No. The assets comprising your non-probate estate will go to the joint owners or beneficiaries. Your probate estate will be distributed to the persons who are your intestate distributees. That is a major reason why it is important to have a will.

Yes, if you have an objective that cannot be achieved by an outright disposition under a will, joint ownership or beneficiary designation. No, if this is not the case.

Trusts do not live or die. This term denotes a trust established during the lifetime of the creator — as opposed to a testamentary trust, which is established in the creator’s will. Other than that, the term is uninformative as to the nature of the trust.

A document must comply with certain formalities and other requirements to be a valid will. Probate is the process whereby the Surrogate’s Court determines whether a document is a valid will.

Absolutely. The executor named in the will must obtain the admission of the will to probate. The executor or administrator must preserve and collect the assets of the decedent, pay all applicable taxes, pay creditors of the decedent, pay the expenses of administration of the estate and distribute to the beneficiaries what they are entitled to. If the executor or administrator mishandles any aspect of the estate, he/she can be personally liable. That is why the executor or administrator needs an attorney.

When he/she has concluded administration of the estate, he/she renders an account to the beneficiaries and either obtains their approval of the account or brings a proceeding in the Surrogate’s Court for approval of the account.

If you have established and transferred all your assets to a properly structured trust, your trustee would. Otherwise, someone would have to petition the court to appoint a guardian for property management for you.

There is a statute under which persons in various classes of relatives and friends have the right to act as a “health care surrogate” for you. But this can easily lead to delay, disputes and confusion. Other than that, someone would have to petition the court to appoint a guardian of the person for you.

The government does not take your assets. The issue is whether the government will pay for your care or whether your assets must be used to pay the nursing home. The government will pay only if you qualify for Medicaid. This occurs only if you have spent almost all of your money or because you have given it away pursuant to a plan that should be carefully devised by an elder law attorney.

Medicare is the federal health care system that is available to any person 65 or older who paid into the Social Security system. Part A pays hospital bills. Part B pays most of the doctor bills of anyone who pays a monthly premium. Part D covers prescription drugs. Except on a limited basis, Medicare does not pay for nursing home or long-term home care.

Medicaid is part of the Social Security system, but it is administered by the states. It pays the medical costs only of persons who have almost no assets. Unlike Medicare, Medicaid pays the long-term care costs of persons who meet its financial criteria. Its rules are complex. That is why careful planning is important.

No. Giving away your money does not make you ineligible at all for Medicaid home care. Five years is the “lookback period” over which the local Medicaid agency examines your financial transactions if you apply for nursing home Medicaid. If the agency finds that you gave away money during that period, you will be ineligible for Medicaid for a period determined by a formula. This is why it is important to preserve your records for at least five years.

A relative, friend or organization petitions the court for the appointment of a guardian. The petitioner’s attorney prepares and files both a petition, setting forth the incapacity of the alleged incapacitated person (AIP) and an order for the judge to sign, that sets the date for a hearing. The order gets served on the persons entitled by law to notice. The judge appoints a court evaluator, who investigates the case and reports to the judge. (One should make a Designation of Guardian as part of one’s planning.) A hearing is held. The judge issues a decision. If the judge decides that a guardian is needed, the petitioner’s attorney prepares an order and judgment and a commission is issued, appointing the guardian. All of this takes many weeks and is expensive.

Much. If you are the seller, you must have a listing agreement with the broker that protects you as well as it protects the broker. If you are the purchaser, you must investigate the property. Regardless of whether you are the seller or the purchaser, there are many details of the deal that must be agreed on. These details are addressed in the contract. The transaction is structured in the contract. The buyer must obtain a loan commitment. If the property is a condo or a coop, the board of managers or board of directors must grant its approval. A title or lien search must be run. The closing, although obviously important, is merely the culmination of a process governed by the contract.

Real property is real estate – land defined by boundaries and the buildings and structures situated on that plot of land. A condo unit is a unique form of real estate defined, in an apartment building, not by boundaries but by floor plans; and it includes ownership of a fraction of the title to the common parts of the building. It is governed by the Declaration of Condominium recorded in the land records and the bylaws of the condominium association. A coop unit is not real property. The “owner” of the unit actually owns shares of stock in the corporation that owns the building, and he/she occupies the unit as a tenant of the corporation. The tenancy is governed by the proprietary lease and the bylaws of the corporation.

Each term describes a form of ownership by more than one person. In a TIC, each owns a percentage of the title which he/she is free to dispose of and, if he/she dies, it becomes part of his/her probate estate. In a JT, each owns an equal share of the title, which he/she is free to dispose of but, if he/she dies, his/her share is part of the non-probate estate and is inherited by the other joint owner(s). A TBE is a special form of joint ownership only between spouses, which can be disposed of only by both spouses acting together.

Unless the mortgagor deeds the property back to the mortgagee, the mortgagee can either sue the mortgagor for the unpaid balance of the loan or bring a foreclosure action to have the property sold by a court-appointed referee, with the proceeds of the sale being paid to the mortgagee.