Estate Planning: Planning for the death to the property to whom you want, whenever you want, how you want, with the lowest amount of taxes and legal fees possible.

Elder Law: Planning for disability, the person you want your affairs and to protect your assets from exhausted for the long-term care.

Introduction to Estate Planning and Elder Law
Practicing estate planning and elderly law is one of the most beautiful and professionally rewarding career can be a lawyer. Imagine an area where practice your customers respect your knowledge and treat you with kindness and courtesy. You pay your fees in a timely fashion, and to tell their friends how much they are for the good cooperation with you and your company. At the same time, you will rarely coincide with the pressure of a deadline, much less of an adversarial lawyer on the other side of the matter is best for you. In most cases, you are in the capacity of a Counselor at Law (Trusted Advisor), and not as a lawyer (agent).

We spend our days meeting with clients about their lives and their families and to their fears and worries. Through our knowledge, training, experience and imagination, we craft solutions that are sometimes elegant, to the old problem of the transfer of assets from one generation to another as quickly and painlessly as possible. At the same time, we also seek to protect these assets were not exhausted by taxes, legal fees and nursing home costs, to the extent the law allows.

The result of this process is a customer who feels safe and secure in the knowledge that in the event of death or disability, they have all their bases covered. After peace of mind that their future is well planned and in good hands, they can contact the company to enjoy their lives. For the attorney, a happy and satisfied customers has been in practice and other potentially life-long and mutually rewarding relationship has begun. Let's take a look at the strategies and techniques we use to achieve this enviable situation.

The most important issues facing customers today Senior
One of the ways that we help our customers, is to develop a comprehensive plan, so they can avoid litigation by death or in case of disability. Trusts are in the wills for the elderly, because they have no judicial proceeding to the property. Trusts also avoid the foreign procedures for property in another state, also known as ancillary probate. This saves time, the family in the regulation of real estate as well as the high cost of litigation. In addition, as revocable living trusts, unlike wills, enter into force during the lifetime of the GRANTOR, the customer can specify which people take in the event of disability. Planning helps to control in the family or with a trusted advisor and avoids a situation that may not be in the best interest of the customer. For example, in the event of a disability, if no plan was in a position to make a request to the court may be required to appoint a legal guardian for the disabled person. This may not be the person the customer would have chosen. In such a case, property may not be transferred to protect them from spent for nursing home expenses without court permission, which can not be granted.

Another area where we help customers to save estate taxes, state and federal, for married couples with two trust technology. Assets are as evenly as possible between the spouses familiar. While the surviving spouse has the use and enjoyment of the deceased spouse, the trust, the assets that the trust the estate bypass the surviving spouse and go directly to the recipient's name, when the second spouse dies. TEN to the hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, the potential to save estate taxes, depending on the size of the property. In addition, the revocable living trust avoids the two effective that occur, the customer wants to use the pair must be the property after the death of each spouse in order to save estate taxes. We also help to protect assets from nursing home costs due to depleted. Medicaid Irrevocable trusts can be in a five-year look-back period for the protection of customer and other assets of less that he because of the high cost of nursing home care. We use Medicaid asset transfer rules and to protect the assets in the event a client requires nursing home, but did not pre-planning. Through the use of Medicaid-qualified annuities, promissory notes, and the accommodation and care arrangements, significant assets can be protected, despite the five-year look-back, even if the customer can be viewed at the nursing home door.

Five Steps to Estate Planning for Seniors

1. Understanding the Family Dynamics
The first step in an older law trusts and estates matters is an understanding of the clients of family dynamics. If children are present, which is usually the case, we need to determine whether they are married. Is it a first or second marriage? Do they have children from a previous marriage or their spouse? What kind of work they do and where do they live? Did they deal with each other and with the parent company clients? We seek to determine which members of the family can not cope with others, and for what reasons might be. This goes a long way to help us to decide who is the medical decisions and who should work with legal and financial matters. If there's one of them or more than one? How should the estate be divided? If the customer is himself in a second marriage? The children, if any, his, her, or her? Sometimes all three cases can occur in the same pair. Here are further exploration of family functioning is needed because the potential for hurt feelings, misunderstandings and conflicts of interest multiplied. In addition, great care must be taken to develop a plan for the management, control and distribution of the estate, which is not only fair to the children from a previous marriage, but be seen to be fair and. At times, the assistance of professional consultants in the trustee as may be invaluable in promoting peace between family members. Finally, this step is meat, whether there are any families with special needs and the family members and assets could be best suited to these children.

