What Other Legal Issues Can Your Firm Help With?

Another big part of my practice as a Medicaid lawyer is that I do the appropriate planning for individuals who have special needs. I can make sure they can have the proper planning done according to their situation.

Special Need Planning

Special needs planning basically means that the individual has children or family members who are suffering from disabilities, and are on disability and receiving government benefits, Medicaid or they are getting SSI or SSDI because they are unable to work.

17-A Guardianship Proceedings

These type of guardianship proceedings are brought for individuals who are developmentally disabled at birth or prior to the age of 18, when their guardian would generally be their natural parent, however, after the age of 18 a court order is necessary to act on behalf of that child because they are no longer a minor.

The parent would no longer be the legal guardian once that individual reached the age of 18, so they will actually have to have petition the surrogate court to become that child’s guardian.

This would involve a formal legal proceeding before the surrogate court in order to have a guardian appointed so that person can have a guardian in place to legally make decisions for that adult person over 18 who may have special needs.

Obviously, someone who is developmentally disabled is not able to make medical decisions because they would not be able to consent to medical procedures. This is why a guardian would need to be put in place, and this is something which my firm is well versed in handling.

Supplemental Needs Trusts

Additionally, if an individual has a child with special needs and wants to leave an inheritance to said child it has to be done in a very specific way so that individual can keep their governmental benefits in place.

This can be done by a parent or any third party who wants to leave an inheritance; whether that is an inheritance through a will or they want to set up a living trust for someone who is disabled.

This means they can’t inherit from the individual or from a parent or a family member outright because if they do, they will lose their benefits, be it Medicaid or their disability payments.

We will set up something known as supplemental needs trusts, also known as special needs trusts, whether they were a first party or a third party, so that the individual can get their inheritance and keep their governmental benefits in place.

This type of special needs planning and transfers of assets can also be a very valuable way of taking advantage of exempt transfers of assets if an individual needs to enter a nursing home with- out incurring a penalty period for the transfer of said assets for the benefit of a child who is on disability.

My firm obviously is very well versed in this type of planning. Contact us today for Special Needs Planning in case you have a child with special needs and are based in New York. We can help you set up a Supplemental Needs Trust and we can also handle 17-A Guardianship Proceedings for you. Just give us a call for a FREE Initial Consultation at (718) 475-9639 and our New York estate planning attorneys and NY elder law attorneys will help you out. Our offices are located in Staten Island, New York, Brooklyn, Bronx, White Plains, Garden City, Melville, NY.

Get your questions answered - call me for your free phone consultation (718) 475-9639

Probate And Estate And Estate Litigation

When a person dies with a NY will and has assets in his or her name alone, a formal legal NY probate proceeding must be brought before the Surrogate’s Court in order to establish an estate and appoint the Executor to give him or her the legal authority to collect and marshal the assets belonging to the NY estate and then ultimately distributing the assets of the estate pursuant to the terms of the will. This authority is given once the Surrogate’s Court grants the petitioner/executor a court order/decree called Letters Testamentary in the NY probate proceeding. My firm can bring the appropriate proceeding to obtain the assets of the estate and can handle any litigation regarding an estate or a will contest. We have been serving clients throughout the entire New York City metropolitan area. We maintain offices in lower Manhattan, Westchester, White Plains, Bronx, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Long Island and Queens in New York.

Article 81 Guardianships

Article 81 guardianships, apply in the situation where an adult or a person has lost capacity but are not developmentally disabled at birth; meaning they became incapacitated later on in life.

An article 81 guardianship proceedings must be brought in the Supreme Court for an adult who has lost capacity later in life, if there are no advance directives in place, meaning there is no power of attorney, there is no living will and there is no healthcare proxy.

Article 81 guardianships allow a person to be appointed as a guardian so they can make decisions regarding medical or financial decisions for someone who is incapacitated and does not have advance directives put in place.

We Handle All Aspects Of Real Estate Transactions.

We handle all appropriate things that coincide with estate planning and so on and so forth, which obviously includes real estate transactions. When we move assets, we move real estate or transfer them into or out of a trust or from an estate after probate.

This may involve handling the sale of property from a trust or an estate after a person dies or it might mean handling a sale from a trust or even just a simple transaction involving a buyer and a seller for on a real estate transaction without a trust or estate.

Personal Injury Awards and Special Needs Planning

I also handle personal injury work which coincides with the supplemental needs trust area for individual on SSI and or Medicaid. When an individual is involved in a personal injury action and is awarded a large recovery, the assets they obtain from their awards have to be protected and put into a supplemental needs trust in order to protect their governmental benefits if they are on SSI or Medicaid and or are incapacitated and need a guardian in place to settle the case and or draft the special need trust with court approval.

This happens sometimes when the person who received an injury is a child or if they received an injury or incapacitated after adulthood and require a guardian to be in place to settle the case and safeguard the money.

Personal Injury

In addition, my personal injury work involves nursing home injury cases, bedsore cases, wrongful death cases, car accident cases, slip and fall cases, medical malpractice cases, work place accidents, and all other types of accidents.

For more information on Other Legal Issues We Can Assist You With, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you’re seeking by calling (718) 475-9639 today or visit our offices in Staten Island, New York, Brooklyn, Bronx, White Plains, Garden City, Melville, NY.

Get your questions answered - call me for your free phone consultation (718) 475-9639