March 29, 2026 • 29 mins
The Laws of your Money with Ann-Margaret Episode 47.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The following is a paid podcast. iHeartRadio's hosting of this
podcast constitutes neither an endorsement of the products offered or
the ideas expressed. The following program is sponsored by New
York Priority Medical Care. Now it's time for the Laws
of Your Money, a weekly calling show with legal tips
(00:20):
to help you protect your money. Here's your host, and
Margaret Caroza.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, and welcome to the Laws of your Money.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
This is a program dedicated to protecting you from legal
and financial mayhem. I believe that legal protections are the
most important elements of personal finance, because what does it
matter how diligently and brilliantly I save and invest if
(00:52):
there is a greater than forty percent chance of losing
assets to a long term illness and expensive divorce taxes.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
This can be.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Capital gains taxes, estate taxes, not to mention ordinary lawsuits.
It is incumbent upon all of us to learn how
to protect ourselves from people who want to separate us
from our money.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
My name is Anne.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Margaret Carosa, former New York State legislator and asset protection attorney,
Joined today by my esteemed co host, the Reverend Paul
slatkis welcome back to the program, Paul, Thanks am Margaret.
So today I want to start with a news item,
(01:48):
and Paul, did you hear what New York City Mayor
Mom Donnie has.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Proposed posed a lot of things. It is a tax like.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
My little co op, possibly are very wealthy people this one.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Well, we're lowering the definition of what very wealthy is apparently.
And the current New York State a state tax threshold
is a little over seven million dollars, meaning you can
leave up to that amount of money to the next
generation or the people of your choice free of estate taxes.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
What the mayor has proposed is lowering that threshold to
seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. So if you own
a home in New York State, if you have a
retirement account, it's very easy to reach that threshold. And
(02:54):
on top of that, he wants to raise the top
rate from a current high in New York State of
sixteen percent to fifty percent. So you know, not to
put you on the spot.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
I didn't hear this, but yeah, this is going to
put you on the spot a little bit.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
But what do you think of that?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
For someone who has paid income taxes on these monies
in the year that they were earned, and has managed
to put something together, a little nest egg, a little cushion,
something for the next generation. Do you think it's right
(03:43):
that the government has another bite at the apple at death?
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Now, this is a serious apple bite. This is if
anybody lived here for a long time, such as I
forty years and I bought something on the Apple West
Side for maybe seventy thousand at the time, and that
was worth over a million dollars just because of forty
years of increases. So are you saying that the potential
(04:07):
of me being so wealthy, even though of course I
can't sell it because of them, I have to sleep
in the street. But the point is then I could
potentially be taxed seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
No, Paul, okay, all right?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Means means is many moons from now upon your passing,
if this law is in effect, the recipient of your
big beautiful co op would be taxed on the value
over seven hundred and fifty thousand times not.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Me, okay, fit whoever? I've yes, all right?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
So you know what, we can go back and forth
about the wisdom of having a standalone a state tax
on assets, again that we've already paid income taxes on.
The estate tax in the United States is a relatively
(05:05):
new tax. It was first implemented in nineteen sixteen, so
it's been with us a little more than one hundred years,
and it was initially implemented to help fund World War One, okay,
And then what did wealthy people start doing to get
(05:27):
around it? They started gifting everything out of their names
on their deathbeds, so that there was no estate with
which the government from which the government could collect taxes.
So in nineteen twenty four, a gift.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Tax was enacted.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
So the rationale is you're either going to have an
estate tax or you're not. That's a policy debate. But
if you are going to have it, you also need
a gift tax to ensure the integrity of the combined
transfer tax system. Be that as it may not. Every
(06:11):
state has a standalone a state tax system. We have
about sixteen states, and New York is definitely one of
them that has an estate tax, and of course the
mayor of New York City can't change state tax legislation.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
So this is his proposal to.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
My former colleagues in Albany to be part of this
year's budget. This is definitely creating an exodus of high
net worth people out of New York State.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Now.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I am practicing many, many, many years, and for decades,
I would hear clients say.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
You know, this is it.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I've had it with New York moving out of New
York State, and by and large, they really didn't. At
the end of the day. They stayed here. There's the
pull of grandkids living close by, and the appeal of
arguably the best medical care in the United States that
we have in New York. But I can tell you
(07:21):
that today a lot of my clients are leaving New
York State. This is a reality, and in response to that,
the New York State Department of Taxation has recently hired
dozens of residency investigators. So my message to those of
(07:46):
you who are contemplating leaving New York State, you really
need to do it. You can't just say that you're
doing it. In this day and age, where they can
track easy Pass, they can track credit card usage, and
we all know that in order to claim residency in
(08:08):
another state, we need to be there no less than
six months and one day. But that measurement alone does
not get us all the way home. For determining residency,
these auditors will look at where is the gym membership,
(08:29):
They will look at where are you registered to vote?
