Buy / Sell Agreements
What are these agreements? These are absolutely crucial both to start ups and to existing businesses where there is more than one owner involved. This document outlines the relationship between the owners, assigns roles and responsibilities, shows the ownership percentage of the business and outlines what happens when the owners need to part ways.
There...
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Protecting Your Estate Starts with a Prenuptial (or a Postnuptial) Agreement
The rate of second and third marriages in the United States continues to increase. Each spouse may bring children, assets, heirlooms, and very specific wishes into the new marriage. Some want their children to inherit the bulk of the assets. Others want specific heirlooms (painting / jewelry / watch) to be passed down to specific people....
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Why would you want a Nevada Trust?
New York has a very strong policy against self-settled trusts. A self-settled trust is one where the Grantor transfers assets to an irrevocable trust but remains one of the Trust’s beneficiaries. While these transfers are legal, New York believes that they are “void as against creditors”. As a result, if the Grantor remains...
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Joint Revocable Trusts vs. Parallel Documents (cost saving vs. peace of mind)
Joint Revocable Trust: Lots of spouses opt to create a joint revocable trust. In many situations, it makes a lot of sense to do so: First, in long term marriages, a lot of assets are owned jointly, so it can be an extra and unnecessary hassle to separate them. Second, the children are common, so...
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Rich and Famous Planning: Sumner Redstone – an estate plan that is embarrassment for the man, the family and the company?
Mr. Redstone’s fortune is estimated at $5 billion. He could afford the best legal plan in the world. Yet, despite the assets and despite the multitude of involved lawyers, his estate planning and his last years are turning out to be a mess.Mr. Redstone tried to put in place plans that would ensure...
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Who will care for my dog?
When a couple owns a pet, the owners can assume that the survivor will continue caring for their pet (although that’s not necessarily true, at least in my own situation). What happens when a single person owns a pet? In 49 states (Minnesota is the only state that does not permit this) you...
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What Executors Are Responsible for Under New York Law
An executor is responsible for managing a person’s estate after death, including collecting assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing property according to the will. In New York, these duties are legal obligations, not informal tasks, and they carry potential personal liability if handled incorrectly.
If you have...
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Rich and Famous Planning: Lessons learned from Prince’s mistake
As most people by now know, the artist Prince died without a Will. The family is now set up for tens of thousands in legal costs and years of delay before the money gets distributed. When a person dies without a Will, regardless of the size of his estate, numerous problems come up....
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ABLE accounts
The newly enacted ABLE accounts permit people with disabilities to save money without jeopardizing their government benefits. Account holders can have up to $100,000 in these accounts without jeopardizing their SSI (Supplemental Security Income) benefits. Medicaid benefits do not get jeopardized regardless of the amount of money held in these accounts.These accounts enable...
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You may want to think twice before leaving an outright distribution and gift
There are many things that can go wrong with an outright distribution: Judgment creditor can seize a beneficiary’s inheritanceBankruptcy court can seize a beneficiary’s inheritanceAn incapacitated beneficiary can squander an inheritance before anyone can step in to help him.A divorce court can award some of the beneficiary’s inheritance to an ex-spouseIf...
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