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Medicaid Recertification: Why Legal Guidance Matters
Having an experienced elder law attorney overseeing the Medicaid application and recertification processes can better one鈥檚 chance of achieving and maintaining Medicaid eligibility.聽
In general, when a person dies in New York, that person鈥檚 Last Will & Testament must be probated in Surrogate鈥檚 Court so that an Executor can be appointed to legally distribute assets. If there is no Will, an administration proceeding will be required and an administrator will be appointed to distribute the decedent鈥檚 assets according to New York State intestacy law.
It pays to tie the knot, at least according to the IRS. The unlimited marital deduction is a provision in the U.S. Estate and Gift Tax Law that allows individuals to transfer an unrestricted amount of assets to their spouse at any time, free from tax.
Generation Skipping Transfer Tax (GSTT) is the tax imposed on transfers made to grandchildren, or individuals (other than a spouse) who are at least 37 陆 years younger than the donor of the gift. GSTT sounds complicated, and can be complicated, but the concept is simple.
When a co-owner of real property passes away, what happens next depends on how the co-owners took title to the property. Upon the death of a co-owner, it is necessary to review the last deed of record to make this determination.
Many people choose to invest in a life insurance policy. Some choose to purchase a term life insurance policy wherein the insured pays a premium for a period of years and if he or she passes away during that period of time, the policy will pay out to the designated beneficiaries, while others purchase whole life insurance which works more like an investment product and has a guaranteed payout no matter the insured鈥檚 age.
Even if someone passes away with an estate below the federal estate tax exemption amount of $11.7 million dollars, if married, the estate should consider filing an estate tax return to capture the deceased spouse鈥檚 unused exemption amount.
Under Article 19 of the New York Surrogate鈥檚 Court Procedure Act, real property vests in the decedent鈥檚 heirs or legatees immediately as owners date of death. So why would someone have to go through probate to take title or sell it?
New York State has an estate tax 鈥渃liff鈥�, which means that if an estate exceeds 105% of the New York estate tax exemption then the estate will receive absolutely no exemption from New York estate taxes and the entire value of the estate is subject to New York鈥檚 estate tax.
Whether a bank account must go through probate depends on how the account was held 鈥� jointly or in the decedent鈥檚 sole name. Like real property, bank accounts can be owned in many ways.
