Tax professionals regularly refer their clients to me to determine if any tax liabilities can be discharged in Bankruptcy. Here are the general rules Sales tax and Payroll taxes that a business withholds are non dischargeable. Income taxes that are not filed are not...
Should you file for bankruptcy if your spouse is terminally ill?
This is a hard question, and the answer is "it depends". Home Equity: Each owner on a deed is entitled to a "homestead exemption" which is currently $165,500 in NYC. If one joint owner dies, then the survivor will only have one exemption. Thus, if the house has...
Retired and Just Getting By
Divorced at a young age, she raised her daughter on her own. Now retired and living in her daughter's home, she has accumulated $16,000 in credit card debt. Try as she may, she has been unable to pay off this debt with her pension and social security. I determnined...
Understanding the difference between Chapter 7, 11 and 13
No two people have the same financial situations, which also means no two people handle their debts the same way either. It's a fact not lost on people in New York where the sudden loss of a job or serious illness or injury could just as easily create a challenging...
Worried about Medical Bills
An elderly couple worried that they would lose their home because the could not affort the co-pays and co-insurance not covered by Medicare. They lived a comfortable life for many years after retirement by getting a reverse mortgage. But now in their 80's, they...
Before filing for bankruptcy, be sure your home is protected
To care for her elderly mother, she left her city job. Afer her mother died, she was unable to get her job back. She lived off her credit cards, while trying to get work, and made her minimum payments with the little work she did get. When the minimum payments became...
Estate planning needs to be active and early
Many people fail to realize the importance of early and active estate planning. Some put it off thinking they are too young to need it. Others have estate plans that only include a basic will, with no thought toward what could happen between now and the time they die...
Choosing between an irrevocable trust and a living trust
Estate planning typically includes executing a trust, which serves as a separate legal entity to hold properties and assets for its beneficiaries. As reported by Kiplinger's Personal Finance, in addition to real estate, trusts may include financial accounts, cars and...
How does arbitration and mediation differ from litigation?
Litigation is a great way to get things done in a legal sense. It is one of the most traditional methods of handling disputes, especially those that are beyond your ability to resolve without outside interference. But what about alternative dispute resolution...
What is surrogate’s court and what do you do there?
When a loved one dies, not only do you have to process the grief, you need to process through their estate. This is often an emotional episode in your life and the lives of the loved one's other decedents. Whether you have a will or not in the aftermath of all that,...
Reducing inheritance conflict among siblings
Your children may need to lean on one another more than ever once you are gone, but if you are not careful, you run the risk of your New York estate plan – or lack thereof – creating conflicts among your kids. Inheritance battles are often expensive and...
How to avoid inheritance disputes
Estate planning helps you to ensure your loved ones have everything they need after your death, but inheritance disputes can tie up assets for years and break families apart. To reduce the likelihood of such disputes, consider these tips while making end-of-life...
Can you protect your elderly loved ones from financial abuse
As your loved ones age, they may become more vulnerable to abuse from people they trust. Financial abuse is one form of mistreatment that can violate privacy, damage reputations and threaten financial security. Protecting your loved one's against this type of abuse...
How does probate work in New York?
When someone dies in New York, his or her executor presents the will to the Surrogate's Court in the county where the person lived. In a process called probate, the court determines the validity of the will and supervises the administration of the deceased person's...
A look at small estates in New York
If you have a relatively modest estate, it is still important to set up an effective estate plan. Unfortunately, many people with modest estates fail to create estate plans, which often causes their loved ones to experience anxiety and uncertainty after their death....
How do you structure an estate plan review?
Estate plan reviews are a crucial part of your end of life plans. After all, you cannot simply create an estate plan and leave it as-is indefinitely. It needs to reflect your life in the current moment, which means it must change as your life changes. But how do you...
