In 2024, there was much legislative activity in New York that affected the Private Wealth realm. A brief summary of the 2024 changes follows....more
The best way to be sure that your thoughtful estate planning will work as anticipated when the time comes is to walk through it with your planning attorney, from the viewpoint of a person beginning the task of administrating...more
In South Carolina, there's a new law that lets you add a "Transfer on Death" (TOD) designation to the title of personal property like cars, boats, or mobile homes. This means you can name someone to automatically receive the...more
This week is National Estate Planning Awareness Week, which is designated by Congress to educate people about the importance of estate planning. Additionally, it serves as a nice annual reminder to review your estate planning...more
Avoiding probate is often an important goal for many estate planning clients. Probate is the court-supervised process of administering a deceased person’s estate and transferring their property at death pursuant to the terms...more
New York’s Transfer-on-Death Deed Law is set to take effect on July 19, 2024. The new law allows New York residents to designate a beneficiary to automatically inherit their real property upon their death, similar to...more
A new Minnesota law comes into effect on August 1, 2024, which flags the importance of addressing insurance coverage within your estate plan, especially if your plan utilizes transfer on death deeds. A transfer on death deed...more
On April 20, 2024, New York State adopted legislation that allows for so-called transfer-on-death (TOD) deeds as part of its Fiscal Year 2025 Executive Budget. The TOD Deed Law, which takes effect on July 19, 2024, will be...more
Because so many things can change with time, we recommend that our clients review their estate plans every three to five years and update plans as needed. These periodic reviews help to ensure that your affairs are in order,...more
What is the Probate Process in New York? Probate is the formal legal process that gives recognition to a will and appoints the executor or personal representative who will administer the estate and distribute the...more
Transfer on Death (“TOD”), also known as Payable on Death (“POD”), account registrations are a popular way to avoid the requirement to pass assets through probate upon death and operate as an alternative to retitling assets...more
Estate planning is important for everyone but is especially vital for the future success of small businesses. Proactively planning for the death or retirement of business owners removes uncertainty surrounding ownership...more
Prompted by recent news coverage detailing the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank New York, some of our clients have asked us the question: What is my exposure in the event of bank failure? In response to this...more
In February, FINRA provided an update (Update) concerning the targeted exam (Sweep) launched in September 2021 to review firms’ practices concerning customer acquisition through social media channels and the way firms share...more
Although transfer-on-death (TOD) and payable-on-death (POD) designations on financial accounts can be an effective tool to avoid the probate process, these account designations have the potential to derail a customer’s estate...more
Regulatory Developments - FinCEN Proposes Form of Report to Collect Beneficial Ownership Information and Application to Obtain FinCEN Identifiers - On January 17, FinCEN proposed a form of report to collect beneficial...more
When used in consultation with an estate planning attorney, transfer-on-death (TOD) or payable-on-death (POD) designations on financial accounts can be valuable estate planning tools. However, these account designations have...more
After a party completes their divorce, there are often many things that they need to do to finalize matters. However, one item that many overlook is changing their beneficiary designations after divorce to remove their...more
Welcome to the Governor’s office, Ms. Hochul. Unfortunately, congratulations are hardly in order; indeed, a wish for good luck seems much more appropriate. I suppose you realize that the last round of tax legislation,...more
Financial institutions and brokerage firms occasionally recommend that client accounts be structured as joint or beneficiary-designated accounts without full consideration of the impact on the client’s estate plan....more
The thrifty do-it-yourselfers among us might jump at the opportunity to transfer their family home to their kids while avoiding probate and the expense of creating a trust. Revocable Transfer on Death Deeds, or RTODDs, have...more
More and more, people are being advised to add “transfer on death” designations to their non-IRA brokerage assets. This increasingly popular tool has both benefits as well as detractions and is best used only in certain...more
Representing the Estate Executor – Ethical Duty – Confidentiality – Withdrawal - New York State Bar Association Ethics Opinion No. 1194 - Risk Management Issue: Does a lawyer for an estate executor have an ethical duty...more
Cryptocurrency owners must face death—be it their own, or that of anyone else with custody of the owner’s cryptocurrency or other digital assets. We received a stark reminder of this when the Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX...more
There are special estate tax planning considerations when a non-U.S. citizen spouse is part of the picture. To be clear, a non-U.S. citizen spouse may be living in the U.S. and even hold a green card, but he or she does not...more