20 Most Common Estate Planning Mistakes

20 Most Common Estate Planning Mistakes

Many people are procrastinators and afraid to face their own mortality. They often fail to properly plan for death, disability and retirement. Clients often tell me that if they knew estate planning was so easy, that they would have done it years ago. Estate planning is often neither complicated nor costly. However, failure to plan is […]

Nursing Home Medicaid Penalty Rates

Nursing Home Medicaid Penalty Rates

Mary sold her Buffalo, New York home to her daughter, Donna, in 2015 for $50,000, although it was actually worth $150,780. Mary is in a nursing home now and wants to know if she will qualify for Medicaid since she has no assets. Mary, like many senior citizens, is concerned about the New York  Medicaid Nursing […]

Ten Will Provisions For Your Pets

Ten Will Provisions For Your Pets

February is Responsible Pet Owners Month. Celebrate by updating your New York Last Will  and Testament to make provisions for your pet dog, cat or other companion, including a pet trust. Under the laws of all 50 states, a pet owner cannot leave any part of his or her estate outright to a pet. However, […]

Hospital Discharge Instructions for Caregivers

Hospital Discharge Instructions for Caregivers

You are being discharged from a New York hospital after surgery.  How do you designate your daughter to be your caregiver when you return home to recuperate? What if your daughter needs instructions on how to care for you? The Caregiver Advise, Record, and Enable (CARE) Act amended the New York Public Health Law to […]

22 Reasons to Update Your Will Now

22 Reasons to Update Your Will Now

Divorce, death of a spouse, adoption of a child, marriage, or birth of a grandchild. These major life events and others may make it necessary to update your New York will and estate plan. The following events may require you to update your will so that it is coordinated with your other estate planning documents […]

NY Nursing Home Fined for Beating Death

NY Nursing Home Fined for Beating Death

A Buffalo, New York nursing home where an 82-year-old woman  was beaten to death by another resident has been fined the maximum amount of $10,000 by the New York State Health Department.  She mistakenly wandered unsupervised into a male patient’s room in the dementia unit at Emerald South Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.  The man reacted […]

Living Trusts Protect Assets from Nursing Home

Living Trusts Protect Assets from Nursing Home

The free New York NURSING HOME MEDICAID GUIDE answers ” does a living trust protect assets from a nursing home?” It also answers these frequently asked  questions: What are the 2020 asset and income levels that allow Medicaid eligibility? What is the 2020 Medicaid penalty regional rates? What resources are not counted when determining Medicaid eligibility?  How can […]

Devastating Costs of Alzheimer’s Dementia Care

Devastating Costs of Alzheimer's Dementia Care

The soaring cost and prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease has a tremendous impact on our nation’s families and economy. This is according to a disturbing 2017 report released yesterday by the Alzheimer’s Association. The statistics in the report emphasize the need for estate and Medicaid planning for disability.  390,000 New York residents 65 and older suffered […]

Managing Problems: Last Chapter of Your Life

Managing Problems Last Chapter of Your Life

As part of your estate planning, you should have “A Playbook for Managing Problems In The Last Chapter of Your Life” as described here by Judith Graham in Kaiser Health News. You can take steps to avoid a crisis in the remaining years of  your life. CHICAGO — At least once a day, Dr. Lee Ann […]