Absolutely everything. And there was a guy who quote unquote
moved to North Carolina, was actually there more than six
months and a day, but when he applied for a
phishing license in his secondary state of New York, he
(08:52):
checked the box that he was a New York state
resident to save eight dollars on the fishing license. You know,
so they are definitely definitely looking at this stuff. Do
you know anyone who has left?
Speaker 4 (09:11):
No, but I do know. Well they've left previously, older
people who went to Florida. Yeah, and that's six month ruling.
I've heard, you know previously. I don't know anybody who
has left.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
But I think you will. Yeah, you're still.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
I'm already scared.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
You're you're already scared for.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
My future for not me.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Then, as you say, so, the question is for folks
who decide to stay in New York, what can we do.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
My phone is ringing.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
A lot these days with people who've heard about this proposal.
What can we do to save our children from a
blood bath in state taxes? And I think, you know,
don't panic. Any administration comes to an end. But all
we can do it's twofold plan for the law as.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
It exists right now.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Okay, but this highlights the need to build flexibility within
your estate planning documents. You never want to do a
totally irrevocable trust in response to the tax law as
(10:32):
it exists right now, because chances are, I think one
hundred percent that the law will change several times between
the time we do the documents and the time we die.
So this is not a one and done proposition. Build
flexibility into the documents and meet with your state planning
(10:55):
attorney regularly. So under current New York state of state
tax law, we said that the state tax threshold is
a little more than seven million dollars. So for a couple,
for two spouses, how much can the two of them
(11:16):
together leave to the next generation free of taxes?
Speaker 5 (11:22):
I thought it was half three a three point five.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Million, that'd be a no.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
I'm getting a lot of nose here.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah, you're my.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Barometer, Paul, I ask you these questions. You're a smart guy.
This is not rocket science. But there are a ton
of moving parts here, and they do affect each other.
I'm trying to plan to eliminate capital gains taxes, and
(11:53):
that can trigger a state taxes and vice versa. So
we try to go through these issues thoughtfully. If I
have a seven million dollar credit and my spouse has
a seven million dollar credit, common sense would dictate that
the two of us together can leave fourteen million dollars
(12:15):
to our spoiled kids free of estate taxes.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
But the reality is.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
We end up losing that first credit when we have
a simple will, a simple estate plan that sometimes people
call it a sweetheart will, I leave everything to my
spouse and vice versa, and then the last guy or
gal standing leaves everything to the children.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
What happens because.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Of the federal and state so called unlimited marital deduction,
the first spouse's credit is lost. If I leave everything
to my spouse, there's never a tax. I can leave
one hundred million dollars to my spouse and there is
no tax. But because there was no tax liability at
(13:12):
that first death, there was no opportunity to use the credit.
It's like an expired you know, Macy's gift card. So
what we need to do is build credit shelter trusts
into the wills, into the bowels of the Asset Protection Trust,
(13:34):
and that will serve to preserve both credits. I'm not
going to get more into the details of this. I
know we have people driving and I don't want them
to fall asleep out of board.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
That's what your book says. The book.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Yeah, So if you want to learn more about this,
The Smart Woman's Guide to Building and Protecting Way he
check it out on Amazon. You can visit me at
my lawyer and on Instagram, and of course I'd love
you to call the office if you're so inclined to
(14:12):
bring your documents in. We'll review everything and test for
weak areas in terms of taxation and asset protection. So
jump onto my Instagram at my lawyer Anne, and then
you can from there go onto the website and consider
(14:35):
making an appointment for a consultation in either Port Jefferson,
Bayside or Beautiful Albany, New York.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
So obligation you have yourselves for yourself and for your family.
