Dear clients and friends, NEWS FLASH ON 2020 REQUIRED MINIMUM DISTRIBUTIONS (RMDs) I am interrupting my lessons on FDIC and NCUA deposit insurance to bring you an important announcement regarding your 2020 RMDs. You may recall from a prior LISTEN TO LAWRENCE email that the 2020 CARES ACT suspended all …

Dear clients and friends, FDIC PART THREE Of all the topics I’ve discussed in these emails, I remain amazed at the interest around FDIC insurance. I guess it reflects the general anxiety we all have over the economy and the consequent concern for the safety of our checking and savings …

Dear clients and friends, My last installment of LISTEN TO LAWRENCE was about the $250,000 FDIC insurance that you have at each bank for your checking accounts, savings accounts, CDs and money markets. I quickly learned that this was a topic you were VERY interested in because I immediately received …

LISTEN TO LAWRENCE Dear clients and friends, I want to share an email with you I received this week from one of my readers: Hi Mr. Davidow, A note of thanks for providing your “Listen to Lawrence” emails during the COVID 19 pandemic. Your thoughtfulness and insight to very important …

After three months of working from home, I am more than happy to announce that we have opened our offices to our staff and clients. It feels so good to once again get a taste of the normality we once took for granted. But let’s get real! The COVID-19 virus …

Dear clients and friends, Here is another of your questions and my response: QUESTION: A savings account has both my mother’s name on it and my name. Would the Medicaid look back (5 years for a nursing home and 2 1/2 years for home care as of 10/1/20) apply to …

LISTEN TO LAWRENCE Dear clients and friends, As you may know, I am one of the founders of the SPECIAL NEEDS ALLIANCE , which is a national organization of the top special needs attorneys in the country. Each month, one of our members writes an article of general interest to …

LISTEN TO LAWRENCE Dear clients and friends, Here are two more of your questions and my response. I am combining them into one response because they are interrelated. QUESTION ONE: I have a question for the ‘Ask Lawrence’ emails: during the lookback period to be eligible for Medicaid, how much …

Dear clients and friends, My initial research regarding the property tax due date was incorrect and I wanted to alert all of you as soon as possible. It was just brought to my attention that there IS an extended deadline in place. Here’s the exact announcement from Suffolk County: County …

Dear clients and friends, Here are more of your questions and my responses: QUESTION ONE: Is there any discussion about extending the due date of real estate taxes due? I know that the state can’t wait to get their hands on this revenue but I’m sure there are many families …

Dear clients and friends, Here are more of your questions and my responses: QUESTION ONE: I have (3) IRAs of which I had taken my RMDs from last year. Does this mean that I will not be seeing any money taken out this year for each of them? It appears …

LISTEN TO LAWRENCE Dear clients and friends, This article for The Voice was written by Richard A. Kroll, Esq. of Rochester, New York, a member of the Special Needs Alliance, which I am a founding member. The Special Needs Alliance provides various helpful resources and I thought you might find …

Dear clients and friends, Hello! I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. I received the following question a few weeks ago about a nursing home resident’s visitation rights. Since I am not a nursing home rights litigator, I wanted to wait on answering to better collect my …

Dear clients and friends, Here are a couple more of your questions and my responses: QUESTION ONE: I never received a $1200 stimulus payment…maybe my wife and I make too much money between our pensions and two social security checks ? Never thought of myself as “well off”? RESPONSE: We …

Dear clients and friends, Here are a few more of your questions and my responses: QUESTION ONE: We met with Lawrence in November 2016 and created an Irrevocable Trust. My husband is seriously disabled and we have been using our long term care insurance to pay for caregivers for the …

Dear clients and friends, Here are a couple more of your questions and my responses: QUESTION: Does someone who has died qualify for the $1200 stimulus payment? ANSWER: It is bound to happen more often than we would like. With over 80,000 recent deaths from Covid 19, many of these …

Dear clients and friends, Here is another one of your questions and my response: QUESTION: Hello Lawrence- Thank you for the informative emails. I wanted to inquire…..We are considering returning my 89 year old mother who has dementia to her home in Queens after living in an assisted living community …

Dear clients and friends, Here is one of your questions and my response: QUESTION: I would like to know if a codicil can be done to expedite simple changes on an existing will? Please advise. Thank you. ANSWER: A codicil is essentially an amendment to your Last Will and Testament …

Dear clients and friends, HOT OFF THE PRESS Our Governor has just issued another Executive Order that you might find interesting. I am including the entire text but I want to highlight a few things. First, our ability to notarize and witness documents (including wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health …

Dear clients and friends, The weeks seem to be flying by and each day gets us one day closer to the end of this pandemic. It makes it a bit easier to know that we are all going through this time together. Stay positive! Here are some more of your …