Elder Law Attorney with offices on Long Island and Westchester County handling all your Estate Planning &  Probate Administration matters.  We extend our practice to cover the following locations: Nassau and Suffolk counties, Queens, Westchester, Bronx, Brooklyn as well as New York City.

Elderly clients and the family members who care about them make an important decision when they retain an attorney to represent them in elder law, probate, estate administration, and real estate transactions. Attorney Arthur Olmstead is committed to helping you develop your estate plan, protect your assets, and carry out your plans to provide for your family after your passing.

Arthur Olmstead can assist you with the careful planning necessary to define your estate plan, develop the documents necessary to achieve your objectives, and then when, the time comes, carry out the administration of your estate to effectively provide for your family members according to your wishes.

You, your family members, any unique needs they may have, and your specific wishes are the key to developing your estate plan. From the simplest to more involved situations, the details must be crafted to your specific situation.

For assistance in assuring that your needs are met, and that your assets pass according to your desires, contact our Long Island, New York, estate planning and asset protection attorney at either 631-754-3200 or 914-993-9300.

Our practices areas focus on providing the elderly on Long Island, in Westchester County, and in the New York metropolitan area with comprehensive elder law services, protecting their assets and planning for the next generation.

Estate Planning: Attorney Arthur Olmstead's legal experience, combined with his background in business, enables him to identify and plan for your best interests in carrying out your estate planning. He will work with you and also, to the extent you may desire, with appropriate members of your family, to periodically review your estate planning in view of your evolving life and financial circumstances. Arthur Olmstead will personally explain the options, prepare and supervise the execution of appropriate of Last Wills and Testaments, Powers of Attorney, Trusts & other documents in order to assure that your needs are met and that your estate passes as closely as possible according to your plan.

Advance Directives: Every consultation includes consideration of how to carry out your specific wishes for managing your property and providing for your own medical care in the event that at some future time you are not able to make and carry out your own decisions. Arthur Olmstead will carefully explain the options available under New York State Law, and then assist with the drafting and execution Powers of Attorney, of Health Care Proxies, and other necessary documents to carry out your wishes.

Probate and Estate Administration: When ultimately necessary, Arthur Olmstead will work with your appointed executor or administrator, surviving family and beneficiaries to complete the prompt and effective administration of your estate, reducing the burden for your surviving family.

Contested Wills and Estates: Through working with you to carefully develop and implement effective estate plans, the chances are minimized that some person might circumvent your goals after your death through the probate proceedings. However, where necessary, Arthur Olmstead is fully prepared to undertake such litigation as may be appropriate and necessary to assist your executor, administrator, family members or other beneficiaries in assuring that your wishes are carried out. This may include actions in your county Surrogate's Court to assure probate of your latest will, to deny probate to a prior will which is superseded by your subsequent will, or to set aside a forged will.

Accountings by Executors and Trustees: Occasionally, a person appointed as an executor, administrator or trustee may misunderstand or intentionally ignore their duty to collect and distribute an estate or trust according to the legal requirements of New York State law and the terms of the will or trust. In these unusual cases the executor, administrator or trustee can be required to provide an accounting of their actions, and may be ordered by the Court to fulfill their duties, or they may be replaced. If the court finds that assets have been misappropriated, they may be ordered returned.

Elder Law and Asset Protection: Whether you are planning for yourself, you and your spouse, a disabled child, or are concerned about aging parents, Arthur Olmstead can work with you to identify the most effective options to apply available assets towards living expenses and health care, and ultimately pass as much as possible to your desired beneficiaries, whether your spouse, children, or others.

Guardianships: Sometimes an elder does not execute a Power of Attorney while they have the capacity, and they may become incapacitated to the extent that they can not provide for their personal or property management needs. Or a child may be handicapped or disabled and neverexpected to be able to take care of their own day to day personal and property management needs. If you are concerned about the special needs of a family member or other person, Arthur Olmstead can review the situation and explain your options. Where appropriate and necessary, trusts may be established, or an action under the Mental Hygiene Law for the appointment of a Guardian to manage the personal and financial needs of the incapacitated person

Recovery of Assets: Sometimes when an elder becomes incapacitated, another person may wrongly transfer the elder's assets. Where these transfers are either unauthorized, or not for the benefit to the elder person, they may amount to little more than thefts. The guardianship proceeding often provides an efficient means to investigate, identify and recover inappropriate transfers of assets. The courts may order assets be returned, and can even set aside improper transfers or sales of homes or other real estate

Real Estate Transactions: During the normal progression of our lives there are various circumstances where transferring a home or other investment properties may become necessary. These may include retirement, moving to a new and more suitable living arrangement, moving closer to children, beginning to implement an estate plan, and planning in anticipation of qualification for Medicaid. Attorney Arthur Olmstead can assist you with purchase and sale of homes, life estates, trusts, and other permitted transfers.