This is really actually an obligation.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
I believe it is our last act as a parent.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
Right, yeah, sure, this serious stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Okay, changing gears for a moment. I believe we have
a caller.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
So there must be some unusual planetary alignment that today
is the day we have a caller. I thought perhaps
the phone wasn't working, and I was reminded of my
teenage years when you're expecting a very important social call
and you have to check to see that there's a
dial tone and it's not because the phone is broken
(15:30):
that he didn't call me.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
But anyway, that's a story for another day. We have
a caller. Welcome to the program, and.
Speaker 6 (15:38):
You have Dana Freedman on the phone.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Dana Friedman, the esteemed attorney. How are you, Dana?
Speaker 6 (15:44):
I am doing well in yourself.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I'm great here with Paul. Dana is a former co
host and hopefully a future guest co host of the
program What's going On in your World?
Speaker 6 (16:00):
First off, I'm a little alarmed that the tax news
that you just read it, or potential news.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Had you heard about it? I'm just curious.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
I had not until now. Now I have to go
back and sort of research and see what it's all
about and figure out how long I'm going to be
in New York.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Those are fighting words. Do you hear this, mister Mayor?
Dana is thinking about going.
Speaker 6 (16:25):
I am a born and bred New Yorker. Don't make
me change that. Yeah, yeah, I'm calling you with some
probate question.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Okay, what's going on.
Speaker 6 (16:40):
We had a It was a friend of my parents,
a very lovely lady who had some property upstate New York.
She passed away about two years ago. She left as
a devisy to her niece the property in upstate New York.
But the niece is extraordinary uncooperative and I'm afraid at
(17:02):
this point the property is going to achievet to the
States for non payment of taxes. Then the niece will
not cooperate or communicate. Okay, so there's there's a neighbor.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
I'm sorry, No, no, you go ahead. I need more info.
Speaker 6 (17:16):
Okay, I am the executor of the estate. Now, I
spoke to a neighbor who is very interested in purchasing
the property, even though the property is supposed to go
to the niece. Now, as the executive, if the niece
is uncooperative and I, as the executor, sell the property
even though it's left to the niece, and then deposit
(17:37):
the proceeds into the estate account and then surrender the
proceeds to the nise whether if she ever catches the
check or not? Another question?
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Okay, So the devil is in the details. Here, are
you the attorney draftsman of the will?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I am okay.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
And do you recall whether you simply said that the
niece gets the property or was the executor directed to
sell the property and then the sale proceeds goes to
the niece.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
Now the niece was supposed to get the property.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Well, the good news to the niece there is that
you cannot claim an executor's commission on that real estate
only if there's a direction to sell. But that's a
side issue. Did you file this probate in the County Surrogates.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
Court in Westchester County? Yes?
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
And you were given letters testamentary yes by the court.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
So did this niece sign a waiver and consent initially
to you acting as the executor?
Speaker 6 (18:54):
I honestly don't recall in several years at this point,
one set time on. Let's assume that she has not
because she's not been extraordinarily cooperative.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Well, I'm something had to happen for the court to
give you letters testamentary. So either there's the easy way
and there's the hard way. So The easy way would
have been that this niece gets mail from you with
a photo copy of the will, and this waver and consent.
(19:28):
The essence of it is that she has reviewed the
copy of the will and she has no problem with
Dana Friedman acting as the executor. If she did not
fill out that waiver and consent, then the court would
have issued a citation with a citation return date asking
(19:49):
her to come to the Westchester Surrogate's Court to give
reason why you should not be named as the executor.
The fact that the court gave you letters testamentary tells
me either someone at the courthouse made a mistake.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
More likely though, that.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
One of the two threshold requirements were met. So you
got letters testamentary quite.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
A while ago, is that right?
Speaker 6 (20:19):
All right?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Okay? So a you have to get them updated?
Speaker 6 (20:23):
Right?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
They expire every six months or so.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
And is the house the only thing going through the
probta state?
Speaker 6 (20:33):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Okay? And have you had the house appraised? We have not, okay.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
So to protect yourself, you know, as the executor, you
have personal liability for making the wrong move here. So
as you know, Dana, the law says that every action
that you take is in the best interests of the
(21:02):
ultimate beneficiary of this estate. So before you make a
deal with the neighbor, you need to protect yourself so
that the niece cannot later say that you gave this
person a sweetheart deal and maybe you had some side
agreement with them.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
So the estate can.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Pay for a full blown appraisal of the property, not
just some letter of opinion value by a local realtor.
