Estate Planning in New York

What is estate planning and why do you need it?

Planning for the future is always difficult, especially when trying to eliminate potential hurdles your loved ones may face once you have passed away. With an estate plan, you are able to provide your family with peace of mind, both financially and emotionally. An attorney drafted and supervised will is always the best place to start planning for your families financial future. In your will you are both appointing your fiduciary to administer your affairs after you pass, and designating who the recipents of your NY estate will be. No contingency is too remote when planning your estate. Often times young couples with small children can even plan for catastrophic events by including simple testamentary trusts in their wills creating trusts for their intended while appointing a trustee and guardian to administer it responsibly.

An effective NY estate plan allows a person to transfer their wealth from one generation to the next. In New York and New Jersey if you pass without a will approximately half of your estate automatically passes to your surviving spouse and the remainder passes to your children in equal distributions. In other words, whether you like it or not, a portion of your estate may go to unintended parties such as minors or strangers claiming to be non-marital children of a prior relationship. In either event the result may be devastating.

Protecting Your Assets from Taxation

Another reason to plan your estate is to minimize estate tax liability. Each year in Queens, there are multiple changes to both the Federal and State Estate tax, most of which are beneficial to you and your beneficiaries. For example, the Federal Unified Credit as of January 1, 2019, changed the allowable federal tax exemption to $11,400,000.00 per individual and $22,800,000 for married couples. In other words, a married couple in the calendar year 2019 can pass $22,800,000 to their heirs without incurring a dime in Federal Estate Tax, which is taxed at a rate of 40%.

However your estate may still be liable for both the State Estate Tax and Capital Gains Tax. This is why it is crucial that you speak with a Queens estate planning attorney from our firm to ensure that your property and estate assets are safeguarded from unnecessary taxation.

Why work with our firm?

As NY estate planning lawyers we constantly strive to provide the very best results when it comes to planning your estate or resolving any issues that arise in estate administration. Located in Queens, New York our offices consistently strive to achieve the highest levels of trust, comfort and understanding with each of our clients while delivering exceptional results. We understand that no two estates are the same, which is why no two estate plans should be alike. Each client presents different needs with slightly different objectives. However whether it is the drafting, probating or contesting of a will, there is no better place to begin than in our offices.

Each day our NY estate lawyers are drafting simple to complex wills and trusts for New Yorkers just like you. Additionally, our legal team in Queens has achieved astounding results contesting fraudulent wills. Our firm’s extensive experience contesting suspect wills affords our estate lawyers invaluable insight into the elements required to keep your estate away from costly litigation.

If you or a loved one are thinking about planning out your estate and would like to speak with a New York estate lawyer feel free to call The Law Offices of Jason W. Stern & Associates for a free consultation.