New York Estate Planning, Probate, and Real Estate Lawyer

Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin left no will or any estate plan which could open heirs to high estate taxes an create legal squabbles. Her four sons have filed a document listing themselves as interested parties for her estate. Her niece has requested the court to appoint her as executor of the estate which has…

Medicare is in danger. Each year, roughly 10 cents of every dollar budgeted for Medicare program is stolen or misdirected before it helps anybody. Looked at another way, about $1,000 is lost per Medicare member through theft or waste each year. That is according to the federal government. But it could be far worse. Harvard…

One of the great financial burdens today is student debt. Gigantic tuition hikes over the last few decades have saddled college graduates with insurmountable debt that can’t be relieved by bankruptcy. In 1978, the bankruptcy laws were overhauled and the ability to discharge studennt loans was taken away. The reasoning was tuitions were much lower…

A new study from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease has uncovered why some people that have brain markers of Alzheimer’s never develop the classic dementia that others do. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia and affects more than 5 million Americans. People suffering…

The American College of Financial Services in Bryn Mawr, PA estimates the average cost of raising a child from birth to age 18 is about $250,000. But raising a child with special needs can easily cost double that amount. Having a plan with the right professionals and strategies in place can help parents tackle the…

Last December, Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that took effect this past January. The main feature of the law is that prior to the law being enacted, the federal estate and gift tax exemption was $5.49 million. However, the Act increases the federal estate and gift tax exemption to $11.18…

In 1993 neurologist Camilo Gomez, M.D., coined a phrase that for the last 25 years has been a fundamental rule of stroke care: Time is brain! That rule means the longer post-stroke treatment is delayed the less effective it will be. Now a new study by Dr. Gomez is rethinking that rule and the idea…

If you’re an older worker and decide to file for Social Security before you reach full retirement age, you need to account for the impact that income will have on your benefits. That’s because your benefits would be reduced temporarily and up to 85% of your benefits would be taxed if your combined income exceeds…

A recent Realtor.com story talks about how the late comedian Jackie Gleason’s two “UFO houses” in Peekskill, NY are on the market for $12 million. The current owner, a retired orthodontist, bought the 8.5-acre property in Peekskill, NY, in 1976 for $150,000—roughly equivalent to $660,000 today. The property was listed this month for $12 million.…

A Milwaukee County, Michigan judge has denied a biological father a share of the wrongful death proceeds awarded in a suit brought by the mother of a 25 year-old man who died in a mental health facility back in 2012. Alicia Johnson, 48, argued that the biological father, 53 year-old Marcus Crumble, her first cousin,…