2. Review of the existing estate planning documents
The second step in an older law trusts and estates matters is a review of the prior estate planning documents, the customer may have, as the will, trust, power of attorney, healthcare proxy and living will, to determine whether they are legally sufficient and reflect the current wishes of the customer, or whether they are outdated. Some basic older succession planning issues are also at this time such as:

a. If the customer is a U.S. citizen? This will impact on the client in a position to save estate taxes.

b. If the customer is expecting to receive an inheritance? This knowledge helps in the preparation of a plan that not only the assets that the client now but what they can in the future.

c. Does the customer care? If so, the elder law attorney wants to review the policy and determine whether there is a proper consideration of the benefit of the customer other assets and income, regardless of whether they are of inflation into account, and whether it is updatable. This enables the practitioner to decide whether other asset strategies may be needed now or later.

d. If the customer need financial planning? Many customers, who in the earlier laws, prosecutor never had professional counseling or are dissatisfied with their current adviser. You can help to have an understanding of the assets or they have with the organization and consolidate them for ease of administration. You can also not be enough income to last for the rest of their lives. The elder law attorney will usually know a number of financial planners who have experience with the needs and desires of older clients, including (1) investment with the protection of capital, and (2) assets, which tend to income.

3. Verify the customer's assets
The third step is to obtain a complete list of client assets, as the title, its value, regardless of whether they are qualified, such as IRA and 401 (k) 's and, if the recipient names the recipient. Armed with this information, the consultant is in a position to determine whether the property will be estate taxes, state and federal, and can begin a strategy for reducing or eliminating these taxes to the extent the law allows. This will often lead to shift assets between the spouses and their foundations, changing beneficiary designations, and, with discretion, try to determine which spouse may pass away first so as to maximize tax savings. Ideally, the attorney should have the customer fill out a confidential financial questionnaire before the first consultation.

4. Expansion of the real estate plan
The fourth step is to determine, with input from customers, you should get medical decisions for the customer if they are unable to, and should work with legal and financial matters by the attorney for the case of incapacity customers. Next we will examine what kind of trust, if any, should be used, whether a simple will would suffice, which should be the trustee (a trust) or executor (a), and what the plan for the Allocation of. To avoid a conflict, the Trustee, which is replacing the GRANTOR should be the same people, on the attorney. At this point, great care must also be taken into account to ensure that the feelings of the heirs are not violated. Good estate planning deals with the client property from the heirs' perspective as well as the customers. For example, if three children, it is perhaps better that you know the name as trustee or executor, three are generally too cumbersome and if the customer chooses only two, then they are from everybody. If it is four or five children, we prefer the two elected trustees or executors. In this way, the pressure is reduced to only one answer to all other . More importantly, others feel a lot safer that two siblings together looking after their interests.

If the distribution is unequal, it may have with the children before the time to further ill or even lawsuits after the parents died. By considering the relative age of the children, where they live and their relationships among themselves and with their parents, the consultants usually find a way to craft a plan in which the needs and desires of all stakeholders. Some of the techniques we find useful in this context, to a delayed distribution, such as twenty percent on the death of the GRANTOR, half the remaining balance after five years, and the rest after ten years. These percentages can also be used, said on age as thirty, thirty-five and forty. Even when leaving the share of real estate, unless it is purely and simply to the children in equal parts, it is often useful to determine the monetary value of the shares on the client of the current Estate. This allows the customer to see whether the amount really what they want to leave. Percentage bequests for the benefit should be avoided, so that the family avoided that on the account of the charity for the cost of managing the property.

