14 JANUARY 12 - JANUARY 18, 2018 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP
Ridgite honored at Fort Hamilton
with such an important history, is
definitely very cool,” he said.
Donovan, along with U.S. Senator
Charles Schumer, penned a letter to
Acting Secretary of the Army Robert
Speer recommending that Kindschuh
receive the U.S. Army Medal for Heroism;
the request was approved in
September of last year.
“I’m grateful the Secretary of the
Army saw Mark’s heroics as we did as
deserving this honor,” Donovan said.
“It’s a proud moment. That Mark took it
upon himself during a terrorist attack
to come to the aid of a fellow human
being is just a reflection of the man he
is and the parents that raised him. The
Medal for Heroism is rarely given out.
It takes acts such as Mark’s this past
summer to be recognized with such
an honor.”
Kindschuh’s father, also named
Mark, a doctor at Coney Island Hospital,
was thrilled. “It’s the most exceptional
honor the Army can bestow on
our son and it makes us immensely
proud. These times need heroes and
positive stories because there is so
much of the opposite and to have your
own son stand out as a positive story
BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photo by Jaime DeJesus
ROTC Cadet Mark Kindschuh received the ROTC U.S Army
Medal for Heroism.
is exceptional.”
Longtime friend and current
roommate Ryan Carragher was also
in attendance. “I’ve known Mark for
seven years. None of us had a doubt
that he had this in him,” he said. “He
never had any fear about doing what
he thought was right. He showed it in
an outstanding way this summer but
he’s always done what people expect
him to.”
“For a young cadet who is going to
be leader in the United States Army, it
sends a message of what his career is
THE ELDER LAW MINUTE TM
BY JAIME DEJESUS
JDEJESUS@BROOKLYNREPORTER.COM
Brooklyn native and ROTC cadet
Mark Kindschuh, who saved a
wounded man during a terror
attack in a London bar in June of last
year by giving him medical attention
amidst the chaos, was presented
with the ROTC U.S. Army Medal for
Heroism by Congressmember Dan
Donovan on Monday, January 8.
Donovan joined military officials,
friends and family at Fort Hamilton
Army Base for the ceremony, where
Kindschuh received the highest honor
for ROTC cadets.
“It’s extremely humbling. It definitely
means a lot to me and my parents as
well,” Kindschuh told this paper. “I was
just happy and proud that I was able
to represent, in a pretty dire situation,
my battalion, cadet command and the
Army as a whole in a positive fashion.”
It also meant a lot for the Boston
College student to celebrate the honor
in his home neighborhood. “I grew up
in Bay Ridge and I’ve been to Fort Hamilton
for different events growing up
so getting it here, an Army installation
Estate planning is not just for the
wealthy. Additionally, it is not sufficient
to simply write a will or trust
and leave the rest to chance. Estate
planning is a process in which an
attorney reviews the client’s assets
and implements a plan to ensure the
proper management and distribution
of the client’s assets upon incapacity
and/or death.
Individuals who engage in Do-It-
Yourself estate planning often neglect
certain aspects of a properly coordinated
estate plan. The following are
some examples of the items people
tend to overlook.
*Reviewing and updating your
plan upon a major life event: People
often forget to review and potentially
update their estate plans after
a major life event. Major life events
include the birth or death of a family
member or non-familial beneficiary
or a marriage or divorce of either the
individual or intended beneficiaries.
Another major life event that
requires a careful review of one’s
estate plan is the disability of a
beneficiary. For example, if a child
becomes disabled, parents should
consider a “Special Needs Trust”
in their estate plan for the disabled
child so as not to affect the child’s
ability to receive government benefits
that he or she would otherwise
be eligible to receive. A trust fund
can then be made available to provide
for a better quality of life for the
disabled child.
*Beneficiary Designations: People
often have beneficiary designations
completed on their accounts and
then forget about them. However, it
is important to review and potentially
update beneficiary designations because
the designation may no longer
be correct or still in place.
This is especially important for
retirement accounts where the
beneficiary designation can provide
significant tax advantages to the
beneficiaries. In addition, over time,
retirement accounts can be moved to
different institutions and the beneficiary
designation forms held in the
old institution may not have been
transferred over.
*Digital Assets: As technology
advances, more and more business
is conducted online. People tend to
neglect to address how digital assets
are to be handled. What happens to
these online assets and accounts after
the individual dies?
One should make a list of all of one’s
online accounts, including email, financial
accounts, Facebook, Mint, rewards
points and any additional sites
where business is conducted online. It
is important to include the username
and password for each account, as
well as access information for digital
devices, such as smartphones and
computers.
It is critical to make sure the
agent under one’s durable power of
attorney and the executor named in
one’s will have the specific authority
to deal with the individual’s digital
assets.
*Minor Beneficiaries: Parents with
minor children are strongly advised
to engage in estate planning. For those
who do have an estate plan, a trust for
going to be, said Colonel Peter Sicoli,
the fort’s commander. “I’m impressed
with his leadership, his selfless service,
his courage.”
Kindschuh, for his part, is ready
to focus on his future. “I’m definitely
humbled, but after this, hopefully
things should calm down,” he said. “I’m
excited about the future. This summer,
I will be training and then at the end of
August I have to decide what I want to
do in the Army once I'm commissioned.
I am thinking about either law or
intelligence.”
their minors is often a recommended
tool to provide financial management
for the children.
A minor is generally someone who
is under the age of 18. However, parents
often fail to consider at what age
their children may actually be mature
enough to handle their inheritance. It
is often recommended that a minor’s
inheritance should be held in trust for
his or her benefit until an age at which
the parents believe the child is more
likely able to manage his or her funds.
Ronald A. Fatoullah, Esq. is the principal
of Ronald Fatoullah & Associates,
a law firm that concentrates in elder
law, estate planning, Medicaid planning,
guardianships, estate administration,
trusts, wills, and real estate.
Yan Lian Kuang-Maoga is an elder law
attorney with the firm. The law firm
can be reached at 718-261-1700, 516-466-
4422, or toll free at 1-877-ELDER-LAW
or 1-877-ESTATES. Mr. Fatoullah is
also a partner with Advice Period, a
wealth management firm, and he can
be reached at 424-256-7273.
BY RONALD A. FATOULLAH, ESQ. & YAN LIAN KUANG-MAOGA, ESQ.
What not to neglect in your estate plan