Get an actual appraisal, and then that really should be
what the neighbor is paying. Maybe you can justify a
(21:45):
little discount because you didn't have to use a real
estate broker and you saved a little bit of money
in that regard. But once you have the updated letters, testamentary,
and a good appraisal, then you can go forward with
the sale. The check is going to be made payable
(22:07):
to the estate you as the executor with then open
an estate account to deposit the check, and then you
will present the niece with something called a receipt release
and refunding agreement that you don't give her this money
until she discharges you from liability.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
But you're definitely thinking the right way to.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Offload this property because it's costing the estate money in
terms of liability, insurance and taxes, on and on and on.
So if you have any further questions on it, direct
message me at my lawyer Anne. All right, good luck
with it, Dana.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
Thank you very much, take care. I have a wonderful
dubt you too.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, No, this does does this really highlight why we
want to avoid probate? Right, A trust would have listed
the nieces the beneficiary and poor Dana wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Have to deal with all of this.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
And the upshot is he's not even going to get
I'm not laughing an executor's commission from it.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Because of the way he drafted the will.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
It highlights how you need a very very wise lawyer.
I'm going to say it straight out.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Thank you you.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Well, back back to mister may or mom Donnie.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
So, what is the.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Rationale for lowering the estate tax threshold? Well, New York
City has a looming five billion dollar budget deficit, so
you know, definitely he is looking for ways to plug
that gap. But you know, I have a suggestion, and
(23:55):
that is that we look to rein in law suits
against New York City. In the last fiscal year, lawsuits
against the City of New York cost the city over
two billion dollars. Now that would go a long way
(24:18):
to plug this hole. And obviously, people who are hurt
need to have recourse. And you know, one of the
rationales for our system of liability laws is to encourage
good behavior, right, We want to encourage you to keep
(24:41):
your property free of dangerous conditions from which people can
get hurt. But you can't open a paper without reading
about fraudulent lawsuits. And in yesterday's Yesterday's no last week's
(25:01):
news day, there's a story about an insurance company filing
a lawsuit against twelve physicians on Long Island together with
a law firm in Manhattan who is being accused of
orchestrating a phony blooney accident mill and the Nassau University
(25:27):
Medical Center is at the heart of it. And seventy
lawsuits were filed from no more than four Freeport addresses,
so seventy people claimed to live in a combined four
(25:48):
property addresses in Freeport. And there are runners involved who
recruit largely recent immigrants who were having difficulty finding gainful employment,
and their job is to, you know, hurl themselves in
front of moving cars and fall off of people's steps
(26:12):
and then they are paid for doing that, and they
get paid more if they're willing to go.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Through back surgery.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
And all of the back surgeries are at Nassau University
Medical System.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
And this is just bonkers.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
And they have one of the defendants who claimed because
of the accident she couldn't move and she has PTSD
and she's paralyzed and on social media she's doing the
macarena at someone's party. So, I mean, this is absolutely
(26:53):
ridiculous all the way around. And it is it's driving
up medical costs, you know, and the municipalities and insurance
companies are encouraged to settle to get rid of these cases.
But you have bottom feeding attorneys who take these cases
on a contingency fee and it's you know, they just
(27:15):
play a game of poker with it and maybe they
get a payday.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
And yeah, but we have to crack down on this.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
The litigation attorneys are the most successful lobbyists in New
York State. And during my time in office, I had
what I thought was a very reasonable piece of legislation
designed to help the nearly three million New Yorkers who
(27:47):
don't even have basic health insurance and can only seek
primary care through an emergency room, right, and what does.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
That cost us as tax payers?
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Proposal was, if you are a retired physician in New
York State and you provide primary and preventive care to
uninsured New Yorkers, that you have some protections against malpractice exposure.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Well, I was never.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
So popular in my life the way that the trial
lawyers lobbyists descended upon my office, and that did not
end up going through, But you know, I thought that
was a common sense thing. Uninsured folks cost the state
millions and millions of dollars because they seek their primary
(28:44):
care from an emergency room. So we need to do
something about that. We need to rein in the lawsuits.
There's a lot of work to be done, but the
bottom line is there are areas where we can save
money for our immunis and state budget without abusing tax payers.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
So with that, we are already at the end.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
I want to thank you Paul for being with us
and encourage you visit me on Instagram at my lawyer
Ann and we'll see you next week. Have a great
day everyone.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
The preceding program was sponsored by New York Priority Medical Care.
The preceding was a paid podcast iHeartRadio's hosting of this
podcast constitutes neither an endorsement of the products offered or
the ideas expressed.
