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Utica Attorneys
There are 105 companies listed in our Attorneys category for Utica. This page shows listings 61 to 80.
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- Attorneys
- 255 Genesee St # 2
Utica
New York
13501
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- Attorneys
- 1 Proctor Blvd.
Utica
NY
13501
Call today for family asset protection!- Products and Services
Services
Areas of Practice
-Estate Planning -Wills & Trusts -Asset Protection Planning -Retirement Planning -Probate -Trust Administration
Estate Planning
Do I need an estate plan?
An “estate plan” consists of the rules that are in place when you are alive and well, alive and not well and when you pass away. These rules control who is in charge of all your assets and who makes decisions for your personal care and needs. If you choose not to create your own documents, then the State’s rules will appoint the people who will make all your financial and medical decisions if you aren’t able to do so. Your family, including your parents, spouse and adult children may have no input in what happens to you and your “stuff.” In other words, if you don’t have your own formalized plan in place, the State has one for you.
I don’t have anything of value so I don’t need “estate planning”, right?
To determine what is “valuable” ask yourself the following: If you were able to place all your belongings, everything you owned (your “stuff”) into a bag and an evil person came to you and forced you to choose between handing over the bag of “stuff” or forfeit the life of a family member, what would you choose? Would you hand over the bag?
If your choice is to hand over the bag of “stuff” to guarantee your family member is safe, then you understand that “estate planning” is what you want done for you and each member of your family should you be alive and not well, or when you pass away. The essence of “estate planning” is being able to clearly articulate in writing what you want to happen to your family. Once you’ve done that, the “stuff” follows your plan. This plan allows your family to know what to do and have peace of mind in a time of crisis. Without the “estate plan” in place, your family may be plunged into chaos.
Url: http://lifelawllc.com/estate-planning/Wills & Trusts
What is the difference between a Will and a Trust?
When you die with a Will, you are allowing the State to control and supervise the disposition of your estate.
When you die with a properly funded trust, i.e., the trust owns your assets, you appoint someone you trust to control and supervise the disposition of your estate.
To fully understand the difference, please take 27 minutes and watch the video below.
What is a Living Will?
A “Living Will” is a set of instructions that you leave regarding the quality of care you would like to receive if you are alive but unable to communicate your wishes to others. Without a Living Will, you rely on the discretion of your medical providers putting them in charge of your day-to-day care. However, the Living Will is not a legally enforceable document in that there is no statute requiring people to adhere to your wishes. It is a document that you hope will be followed by a moral and compassionate person.
A “Health Care Proxy” on the other hand is a document that is backed by a statute. In essence, the Health Care Proxy allows you to identify the person who will be in charge of your medical decisions. In addition, you may place language into the Health Care Proxy regarding Do Not Resuscitate orders (“DNR”) and “heroic measures” language.
What is a Revocable Trust?
A Revocable Trust is a contract that you create for yourself that creates a legal entity. This “entity” can hold your assets. Because you create this trust while you are alive and mentally competent, it is also known as a “living trust”. The contract will identify who is entitled to the assets and the income from the assets, which you would set as yourself, your spouse and any family members you desire. In other words, you have unlimited access to everything in the revocable trust and make all decisions about what happens to the assets inside the revocable trust. This is different than in Irrevocable Trust created during your life time. (See Irrevocable Trust, below)
Any assets held by the trust pass outside your Probate Estate. Click here to see more about probate.
The primary purposes of a revocable trust are to avoid probate, minimize estate taxes (so long as you are not above the state and/or federal estate tax exclusions) and to create cascading trusts for your family so that whatever comes to them individually in trust is protected from their predators and in some instances, from the family members themselves.
However, a Revocable Living Trust does not protect you and your assets from a Nursing Home’s costs of care should you need one.
For a clearer explanation of the use of trusts, please see the video.Click here to watch the video.
What is an Irrevocable Trust?
In addition to the benefits provided by a Revocable Trust (see above for more information), the irrevocable trust accomplishes two other goals. The first is to provide protection of your assets during your lifetime from predators, such as the costs of care in a Nursing Home, and the second, is to reduce or eliminate estate taxes upon your death if your estate exceeds your “estate tax exclusion” limits.
“Estate Tax Exclusion” limits are the amounts of money either the State or Federal Government will leave alone on the date of your death. For example, in New York State, if you die with less than $1,000,000 in your estate then there is no estate or death tax. However, if you exceed this amount, then you could be taxed up to 16%. The Federal Government gives you an amount of $5,340,000 before they start taxing your estate at 40%.
Url: http://lifelawllc.com/wills-trusts/Asset Planning Protection
What is asset protection planning?
During your lifetime, do you want to prevent others (called “predators”) from getting your “stuff”? While you are alive but not well, do you want to preserve your “stuff”, even if you are in a nursing home? Are you worried that after you die, predators will try to separate your spouse, child or grandchild from the “stuff” you left them? Are you worried that when you die, the government will take money from your family for taxes? If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, that is what we mean by asset protection planning.
Should I involve my financial advisor, accountant or children in my estate planning?
This question is similar to asking if you should involve a cardiologist in your medical care when you have a heart attack? When you assemble and involve a team of professionals with your family, you receive the experience, input and expertise of people from different disciplines. This team approach makes sure that what you plan and put in place is effective, practical and understandable.
Does asset protection planning include my 401k, Pension, bonds, CD’s, IRA’s and Annuities?
