The importance of having a will cannot be stressed enough. You want to make the decisions regarding guardianship of your children, what happens with your assets and who will serve as executor and trustee. Without a will, these issues may topple like a row of dominoes....

You and your spouse prided yourselves in planning most details when it came to having children. Your meticulous planning included proper diet, health and exercising during the pregnancy, preparing and painting your children’s rooms, child-proofing the home and making...

A person’s last will and testament is the most common part of an estate plan. Some people view it as the sum total of estate planning. While vital to your estate, wills are used to name beneficiaries for money and specific assets and designate a guardian for minor...

When you created your trust, you might not have transferred all your assets into its ownership. Yet, as you review it, you may have concerns about what will happen to the assets you left out of it once you die. Failing to account for these in some way could cause them...

In 2017, a wide-sweeping tax reform was enacted that had an impact on many aspects of the pre-existing tax laws. Residents of New York may have realized that estate planning was also impacted during the change. The stress of estate planning under these new tax...

In New York, there are many high net worth people who create charitable trusts. It's worth thinking about why they do this. Charitable trusts are a unique estate planning measure. They serve several parties at once. The creators of charitable trusts are able to get...

As your parents age, they will start to transition out of the workforce and into retirement. Most people in the Baby Boomer generation have worked years to get to this point, building comprehensive estate plans to fund their twilight years and provide for their heirs....

By now you know that estate planning is essential. A secure estate plan protects your legacy and can give you and your family peace of mind. But smart, thoughtful estate planning can also save your family time, money and stress. If you take the right steps, your...