The following is a paid podcast. iHeartRadio's hosting of this
podcast constitutes neither an endorsement of the products offered or
the ideas expressed. The following program is sponsored by New
York Priority Medical Care. Now it's time for the Laws
of Your Money, a weekly calling show with legal tips
(00:20):
to help you protect your money. Here's your host, and
Margaret Caroza.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, and welcome to the Laws of your Money.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
This is a program dedicated to protecting you from legal
and financial mayhem. I believe that legal protections are the
most important elements of personal finance, because what does it
matter how diligently and brilliantly I save and invest if
(00:52):
there is a greater than forty percent chance of losing
assets to a long term illness and expensive divorce taxes.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
This can be.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Capital gains taxes, estate taxes, not to mention ordinary lawsuits.
It is incumbent upon all of us to learn how
to protect ourselves from people who want to separate us
from our money.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
My name is Anne.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Margaret Carosa, former New York State legislator and asset protection attorney,
Joined today by my esteemed co host, the Reverend Paul
slatkis welcome back to the program, Paul, Thanks am Margaret.
So today I want to start with a news item,
(01:48):
and Paul, did you hear what New York City Mayor
Mom Donnie has.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Proposed posed a lot of things. It is a tax like.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
My little co op, possibly are very wealthy people this one.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Well, we're lowering the definition of what very wealthy is apparently.
And the current New York State a state tax threshold
is a little over seven million dollars, meaning you can
leave up to that amount of money to the next
generation or the people of your choice free of estate taxes.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
What the mayor has proposed is lowering that threshold to
seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. So if you own
a home in New York State, if you have a
retirement account, it's very easy to reach that threshold. And
(02:54):
on top of that, he wants to raise the top
rate from a current high in New York State of
sixteen percent to fifty percent. So you know, not to
put you on the spot.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
I didn't hear this, but yeah, this is going to
put you on the spot a little bit.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
But what do you think of that?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
For someone who has paid income taxes on these monies
in the year that they were earned, and has managed
to put something together, a little nest egg, a little cushion,
something for the next generation. Do you think it's right
(03:43):
that the government has another bite at the apple at death?
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Now, this is a serious apple bite. This is if
anybody lived here for a long time, such as I
forty years and I bought something on the Apple West
Side for maybe seventy thousand at the time, and that
was worth over a million dollars just because of forty
years of increases. So are you saying that the potential
(04:07):
of me being so wealthy, even though of course I
can't sell it because of them, I have to sleep
in the street. But the point is then I could
potentially be taxed seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
No, Paul, okay, all right?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Means means is many moons from now upon your passing,
if this law is in effect, the recipient of your
big beautiful co op would be taxed on the value
over seven hundred and fifty thousand times not.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Me, okay, fit whoever? I've yes, all right?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
So you know what, we can go back and forth
about the wisdom of having a standalone a state tax
on assets, again that we've already paid income taxes on.
The estate tax in the United States is a relatively
(05:05):
new tax. It was first implemented in nineteen sixteen, so
it's been with us a little more than one hundred years,
and it was initially implemented to help fund World War One, okay,
And then what did wealthy people start doing to get
(05:27):
around it? They started gifting everything out of their names
on their deathbeds, so that there was no estate with
which the government from which the government could collect taxes.
So in nineteen twenty four, a gift.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Tax was enacted.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
So the rationale is you're either going to have an
estate tax or you're not. That's a policy debate. But
if you are going to have it, you also need
a gift tax to ensure the integrity of the combined
transfer tax system. Be that as it may not. Every
(06:11):
state has a standalone a state tax system. We have
about sixteen states, and New York is definitely one of
them that has an estate tax, and of course the
mayor of New York City can't change state tax legislation.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
So this is his proposal to.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
My former colleagues in Albany to be part of this
year's budget. This is definitely creating an exodus of high
net worth people out of New York State.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Now.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I am practicing many, many, many years, and for decades,
I would hear clients say.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
You know, this is it.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I've had it with New York moving out of New
York State, and by and large, they really didn't. At
the end of the day. They stayed here. There's the
pull of grandkids living close by, and the appeal of
arguably the best medical care in the United States that
we have in New York. But I can tell you
(07:21):
that today a lot of my clients are leaving New
York State. This is a reality, and in response to that,
the New York State Department of Taxation has recently hired
dozens of residency investigators. So my message to those of
(07:46):
you who are contemplating leaving New York State, you really
need to do it. You can't just say that you're
doing it. In this day and age, where they can
track easy Pass, they can track credit card usage, and
we all know that in order to claim residency in
(08:08):
another state, we need to be there no less than
six months and one day. But that measurement alone does
not get us all the way home. For determining residency,
these auditors will look at where is the gym membership,
(08:29):
They will look at where are you registered to vote?
