Management of Your Affairs

Power of Attorney

A Power of Attorney is an important legal document where you give a person the legal authority to handle your finances and make other business decisions on your behalf.

If you become incapacitated in the future and have not signed a Power of Attorney, then a Guardianship proceeding might become necessary.

New York State has a "Statutory Form" which contains many important powers. This form was recently revised effective September 12, 2010. This new version contains many additional important powers, such as the power to file tax returns on your behalf.

The new Power of Attorney form has numerous important changes designed to give you more flexibility and protection in deciding what powers to grant to your agent(s):

1) It allows you to appoint a "monitor" to oversee your agent(s) to make certain your agent is acting in your best interests.

2) It allows you to permit your agent(s) to collect a fee for his/her/their time spent handling your affairs.

3) It requires your appointed agent(s) to sign the Power of Attorney agreeing to serve and acknowledging their duty to act only in your best interests.

4) It provides for an optional "gift rider" for you to specify whether your agent(s) can make gifts and allows you to provide specific guidelines and restrictions for such gifts.

If you already have a Power of Attorney prepared by the Koldin Law Center prior to 1997, we recommend that you consider signing a new Power of Attorney which contains substantially more powers we believe could be helpful.

If you signed a Power of Attorney with the Koldin Law Center on or after January 1, 1997, then your Power of Attorney contains enough enhanced authority for your agent to handle your affairs in the event of a catastrophic illness. However, if you desire some of the additional features the new form offers, please feel free to contact our office.

Under this new law, the "statutory form" has the basic powers. The law then allows for substantial modification of the basic form. The Koldin Law Center has prepared an enhanced Power of Attorney which provides additional powers we feel are important if a catastrophic illness occurs.

A Power of Attorney cannot be used to make health care decisions. A separate document called a Health Care Proxy is available for New York residents.

If you do not have a Power of Attorney, or if you would like to review your existing Power of Attorney and discuss whether a new one should be prepared, please feel free to contact the Koldin Law Center .

What is A Living Trust?

A Living Trust is created by a written agreement between you and the person you choose to manage the assets in the Trust.

The Trust Agreement

The terms of the Trust Agreement should be tailored to meet your specific needs.

A Trust Avoids Probate

On your death, your trust assets will be distributed directly to your named beneficiaries without the costs, problems, publicity, or delays of Probate.

Revocable Versus Irrevocable Living Trusts

A Revocable Trust does not protect a person's assets in the event of a catastrophic illness. Since you can revoke the Trust, Medicaid can force you to revoke the Trust and withdraw all the Trust assets and use those assets towards the cost of care.

The only type of Trust that will truly protect resources in the event of a catastrophic illness is an Irrevocable Trust where the language of the Trust Agreement appropriately complies with the federal and state Medicaid requirements.

Health Care Proxy

A Health Care Proxy designates someone to make medical decisions in your behalf in the event you become incapacitated. If properly drafted, the Proxy should include the authority to carry out your wishes regarding the removal of life support machines, feeding tubes and hydration. You can also make organ donation instructions on your Health Care Proxy. The Koldin Law Center is available to review your wishes regarding end of life decisions.

New York State now has a website with detailed information about the Health Care Proxy. This site also includes a free form. Please click on the link below to go to this website.

Health Care Proxy