ESTATE PLANNING & ADVANCE DIRECTIVES
This is the basic personal planning that every individual should engage in. There are two aspects of this planning, and they are interrelated:
Disposition of your assets, either by gifts during lifetime or upon your death
- Benefit the persons whom you wish to benefit
- Protect children, persons under disability and pets
- Obtain favorable tax treatment for your beneficiaries
Protecting yourself if you become incapacitated while alive
- Erect a structure so that a person or persons whom you trust can manage the entire scope of your personal and financial affairs
- Avoid languishing in limbo while relatives bicker or litigate over you in court
To accomplish these objectives:
- We discuss your personal and family situation
- We examine your
- Assets and how they are structured
- Sources of income
- Expenses and obligations
- Contractual rights and obligations
- We discuss
- Whom you want to benefit (individuals, trusts, pets, charities)
- Who should be your executor / trustee / health care agent / power of attorney agent / guardian (if necessary)
- Who should be guardian of your child(ren)
- Who should be caretaker of your pet(s)
- What powers you wish and do not wish to grant your power of attorney (POA) agent
- I analyze and counsel you as to
- How to structure your assets, so as to coordinate your probate estate and non-probate estate
- How to structure the bequests in your will
- How to structure any trust you create
- Tax aspects of your estate
- I carefully prepare
- A Last Will and Testament
- Any trust document
- Designation of Guardian of child(ren) (if necessary)
- Designation of Guardian of intellectually or developmentally disabled person
- Detailed beneficiary designations for life insurance policies, annuity contracts, pension plans, IRA accounts
- Health Care Proxy
- Living Will (if you desire one)
- Power of Attorney and, if necessary, Statutory Gifts Rider
- Designation of Guardian for you, if necessary
- I exhibit to you a draft of each document for review, comment and discussion.
- I supervise the signing of each documents with the legally required formalities.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:
I am proud to have served as co-chairperson of the New York County Lawyers’ Association Section on Estates, Trusts and Surrogate’s Court practice from 2015-2018 and as chairperson of the New York City Bar Association Small Law Firm Committee’s Trusts and Estates Mentoring Circle from 2015-2018. I participated in the drafting of Section-2307-a of the New York Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act, which regulates the commissions of attorney-executors.
I invite you to examine the information presented for Estate Planning on the Frequently Asked Questions page of this website, and the Glossaries of commonly used terms for Estate Planning and Administration and for Trusts.
“Mark set up my estate plan and my power of attorney. He reviewed his drafts with me and, at my request, with my children and answered my and their questions. Mark is thorough, attentive to detail and, above all, he is a decent person.” -Hemda B.