Absolutely everything. And there was a guy who quote unquote
moved to North Carolina, was actually there more than six
months and a day, but when he applied for a
phishing license in his secondary state of New York, he
(08:52):
checked the box that he was a New York state
resident to save eight dollars on the fishing license. You know,
so they are definitely definitely looking at this stuff. Do
you know anyone who has left?
Speaker 4 (09:11):
No, but I do know. Well they've left previously, older
people who went to Florida. Yeah, and that's six month ruling.
I've heard, you know previously. I don't know anybody who
has left.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
But I think you will. Yeah, you're still.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
I'm already scared.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
You're you're already scared for.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
My future for not me.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Then, as you say, so, the question is for folks
who decide to stay in New York, what can we do.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
My phone is ringing.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
A lot these days with people who've heard about this proposal.
What can we do to save our children from a
blood bath in state taxes? And I think, you know,
don't panic. Any administration comes to an end. But all
we can do it's twofold plan for the law as.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
It exists right now.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Okay, but this highlights the need to build flexibility within
your estate planning documents. You never want to do a
totally irrevocable trust in response to the tax law as
(10:32):
it exists right now, because chances are, I think one
hundred percent that the law will change several times between
the time we do the documents and the time we die.
So this is not a one and done proposition. Build
flexibility into the documents and meet with your state planning
(10:55):
attorney regularly. So under current New York state of state
tax law, we said that the state tax threshold is
a little more than seven million dollars. So for a couple,
for two spouses, how much can the two of them
(11:16):
together leave to the next generation free of taxes?
Speaker 5 (11:22):
I thought it was half three a three point five.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Million, that'd be a no.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
I'm getting a lot of nose here.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah, you're my.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Barometer, Paul, I ask you these questions. You're a smart guy.
This is not rocket science. But there are a ton
of moving parts here, and they do affect each other.
I'm trying to plan to eliminate capital gains taxes, and
(11:53):
that can trigger a state taxes and vice versa. So
we try to go through these issues thoughtfully. If I
have a seven million dollar credit and my spouse has
a seven million dollar credit, common sense would dictate that
the two of us together can leave fourteen million dollars
(12:15):
to our spoiled kids free of estate taxes.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
But the reality is.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
We end up losing that first credit when we have
a simple will, a simple estate plan that sometimes people
call it a sweetheart will, I leave everything to my
spouse and vice versa, and then the last guy or
gal standing leaves everything to the children.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
What happens because.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Of the federal and state so called unlimited marital deduction,
the first spouse's credit is lost. If I leave everything
to my spouse, there's never a tax. I can leave
one hundred million dollars to my spouse and there is
no tax. But because there was no tax liability at
(13:12):
that first death, there was no opportunity to use the credit.
It's like an expired you know, Macy's gift card. So
what we need to do is build credit shelter trusts
into the wills, into the bowels of the Asset Protection Trust,
(13:34):
and that will serve to preserve both credits. I'm not
going to get more into the details of this. I
know we have people driving and I don't want them
to fall asleep out of board.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
That's what your book says. The book.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Yeah, So if you want to learn more about this,
The Smart Woman's Guide to Building and Protecting Way he
check it out on Amazon. You can visit me at
my lawyer and on Instagram, and of course I'd love
you to call the office if you're so inclined to
(14:12):
bring your documents in. We'll review everything and test for
weak areas in terms of taxation and asset protection. So
jump onto my Instagram at my lawyer Anne, and then
you can from there go onto the website and consider
(14:35):
making an appointment for a consultation in either Port Jefferson,
Bayside or Beautiful Albany, New York.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
So obligation you have yourselves for yourself and for your family.
This is really actually an obligation.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
I believe it is our last act as a parent.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
Right, yeah, sure, this serious stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Okay, changing gears for a moment. I believe we have
a caller.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
So there must be some unusual planetary alignment that today
is the day we have a caller. I thought perhaps
the phone wasn't working, and I was reminded of my
teenage years when you're expecting a very important social call
and you have to check to see that there's a
dial tone and it's not because the phone is broken
(15:30):
that he didn't call me.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
But anyway, that's a story for another day. We have
a caller. Welcome to the program, and.
