Tell us about your hopes, dreams, and goals and we will develop an effective plan utilizing available and appropriate estate planning tools for your specific situation to meet your personal needs and objectives. We will work closely with your advisors, such as healthcare providers, your accountant and financial advisor. If you do not have a professional in place but need one, we will refer you to a well-qualified professional to assist you if and when the need arises.

Our practice on estate planning matters includes:

• Wills
• Trusts
• Advance Directives (Power of Attorney, Health Care Proxy, Living Will)
• Transfer of Real Property or Co-op Units
• Formation of Business Entities including LLCs and Corporations

We will assist you to complete the following forms:

• Appointment of Agent to Control Disposition of Remains
• Burial Instructions

We will review your current beneficiary designation forms and assist you to complete new ones if the need arises.

We, at the Law Office of Olga Ruh, PLLC, will analyze your specific situation and devise a plan that is most suited for your particular needs.

We provide the following services for our senior clients:

• Wills and Trusts.
• Advance Directives: Powers of Attorney, Health Care Proxies, Living Wills.
• Medicaid Planning and Medicaid applications for home care and nursing home benefits.
• Special Needs Planning.
• Guardianship.

Let’s face it: life is unpredictable. We all hope to live a long and happy life. However, life may not be as smooth as we wish it to be, no matter what our age, marital status, race, creed, or financial situation is. At some point, we may need the help of others with daily chores and support. A lot of us are concerned as to where we will be in the future: in the comfort and privacy of our home? in an assisted living facility? in a nursing home? Some of us are concerned about our ability to pay medical bills in light of high costs of medical care, to manage and protect our assets from the exorbitant costs of long-term care, to maintain independence and self-determination for as long as we can.

Planning for long-term care, which includes home care, assisted living, adult daycare/community care services, and nursing home, becomes crucial in the event you become disabled or incapacitated and are no longer able to take care of your personal needs and property management. Can you pay privately for long-term care if and when it becomes necessary? Do you have long-term care insurance to help you pay your medical bills? Do you have enough resources to pay for care, or will you need Medical Assistance (“Medicaid”) at some point?

We will counsel you on the various options available to you and formulate a plan which will be efficient and based on your unique circumstances and specific needs. Medicaid is a means-tested Federal-State program with income and resources limitations. Medicaid rules and regulations are complex and ever-changing. We will explain how it all works and walk you through the procedures and provide guidance every step of the way.

We will assist you with commencing a guardianship proceeding under Article 81 of the M.H.L. and securing the appointment of a guardian for your loved one who is unable to handle his or her personal, health, property, financial and/or business matters and/or perform the activities of daily living, such as ambulating, grooming, bathing/showering, toileting, eating, cooking, cleaning, shopping for groceries and other necessities, and administering his or her medication due to illness or incapacity.

If your family member has an intellectual or developmental disability that began prior to reaching the age of 22 years (including disabilities attributable to cerebral palsy, neurological impairment and autism), or if your loved one has been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and, as such, is unable to make personal, medical and/or financial decisions, we will assist you with the guardianship proceeding under Article 17-A of the S.C.P.A. and the appointment of a guardian for your disabled loved one’s personal needs and property management.

We will create a special needs trust (also known as a supplemental needs trust) which is used to ensure that the disabled person you love and care for will be provided for, enjoy the trust assets which will be used for his or her benefit and continue receiving governmental benefits, such as Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”) and Medical Assistance (“Medicaid”). A special needs trust for the benefit of your disabled loved one can be incorporated into your own Will or Living Trust, and it will come into existence upon your death.

The Law Office of Olga Ruh, PLLC will work with you during this sensitive time and, based upon your specific needs, provide you with the following services:

Probate and Administration

• Commence a probate proceeding if the Decedent died with a Will (i.e., acceptance of the Will by the Surrogate’s Court as a valid document) and secure the appointment of an Executor of the Will.
• Commence an Administration proceeding of the Decedent who died without a Will (“intestate”) and secure the appointment of an Administrator of the Estate.
• Assist the Executors and Administrators with estate administration (marshaling the estate assets, paying debts and satisfying the Decedent’s liabilities, distributing assets to the beneficiaries, if there is a Will, or, if there is no Will, to the heirs designated by the New York intestacy law).
• Prepare Executor’s and Administrator’s Accountings.
• Prepare and serve Receipt, Release, and Refunding Agreements upon the beneficiaries and heirs.

Trust Administration

• Trust Accounting.
• Trust Decanting.
• Termination of Trust.

Estate/Trust Litigation

• Will or Trust Contest.
• Contested Estate and/or Trust Accountings.
• Removal of the Executor or the Administrator of the Estate, or the Trustee of a Trust.
• Turnover Proceeding (to return the property to the estate which has been removed from the estate or unlawfully held by a third party).
• Rights of the Spouses in the Wills.
• Kinship Proceeding (to question or establish the inheritance rights of more distant relatives).
• Will or Trust Construction Proceedings to clarify ambiguity in a Will or Trust.
• Establish the Validity of a Creditor’s Claim that the Decedent owed money.