36 THE QUEENS COURIER • QUEENS BUSINESS • JANUARY 11, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
queens business
The Elder Law Minute TM
What Not to Neglect in Your Estate Plan
BY RONALD A. FATOULLAH, ESQ.
AND YAN LIAN KUANG-MAOGA,
ESQ.
Estate planning is not just for the
wealthy. Additionally, it is not suffi
cient 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
oft en neglect certain aspects of a
properly coordinated estate plan. Th e
following are some examples of the
items people tend to overlook.
Reviewing and updating your
plan upon a major life event: People
oft en forget to review and potentially
update their estate plans aft er a
major life event. Major life events
include the birth or death of a family
member or non-familial benefi ciary
or a marriage or divorce of either
the individual or intended benefi -
ciaries. Another major life event
that requires a careful review of
ELDER LAW
one’s estate plan is the disability of
a benefi ciary. 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 aff ect the child’s ability
to receive government benefi ts 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.
Benefi ciary Designations: People
oft en have benefi ciary designations
completed on their accounts and
then forget about them. However,
it is important to review and potentially
update benefi ciary designations
because the designation may no longer
be correct or still in place. Th is
is especially important for retirement
accounts where the benefi ciary
designation can provide signifi -
cant tax advantages to the benefi ciaries.
In addition, over time, retirement
accounts can be moved to different
institutions and the benefi ciary
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 aft er
the individual dies? One should make
a list of all of one’s online accounts,
including e-mail, fi nancial 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 specifi c authority to deal with the
individual’s digital assets.
Minor Benefi ciaries: Parents with
minor children are strongly advised
to engage in estate planning. For
those who do have an estate plan, a
trust for their minors is oft en a recommended
tool to provide fi nancial
management for the children. A
minor is generally someone who is
under the age of eighteen. However,
parents oft en fail to consider at what
age their children may actually be
mature enough to handle their inheritance.
It is oft en recommended that
a minor’s inheritance should be held
in trust for his or her benefi t 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 fi rm 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 fi rm. Th e law fi rm 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 fi rm, and he
can be reached at 424-256-7273.
RONALD FATOULLAH
ESQ, CELA*
editorial
Employment Matters Column
SMART Goals for 2018
questions as you think
One of the fi rst steps
Dear Readers:
about your goals for 2018:
to successfully attaining
January is the perfect time to
• Specifi c (Is your goal
your goals is to write
refl ect upon what you achieved last
clear and focused?)
them down! If you would
year and plan what you would like
• Measurable (Is there a
like to start 2018 on the
to accomplish in 2018. Whether
way to track your progress?)
right foot with meaningful,
you want to exercise more diligently,
achievable goals send
or grow your business, or fi nish
• Attainable (Is your goal
an email to info@aimresourcegroup.
that book, it is important to write
realistic?)
com with
down your goals.
• Relevant (Is the goal
your SMART goal and I
To ensure that you accomplish
worth the eff ort to you?)
will send you an Action
your goals, it is best if they are
• Time-Bound (What is
Planning Worksheet that
SMART. Ask yourself the following
your deadline?)
you can use to track and
measure your goals.
Wishing you a bright and successful
2018!
Mindy
Mindy Stern, SPHR, SHRM-SCP,
ACC is a trusted HR advisor, leadership
coach, author, speaker and
president of AIM Resource Group
Inc. Visit the website at www.aimresourcegroup.
com or send an email
to info@aimresourcegroup.com to
get RESULTS!
EMPLOYMENT
MATTERS
MINDY STERN
SPHR, SHRM-SCP,