In view of the nature of trust, we are usually several options for most customers. It is important to determine whether one or two of confidence. To avoid or reduce estate taxes, there should be two trusts for spouses whose assets exceed or at a later date on the status and / or federal estate tax threshold. Should the trust be revocable or irrevocable? The latter is important for protecting assets from nursing home costs covered by the five-year look-back period. Primary functions of the Medicaid irrevocable trust that neither the GRANTOR GRANTOR nor the spouse may be the trustee and trust, that this income only trusts. Most people choose one or more of their adult children as trustees of the irrevocable trust. Because the contracting authority for the GRANTOR, the customer will not want to see all their assets in such a trust. Assets, should the IRA, 401 (k) 's, 403 (b)' s, etc. The most important of these qualified assets are usually from Medicaid and should not be in a trust, because this would create a taxable event, the taxes to pay all of the IRA. If the client has an institutionalized community spouse, up to one hundred one thousand U.S. dollars may also be exempted. Despite the fact that the dwelling is exempt if the community spouse to live there, it's generally a good idea to protect the home sooner rather than wait until the first spouse has, because of the five-year look-back period. It should be noted that the look-back means that from the date assets are transferred to the irrevocable trust, it takes five years before they are exempt, and against whom it is required to care for the sick person, before they are entitled to Medicaid benefits. What happens if the customer fails within five years? Imagine that the customer needs in the nursing home four years after the trust was. In such a case, by the payment of private care facility for a year, the family is referred to Medicaid for the remaining year of the five-year sentence expired.

Although Medicaid as an irrevocable trust, the home may not sell or other trust assets traded. The trust itself, through the actions of the trustee, may sell the house and buy condo on behalf of the trust, so that the asset is still protected. The trust, a stock and buy another. For those customers who wish to trade on their own, the adult children can trust a third party without the authorization of the brokerage firm authorizing the parents to trade in the account. The trust continues to pay all income (eg interest and dividends) to its parent company GRANTOR. As such, the irrevocable trust should not be paid to the client lifestyle, in addition to pensions, social security, and IRA distributions client continues to receive from outside the trust. It should also be noted that no separate tax return for a revocable trust, irrevocable trust requires an "information return", which advises the IRS that the profit and loss account "by" grant, and the reported be on their returns.

If there is a disabled child should be considered in order to create an additional need for trust, which pays, and about what the child can receive in government benefits and social security in particular income and Medicaid, so that the inheritance will not lead them from these benefits.

Finally, with the size of the property, which is today, where families leave in mid-major bequests to their children (depending, of course, how many children they have), the trend is towards establishing trusts for the children to the heritage in the blood line. Some heritage trusts, heritage trusts and dynasty trusts, these trusts may be other functions, such as the protection of the inheritance of a child of divorce, claims, creditors, and property taxes when they die. The primary function of all these trusts for heirs, however, is that if the child dies, in most cases many years after the parent company, the hard-earned wealth of the family will not happen to a son-in-law or daughter - which is again, but on the GRANTOR grandchildren. On the other hand, if the customer wants in favor of the son or daughter, they can ensure that the trust, or any part thereof, as "income only" trust for their adult children surviving spouse for their lifetime, and only then the GRANTOR's grandson.

5. Applying for Medicaid Benefits
In case the customer care or institutionalized care in a nursing home option, an application for Medicaid benefits may be required. Because of the complex asset and transfer rules, the application should be done with an experienced older law attorney. It is also useful in this context, for a confidential study of the client's assets, as well as the transfer of assets to be completed before the first consultation. This form of financial survey will be significantly different from the one for succession planning purposes. As a combined federal and state authorities Medicaid program's assets and transfer rules vary from state to state. A few techniques, but will be widely applicable. First, in the case of an adult child's parents in their home in order to care for them in their later years, a residential and nursing homes agreement will be executed, so that assets can be the right of parents to protect the child from all nursing home care . The adult children are obligated to all payments under the agreement as income on their tax returns. Also, because the family home is usually the most important asset that must be taken into account in order to examine whether the house should be deeded to the customers grown children, but a life in which parents or whether the Medicaid irrevocable trust should be used in order to protect the assets.

