Brooklyn Probate Law Firm

Cormac McEnery Law Firm

One Pierrepont Street Brooklyn, New York 11201 USA

 (888) 368-4329

www.cormacmcenery.com
 Send an email

 Published Articles   

Law Firm Overview Free Consultation

Cormac McEnery Law Firm delivers personalized legal advice and services. We arrange initial consultations without charge to clarify and outline any recommended services. Our firm’s thirty years of experience concentrating in estate planning, elder law, Medicaid planning, probate & estate administration, estate tax and estate litigation, positions us to provide the finest services.

We make you a part of the process, encourage questions, and continually educate you in matters in which you may have little or no prior experience. We provide highly personalized services to New York City, Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Practice Areas

Additional Practice Areas: Power of Attorney; Health Care Proxy; Living Will; Medicaid Planning; Estate Administration; Estate Tax Proceedings; Estate Litigation; Guardianship.

Practice Areas Description

Cormac McEnery Law Firm concentrates in the following areas of law:

- Trust and Estate Planning

Cormac McEnery’s estate planning experience in New York will optimize your estate planning process in analyzing your family’s personal and financial circumstances and special needs and objectives, informing you of the estate planning options, and drafting and implementing your estate plan. As important, if not more so, on occasion your estate plan should include a durable power of attorney and health care proxy. We use a variety of planning techniques and tools to create a personalized plan. Some of the tools available are:

* Last Will and Testament

A Will directs to whom and how your assets will be distributed upon your death. It designates the legal representative, appointed by the Court, to carry out your wishes. It nominates a trustee to manage your assets, which you have designated to be held in a trust created under your Will. The only assets that are controlled and distributed under the terms of your Will are assets held in your name individually, that do not have a joint tenant or beneficiary designated.

* Durable Power of Attorney

We prepare a comprehensive and personally tailored document giving your designee a full range of powers, which you have chosen, so that your designee can transact your financial and other transitions. It is durable in that it remains effective should you become incompetent, temporarily or permanently.

* Health Care Proxy / Living Will

You designate who should make your medical decisions, should you be unable to do so yourself. We prepare a personalized comprehensive document in which you state your wishes as to medical treatment. Without this document, a tremendous burden may potentially be put upon your loved ones at a most difficult time.

* Special Power of Appointment Deeds

Implement incomplete gifts of real property, for Medicaid look back purposes, and transfers exempt from the current look back period.

* Estate Tax Planning

There are various planning tools available to help reduce or eliminate your potential estate tax liability, while retaining your maximum control of your assets.

* Trusts

You may create a trust at any time during your life, as well as in your Will. Trusts can be created for a variety of purposes, including estate tax and Medicaid planning, to limit liability, and to manage and protect assets held for the benefit of minors or persons with special needs.

- Elder Law

The fact is that Americans are living longer, and so, we all must plan ahead. However, some planning methods have time constraints. Therefore, it is important that you do not delay in having a New York elder law attorney such as Cormac McEnery, analyze your financial and personal circumstances. We will explain the options available to you, and work with you to create and implement a comprehensive plan, including trust and estate planning and Medicaid planning. We will work with you to maintain your independence and the continuation of your control of your assets, while planning for potential disabilities of yourself and other family members, protecting your home and other assets.

- Medicaid Planning

Medicaid planning to protect your assets in New York is complex and requires an elder law attorney with experience and knowledge such as Cormac McEnery. Due to the high costs of nursing home and extended health care, many people who do not have long-term health care insurance, will deplete assets accrued from a lifetime of saving to meet Medicaid’s strict income and asset eligibility guidelines. It is therefore imperative you receive experienced and knowledgeable advice on the Medicaid guidelines, including the time period in which your assets, income, and transfers will be analyzed (the look back period), and which assets and transfers may be exempt, optimally years before you, or your spouse, need to apply for Medicaid benefits.