Speaker 6 (15:38):
You have Dana Freedman on the phone.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Dana Friedman, the esteemed attorney. How are you, Dana?
Speaker 6 (15:44):
I am doing well in yourself.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I'm great here with Paul. Dana is a former co
host and hopefully a future guest co host of the
program What's going On in your World?
Speaker 6 (16:00):
First off, I'm a little alarmed that the tax news
that you just read it, or potential news.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Had you heard about it? I'm just curious.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
I had not until now. Now I have to go
back and sort of research and see what it's all
about and figure out how long I'm going to be
in New York.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Those are fighting words. Do you hear this, mister Mayor?
Dana is thinking about going.
Speaker 6 (16:25):
I am a born and bred New Yorker. Don't make
me change that. Yeah, yeah, I'm calling you with some
probate question.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Okay, what's going on.
Speaker 6 (16:40):
We had a It was a friend of my parents,
a very lovely lady who had some property upstate New York.
She passed away about two years ago. She left as
a devisy to her niece the property in upstate New York.
But the niece is extraordinary uncooperative and I'm afraid at
(17:02):
this point the property is going to achievet to the
States for non payment of taxes. Then the niece will
not cooperate or communicate. Okay, so there's there's a neighbor.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
I'm sorry, No, no, you go ahead. I need more info.
Speaker 6 (17:16):
Okay, I am the executor of the estate. Now, I
spoke to a neighbor who is very interested in purchasing
the property, even though the property is supposed to go
to the niece. Now, as the executive, if the niece
is uncooperative and I, as the executor, sell the property
even though it's left to the niece, and then deposit
(17:37):
the proceeds into the estate account and then surrender the
proceeds to the nise whether if she ever catches the
check or not? Another question?
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Okay, So the devil is in the details. Here, are
you the attorney draftsman of the will?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I am okay.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
And do you recall whether you simply said that the
niece gets the property or was the executor directed to
sell the property and then the sale proceeds goes to
the niece.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
Now the niece was supposed to get the property.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Well, the good news to the niece there is that
you cannot claim an executor's commission on that real estate
only if there's a direction to sell. But that's a
side issue. Did you file this probate in the County Surrogates.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
Court in Westchester County? Yes?
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
And you were given letters testamentary yes by the court.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
So did this niece sign a waiver and consent initially
to you acting as the executor?
Speaker 6 (18:54):
I honestly don't recall in several years at this point,
one set time on. Let's assume that she has not
because she's not been extraordinarily cooperative.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Well, I'm something had to happen for the court to
give you letters testamentary. So either there's the easy way
and there's the hard way. So The easy way would
have been that this niece gets mail from you with
a photo copy of the will, and this waver and consent.
(19:28):
The essence of it is that she has reviewed the
copy of the will and she has no problem with
Dana Friedman acting as the executor. If she did not
fill out that waiver and consent, then the court would
have issued a citation with a citation return date asking
(19:49):
her to come to the Westchester Surrogate's Court to give
reason why you should not be named as the executor.
The fact that the court gave you letters testamentary tells
me either someone at the courthouse made a mistake.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
More likely though, that.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
One of the two threshold requirements were met. So you
got letters testamentary quite.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
A while ago, is that right?
Speaker 6 (20:19):
All right?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Okay? So a you have to get them updated?
Speaker 6 (20:23):
Right?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
They expire every six months or so.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
And is the house the only thing going through the
probta state?
Speaker 6 (20:33):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Okay? And have you had the house appraised? We have not, okay.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
So to protect yourself, you know, as the executor, you
have personal liability for making the wrong move here. So
as you know, Dana, the law says that every action
that you take is in the best interests of the
(21:02):
ultimate beneficiary of this estate. So before you make a
deal with the neighbor, you need to protect yourself so
that the niece cannot later say that you gave this
person a sweetheart deal and maybe you had some side
agreement with them.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
So the estate can.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Pay for a full blown appraisal of the property, not
just some letter of opinion value by a local realtor.
