New York Estate Planning, Probate, and Real Estate Lawyer

Kaiser Health News reports that most Americans avoid making important end-of-life decisions, called Advance Care Planning, because it can be uncomfortable and the paperwork confusing. Rebecca Sudore, a geriatrician at the University of California-San Francisco, created prepareforyourcare.org, which provides step-by-step instructions and video stories to help people navigate the care they want at the end…

Sears has filed for bankruptcy and many aer wondering what will happen to their Kenmore appliance warranties. The good news is Sears is honoring those warranties. The company said in a statement, “We are honoring our warranties, protection agreements and guarantees as normal,” the company said in a statement. If you need help with a…

Probate is the legal process for transferring property after someone dies. In most cases the process follows the instructions in the will but occasionally other factors may arise, but basically, property is transferred, debts paid and assets distributed. But even though it’s a pretty straightforward process, you should still prepare for probate to make sure…

Unless Sears can come up with $134 million by Monday it will need to declare bankruptcy. Sears most recent filing showed it only had $193 million on hand as of August and another $269 million available to it from lenders. All signs point to bankruptcy next week since out of that on hand money the…

An acting Manhattan Supreme Court, Justice Gerald Lebovits denied NYC and New York State’s Governments motion to dismiss a lawsuit by group of renters and property owners called Tax Equity Now NY. The group filed the lawsuit in April 2017, alleging that New York City’s property-tax system discriminates against low-income homeowners and landlords. The organization…

The internet offers many ways to create your own estate planning documents and you can take that route if you want to save money, but you are better off hiring a professional to insure all your documentation is legally valid. There’s nothing wrong with saving some dough by drafting your own estate-planning documents. You can…

We’ve written ad nauseum about how less that half of Americans have a will. Well, almost that many also forget to include their digital assets in their estate plan. Most Americans don’t keep track of their online assets like Paypal, Facebook, and merchant loyalty reward programs and chances are will forget to include them in…

Under the New York Health Care Proxy Law you can appoint someone you trust to make health care decisions for you if you lose the ability to make those decisions yourself. That person is considered your health care proxy or agent. A health care proxy is a way to eliminate confusion among your loved ones…

Leaving this life and leaving loose ends can create a nightmare scenario for your heirs. If you haven’t taken the time to organize your assets that is exactly what can happen. With that in mind, here are five estate planning essentials you will need to make your passing as stress free for you heirs as…

End-of-life planning isn’t fun. In fact, it’s a drag. But it’s an important aspect of managing your assets and protecting your family. That’s why it’s surprising that 6 out of 10 Americans don’t have estate planning documents, much less a will. Surveys show only 42 percent of U.S. adults currently have estate planning documents such…