Littman Krooks

With the ever growing popularity of the Internet, important documents are no longer stored solely in safety deposit boxes. Increasingly, financial management is performed online and records are stored on a computer hard drive. In addition to online bank accounts, your digital assets could include business documents, online profiles and auctions, and family photos.

This means that things can become tricky for family members when someone becomes mentally incapacitated or passes away. How would one access those online bank accounts?  What should be done about those social networking site profiles?

Consider appointing a ”digital executor” to handle such needs. The digital executor should be someone who is both trustworthy and digitally savvy. It’s a good idea to provide such a person with a list of usernames and passwords to all important accounts. This list could be printed out or burned onto a CD and given to an attorney or stored in a location to which only the digital executor has access. It is also beneficial to provide this person with instructions about whether certain accounts should be deleted, altered in some way, or passed on to heirs.

While the courts offer centuries of legal precedent concerning real property and paper documents, there are many gray areas when it comes to online recordkeeping. Although existing family members may be able to gain access to online accounts after the owner passes on, the situation can be trickier from a legal perspective if the person is mentally incapacitated. To help avoid any potential problems, it is best to consult your attorney about handling these important details.

To learn more about New York
elder law, New York
estate planning, visit http://www.elderlawnewyork.com

Serving as someone’s executor, or personal representative, is a big job that comes with many responsibilities. While being chosen is often considered an honor, there is a lot of work involved, and an executor must be organized, pay strong attention to detail, and capable of meeting deadlines. You may be tempted to name someone in your family as your executor in order to avoid hurt feelings, but your family and heirs will not be well served if you choose your executor based on anything other than ability.

You should consider the following:

• Choose someone who is trustworthy. Your executor will have knowledge of all your finances. He will be reviewing estate assets, determining your liabilities and paying off creditors, settling outstanding debts, and making distributions to your named heirs. That’s not the kind of information you want spread around, so you’ll need to choose a person who will be discreet.
• Choose someone who is organized. The person you select will be responsible for a large number of detailed tasks. He will need to make lists of assets, meet court deadlines, and make timely distributions for estate taxes. Not completing these actions in a timely and organized manner can draw out the entire process, costing your heirs time and money.
• Choose someone who is financially knowledgeable.

If you cannot think of a person you can entrust with all of these responsibilities, you should not lose faith. There are other options for you to consider, such as choosing a bank or a financial institution as your executor. Also, you have the option of asking your estate planning attorney to partner with the person you choose as executor to help with the difficult tasks and ensure a smooth probate for all involved.

To learn more about New York elder law, New York estate planning, visit http://www.elderlawnewyork.com

When it comes to living arrangements, senior citizens have many options. They can choose independent retirement communities, assisted independent communities, at-home assisted living, at-home care, live-in nursing homes, and more. While having so many choices to consider can be beneficial, it can also make the search more confusing.

Identifying the right living arrangement for your loved one can be much easier if you know ahead of time the things to look for and the important questions to ask. Here are a number of considerations when evaluating a living arrangement:

• Make sure the facility you are evaluating is licensed.
• Ensure that the facility is financially stable.
• Get referrals from people who have previously conducted such a search.
• Visit the facility to assess the accommodations and the staff.
• Ask for the opinions of current residents.
• Consider whether or not it can meet your loved one’s current and future needs.
• Ask about payment options (including Medicaid).

Asking these questions will help you find the right living arrangement for your loved one. It is, however, important for you to discuss your choice with your elder law attorney, since nursing home and assisted living contracts can contain unwelcome surprises.

To learn more about New York
elder law, New York
estate planning, visit http://www.elderlawnewyork.com

While all relationships do not end amicably, divorced or divorcing parents of minor children should put aside their differences in order to plan for their children’s future. There are several key issues that should be considered before or during a divorce: guardianship, financial inheritance, and remarriage.

Guardianship is an important issue that parents should discuss with great care. When you die, guardianship of your minor children will pass to their surviving biological parent. This is true even if you had full custody of the child, unless a court finds that the surviving parent is unfit to care for the child. You and your ex should discuss and provide for the appointment of alternate guardians. Doing so will make you and your children feel more secure about the future.

Your will should provide that your children’s share of your estate is held in trust. You will need to appoint a trustee who will be responsible for maintaining the trust assets, as well as making distributions to the guardian for the benefit of your child. It is important to remember that the trustee and guardian will have to work together on a regular basis. If you and your ex can agree on a trustee with whom you are both comfortable, it will make the process easier on all of the involved parties.

Remarriage inevitably affects your financial situation. It is important to remember that if you don’t make provisions for your children in your estate plan, your assets may end up going entirely to your new spouse when you die. This can be easily avoided. If your first spouse was the designated beneficiary of your 401(k), pension, life insurance policies or retirement plans, you should also remember to change the beneficiary designations, or your ex may end up with a considerable part of your assets, and your new spouse will be left out.

To learn more about New York elder law, New York estate planning, visit http://www.elderlawnewyork.com.