During the deed with a life estate is less cost for customers, in most cases, there are significant disadvantages when compared to the trust. Firstly, if the house is sold before the death of Medicaid recipients, the life estate value of the property will be required to pay for their care. If the house is rented, the rents are in the care system because they are the life tenant. Finally, the customer loses a significant portion of their capital gains exclusion for the sale of their principal, because they only entitled to a prorated based on the value of life estate at home as a whole. All of the above can lead to a situation where the family finds they have a free home for many years. Conversely, a properly drafted irrevocable Medicaid trust retains the full capital gains exclusion on the primary residence and the house can be sold by the trust, without obligation to pay one of the most important for the customer care, provided that we have the look back period. It should be noted here that both the life estate and the trust is irrevocable Medicaid increased basis in the property, if they only sold after the death of the parent, the owner or GRANTOR. After the death of parents, the basis for the calculation of capital is provided by what the parents pay, and any improvements to what it was worth to the parent company of the time of death. This effectively prevents the payment of capital gains taxes on the sale of appreciated property, such as the house after the parents died. Both revocable and irrevocable trusts also receive all the tax exemptions that the Client on their homes, such as the elderly and veterans exemptions.

Finally, even with a customer already in a nursing home, significant assets can be saved with the help of advanced methods, which are outside the scope of this guide. Please contact your earlier right lawyer for further information if you or a member of your family is in this situation.

Significant errors in Estate Planning and Elder Law

1. Failure on all issues.
A comprehensive review of the client's situation should be planning for the disability as well as for the death, including avoiding or minimizing estate taxes and legal procedures. A plan should be to protect assets from nursing home costs. Like a chess player, advice should be two or three steps to determine what may happen in the future. For example, lawyers often becomes a big part of the assets in the woman's name or in their confidence in view of the man with significant assets in his IRA account. However, because the man is older and has a shorter life expectancy, this may lead to the IRA assets to roles of women, all of the couple's assets into the woman Estate, inheritance tax and no savings are made. Another example would be if the customer is the child in a second marriage, but have children (the grandchildren client) from a previous marriage. Unless the planning is done with inheritance trusts for the children of customers, a situation can occur for a day, where the customers their second child predeceases the spouse, all assets to the second spouse, and the client-grandson, of a son or daughter before marriage, denied all benefit from the GRANTOR's Estate.

2. Failure to comply with a regular review of the Estate Plan
At the very least, each client estate plan should be reviewed every three years to determine whether changes in the customer personal life as their health, wealth or family (births, deaths, marriages, divorces, etc.) impact of the plan. It is unrealistic to expect that a plan today to be effective ten, twenty, thirty or more years into the future. Over time, customers want their back-up trustee or plan of distribution. You may want to add heritage trusts for their children. It could, after a number of years, want to change from a revocable trust to an irrevocable trust, because they are unable or unwilling to care. The lawyer of the additional legal work required and the customer will benefit from having a plan better suited to their current needs at any given time.

Conclusion
In spite of knowledge, sincerity, and even charm of some of the best practice in the country, customers sometimes do not act on the advice. As experienced lawyers, we do not know them personally, if customers ignore choose our advice or perhaps other choice advice. We know that people do not always do what they need. They do what they want, and even then, only if they want. Recently, a ninety-three years-old customer told us that they "wanted to think about it" "as far as planning their affairs. Experience tells us that this customer is not willing to plan for the moment, despite their advanced years , and we respect this decision. On the other hand, we recently had a client come to see us eleven years after its first hearing said they were now ready to proceed. We have their estate plan.

Perhaps the best approach to succession planning and elderly legal practice, it is, the four W's. Some will, others do not, so what, someone is waiting. We are moving to help, which can be accessed by us and hold on to those to whom our Company's services are appreciated, admired and sometimes even heroic.

Principal attorney Michael Ettinger is a member of the New York State Bar Association since 1980. He is a law graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Canada and received his Master of Laws at the London School of Economics in 1978. Ettinger Law Firm, which focuses exclusively on estate planning and elderly law, was in 1991. Mr. Ettinger is a founding member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys and the American Association of Trust, Real Estate and Elder Care Law Attorneys.

Ettinger Law Firm has thousands of estate plans and trusts with Medicaid applications. Your staff of lawyers and Medicaid experienced professionals offer more than fifty years of experience in estate planning and elderly law.

Ettinger Law Firm offices are located in New York in Albany, Fishkill, Nyack, White Plains and Staten Iceland.

Please visit the website, http://www.trustlaw.com for directions and other information about real estate law and older.