Best Estate Planning Attorneys in Toms River, NJ

There are several possible scenarios if you die with a surviving spouse:If you and your surviving spouse or domestic partner have children and no stepchildren, then your surviving spouse or domestic partner will inherit your entire estate. If you and your surviving spouse or domestic partner have children and your surviving spouse or domestic partner has children of a prior union, then your surviving spouse or domestic partner will inherit the first 25% of your estate (but not less than $50,000.00 nor more than $200,000.00), plus one-half of any balance. Your children, from this marriage or any prior union, will share the other half equally. If you have children from a prior union, then your surviving spouse or domestic partner will inherit the first 25% of your estate (but not less than $50,000.00 nor more than $200,000.00), plus one-half of any balance. Your children, from this marriage or any prior union, will share the other half equally. If you do not have children, but you are survived by a parent(s), then your surviving spouse or domestic partner will inherit the first 25% of your estate (but not less than $50,000.00 nor more than $200,000.00), plus three-fourths of any balance. Your parent(s) will inherit the other one-fourth.

Signing a general Power of Attorney and Living Will is a much better way to deal with incapacity than a guardianship proceeding. If you become disabled, a general Power of Attorney authorizes your agent to act on your behalf and sign your name to financial and/or legal documents. A Living Will authorizes your representative to act on your behalf with respect to medical decisions. Having these documents will generally avoid the need for time consuming, expensive, and publicly embarrassing court proceedings whereby someone has to go to court to have you declared mentally or physically incapacitated and then seek appointment to serve as your legal guardian subject to ongoing court supervision.

As a general rule, if you are single you are allowed to keep $2,000.00 of countable assets. However, amounts exceeding $2,000.00 may be able to be protected. Please consult with a qualified elder law attorney who will be able to explain the options available to you for your exact situation.

As part of your Medicaid application the Medicaid rules allow for the Department of Social Services to look back at your financial records. If you have transferred assets to a third-party for less than valuable consideration at any point in the past five (5) years, the transfer should be evaluated by a skilled elder law attorney to determine how the transfer will be treated for purposes of a Medicaid application.