Get an actual appraisal, and then that really should be
what the neighbor is paying. Maybe you can justify a
(21:45):
little discount because you didn't have to use a real
estate broker and you saved a little bit of money
in that regard. But once you have the updated letters, testamentary,
and a good appraisal, then you can go forward with
the sale. The check is going to be made payable
(22:07):
to the estate you as the executor with then open
an estate account to deposit the check, and then you
will present the niece with something called a receipt release
and refunding agreement that you don't give her this money
until she discharges you from liability.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
But you're definitely thinking the right way to.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Offload this property because it's costing the estate money in
terms of liability, insurance and taxes, on and on and on.
So if you have any further questions on it, direct
message me at my lawyer Anne. All right, good luck
with it, Dana.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
Thank you very much, take care. I have a wonderful
dubt you too.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, No, this does does this really highlight why we
want to avoid probate? Right, A trust would have listed
the nieces the beneficiary and poor Dana wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Have to deal with all of this.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
And the upshot is he's not even going to get
I'm not laughing an executor's commission from it.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Because of the way he drafted the will.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
It highlights how you need a very very wise lawyer.
I'm going to say it straight out.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Thank you you.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Well, back back to mister may or mom Donnie.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
So, what is the.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Rationale for lowering the estate tax threshold? Well, New York
City has a looming five billion dollar budget deficit, so
you know, definitely he is looking for ways to plug
that gap. But you know, I have a suggestion, and
(23:55):
that is that we look to rein in law suits
against New York City. In the last fiscal year, lawsuits
against the City of New York cost the city over
two billion dollars. Now that would go a long way
(24:18):
to plug this hole. And obviously, people who are hurt
need to have recourse. And you know, one of the
rationales for our system of liability laws is to encourage
good behavior, right, We want to encourage you to keep
(24:41):
your property free of dangerous conditions from which people can
get hurt. But you can't open a paper without reading
about fraudulent lawsuits. And in yesterday's Yesterday's no last week's
(25:01):
news day, there's a story about an insurance company filing
a lawsuit against twelve physicians on Long Island together with
a law firm in Manhattan who is being accused of
orchestrating a phony blooney accident mill and the Nassau University
(25:27):
Medical Center is at the heart of it. And seventy
lawsuits were filed from no more than four Freeport addresses,
so seventy people claimed to live in a combined four
(25:48):
property addresses in Freeport. And there are runners involved who
recruit largely recent immigrants who were having difficulty finding gainful employment,
and their job is to, you know, hurl themselves in
front of moving cars and fall off of people's steps
(26:12):
and then they are paid for doing that, and they
get paid more if they're willing to go.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Through back surgery.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
And all of the back surgeries are at Nassau University
Medical System.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
And this is just bonkers.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
And they have one of the defendants who claimed because
of the accident she couldn't move and she has PTSD
and she's paralyzed and on social media she's doing the
macarena at someone's party. So, I mean, this is absolutely
(26:53):
ridiculous all the way around. And it is it's driving
up medical costs, you know, and the municipalities and insurance
companies are encouraged to settle to get rid of these cases.
But you have bottom feeding attorneys who take these cases
on a contingency fee and it's you know, they just
(27:15):
play a game of poker with it and maybe they
get a payday.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
And yeah, but we have to crack down on this.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
The litigation attorneys are the most successful lobbyists in New
York State. And during my time in office, I had
what I thought was a very reasonable piece of legislation
designed to help the nearly three million New Yorkers who
(27:47):
don't even have basic health insurance and can only seek
primary care through an emergency room, right, and what does.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
That cost us as tax payers?
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Proposal was, if you are a retired physician in New
York State and you provide primary and preventive care to
uninsured New Yorkers, that you have some protections against malpractice exposure.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Well, I was never.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
So popular in my life the way that the trial
lawyers lobbyists descended upon my office, and that did not
end up going through, But you know, I thought that
was a common sense thing. Uninsured folks cost the state
millions and millions of dollars because they seek their primary
(28:44):
care from an emergency room. So we need to do
something about that. We need to rein in the lawsuits.
There's a lot of work to be done, but the
bottom line is there are areas where we can save
money for our immunis and state budget without abusing tax payers.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
So with that, we are already at the end.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
I want to thank you Paul for being with us
and encourage you visit me on Instagram at my lawyer
Ann and we'll see you next week. Have a great
day everyone.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
The preceding program was sponsored by New York Priority Medical Care.
The preceding was a paid podcast iHeartRadio's hosting of this
podcast constitutes neither an endorsement of the products offered or
the ideas expressed.
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