- Estate Administration

If you just lost a loved one, you may feel overwhelmed and confused. Cormac McEnery brings years of knowledge and experience to assist you in the complexities of New York State Surrogate’s Court proceedings, the administration of estates, and estate tax proceedings. We continually educate you in an area in which you may have had little, or no, prior experience. We will provide advice and assistance in the various aspects of estate administration, including:

* Court Proceedings

Preparation, execution and filing with the Surrogate’s Court, the necessary documents to probate a decedent’s Will and have an executor of the estate appointed, or if the person died without a Will, the necessary documents for the appointment of an administrator, and trustee, if necessary.

* Administration of Estate

Post mortem estate planning, inventory, valuation, collection, and sale or distribution of the decedent’s assets; funding trusts; payment of debts of the decedent and expenses of the estate; record keeping; overseeing, filing of the decedent’s final income tax returns and the estate’s fiduciary income tax returns.

* Estate Tax Proceedings

Even if all the decedent’s assets were held jointly, or a beneficiary was designated, and no Surrogate’s Court proceeding is necessary, an estate will need to file an estate tax proceeding. Depending on the total date of death value of the decedent’s assets, an estate may be required to file a federal estate tax return and/or a New York State Estate Tax Return, or a New York State Estate Tax Certification. This is especially important if the decedent had assets, which may subject the estate or its beneficiaries to capital gains taxes upon the sale of the asset, such as real property and securities, and establishing by documentary evidence, the new cost basis of these assets for future capital gains tax purposes. Procuring a New York State release of estate tax lien for real property located in New York State.

* Accounting and Settlement

Preparation of fiduciary’s accountings preparation of, and execution by the beneficiaries of the estate, the releases of the fiduciary; final distribution of the assets; payment of commissions; and closing of the estate.

- Estate Litigation

We all realize we live in litigious times. When we represent a client, we bring our years of experience and knowledge to insure that an estate and/or trust is timely and properly administrated, thereby alleviating much of the burden on the decedent’s family at a time of extreme stress, which can sometimes result in discord. Cormac McEnery’s experience and knowledge can be vital in getting positive results for our clients, and to avoid unnecessary litigation which may delay the administration of the estate at significant additional costs, and family discord.

Just as there are various steps in the administration of an estate, there are various types of proceedings which may arise throughout the administration of an estate, whether the decedent had a Will or not. Some examples of the types of estate litigation are:

* Will Contests

Common grounds for contesting a Will are:

• The Will was not properly executed
• The person, at the time the Will was executed, lacked the “testamentary capacity” to dispose of his/her property. The measurement of someone’s “testamentary capacity” has three basic elements: The person knew the “natural objects of their bounty” (family and close friends); the person had knowledge of their property (assets); and the person had the ability to make a rational plan for the post death distribution of those assets
• The person, at the time the Will was executed, was unduly influenced or defrauded by another. Undue influence is not just the suggestion, but sufficient influence as to destroy one’s free will
• The disposition of the assets was influenced by fraud or fraudulent acts

* Discover and Inspection of Property

These proceedings may be brought by a fiduciary of an estate, to locate and/or compel delivery of assets believed to be in the possession of another. Conversely, the proceedings may be instituted to discover and/or compel delivery of assets that an individual believes is not an asset of the estate, and is in the possession of the fiduciary of an estate.

* Revocation of Letters

In the case of serious mismanagement, theft, fraud or other compelling reasons, an interested party of an estate or trust may petition the Court to have the fiduciary appointed by the Court removed.

More Information on Cormac McEnery Law Firm

Brooklyn, New York Wills Attorney
Elder Law Firm in Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn, NY Medicaid Planning Law Firm
Probate Attorney in Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn, NY Estate Litigation Lawyer
Estate Planning Lawyer in Brooklyn, NY
Attorney Cormac McEnery's Profile
Cormac McEnery Law Firm News and Publications
Contact Cormac McEnery Law Firm

Other Offices

• USA - New York, City Island - Main Office
• USA - New York, New York