By definition, your “estate” upon your death includes everything you have an interest in on the date of your death. More importantly, we accumulate “stuff” during our lifetimes for two reasons. The first reason is to make sure that we have a comfortable standard of living throughout our lives, including into retirements. The second reason is to leave an inheritance to our beneficiaries. If someone or some entity were able to take one of these assets away from us during our lifetime, what would happen to our two goals? A competent team of professionals can make sure that if a crisis happens in your life, the impact on your “stuff” will be minimal or non-existent.
Url: http://lifelawllc.com/asset-protection-planning/Retirement Planning
What does retirement have to do with estate planning?
We spend our lives working to accumulate assets (our “stuff”) so at some stage we can stop working and retire. Our hope is that we have enough stuff to live comfortably for the rest of our lives, and, if possible, have enough left over to leave an inheritance to those in our family we believe deserve the inheritance.
What happens to these hopes and dreams if we are sued, suffer a major medical crisis, the market drops or if we go to nursing home. Suddenly our “stuff” shrinks.
Estate planning means we use the experience of our financial advisors and accountants along with our attorney to make sure that if a crisis happens, we still enjoy the fruits or our labor.
Url: http://lifelawllc.com/retirement-planning/Probate
What is Probate?
If you die without a Last Will and Testament (“Will”), then the State will appoint someone to administer your “estate”. That means the State will decide who will be put in charge of collecting all your assets, your “stuff”, paying off all your creditors from the “stuff” and then distributing what is left to your closest living family members. For an example of New York State’s Will that has been written by the State for people who don’t have one, click the link below.
In New York State if the value of your “personal property”, the things in your name alone, i.e., not jointly owned and not a beneficiary designated instrument, is more than $30,000.00, then your Will is subject to New York State’s probate process. Those assets that are “Jointly Owned With Right of Survivorship” and/or assets that have a beneficiary designation, are not included when computing the $30,000.00 for the value of your personal property. Assets such as a bank account, a car, or a snowmobile that have only your name on them are your “personal property”.
Once your nominated Executor has determined that the value of your “personal property” is greater than $30,000, they then have to prepare and submit a petition, along with the original signed copy of the Will to the Surrogate’s Court for judicial supervision. The Judge will make sure that the original document presented to the Court is valid and may then ask the nominated Executor to mail out a letter with a copy of your Will to your family members, including your spouse and children, your parents (if alive), your brothers and sisters, your nieces and nephews, your aunts and uncles and your first cousins to ask them if they object to your nominated Executor serving and if they waive any interest in your estate. If someone objects to the Will, or the Executor or fails to send back the signed letter, they will be determined to have Contested the Will. When all the letters are signed by the individual family members and returned to the Court, then your Executor receives the authority to collect all your assets.
Once the assets are collected, the estate is held open for 7 months during which time your creditors have first right to receive payments from your estates. At the end of the 7-month period, your Executor accounts to the Court for all money received and disbursed, and, if the Court agrees with the accounting, then the assets go to the people you have identified in your Will.
This Probate process is the State of New York’s system of rules that are used to ensure an orderly disposition of your assets under the control and supervision of the Court.
How do I avoid Probate?
In New York State, to avoid probate, make sure you have a Last Will and Testament in place and make sure that the value of your “personal property”, i.e., the things that are in your name alone on the date you die, are worth less than $30,000.00.
Url: http://lifelawllc.com/probate/Trust Administration
What is Trust Administration?
When you die with your “stuff” in a trust, the person you have chosen, your successor trustee, has to follow your rules as to how the “stuff” is distributed. Generally the “stuff” goes into newly created separate trusts for each of your family members. These new trusts will acquire a new tax identification number, open accounts and receive the inheritance.
Trust Administration is the mechanics of moving “stuff” to your beneficiaries to meet your vision of what each person should get and how it should be protected for that person.
Does a Trust Administration avoid probate?
Yes. As long as you have shifted the “stuff” out of your name, so you have less than $30,000 in your name, and placed the “stuff” in your trust, then your estate will avoid Probate.
Url: http://lifelawllc.com/trust-administration/ -
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- Attorneys
- 298 Genesee St
Utica
NY
13502
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- Attorneys
- 1624 Genesee St
Utica
NY
13502
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- Attorneys
- 1600 Parkway E
Utica
NY
13501
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Mackay, Caswell & Callahan, P.C.
- Tax Attorneys
- 258 Genesee St Ste 602
Utica
NY
13502
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- Attorneys
- 258 Genesee St
Ste 507
Utica
NY
13502
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- Attorneys
- 6 Rhoads Dr
Utica
NY
13502
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- Attorneys
- 239 Genesee St # 307
Utica
NY
13501
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- Attorneys
- 4 Brantwood Rd
Utica
NY
13501
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- Attorneys
- 185 Genesee St # 1200
Utica
NY
13501
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- Attorneys
- PO Box 524
Utica
NY
13503
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- Attorneys
- 22 Elizabeth St
Utica
NY
13501
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- Legal Counsel & Prosecution
- 207 Genesee St Ste 1601
Utica
NY
13501
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- Attorneys
- 1 Hopper St
Utica
NY
13501
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- Attorneys
- 239 Genesee St
Utica
NY
13501
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- Attorneys
- 291 Genesee St.
Utica
NY
13501
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- Attorneys
- 811 Court St # 236
Utica
NY
13502
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- Attorneys
- 1325 Belle Ave
Utica
NY
13501
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- Legal Counsel & Prosecution
- 800 Park Ave
Utica
NY
13501
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