into consideration as well.

There is a financial planning instrument that is often utilized in estate planning for people who have philanthropic aims called the charitable remainder unitrust. Creation of the trust involves naming two different beneficiaries: a charitable beneficiary, and a non-charitable beneficiary.

The grantor of the trust will usually serve as the non-charitable beneficiary. This individual will receive annuity payments from the trust equaling no less than 5% and no more than 50% of the value of the trust every year. This will go on for a period of time that is determined when the grantor creates the trust.

When the trust term expires the charitable beneficiary assumes ownership of the resources in the trust. This amount must be at least 10% of the contributions into the trust.

By funding the trust you are reducing the taxable value of your estate by the amount of these contributions. There are other tax advantages as well involving the possible spreading out of capital gains liability and a charitable deduction.

Should you be interested in creating a charitable remainder unitrust, simply take a moment to get in touch with a licensed and experienced Suffolk County estate planning lawyer to set up an informative consultation.

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

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.