Probate & Taxes vs. Nursing Home Costs (November 2011)
PROBATE & TAXES vs. NURSING HOME COSTS Many senior citizens are worried about probate and death taxes. For most people, the fear of probate and estate taxes is misplaced. The greatest threat to...
View ArticleReverse Mortgage (December 2011)
REVERSE MORTGAGE People often ask me for advice about reverse mortgages. They hear that with a reverse mortgage the bank pays you instead of your paying the bank, and that sounds good to them. Here...
View Article2012 Estate Planning Update (January 2012)
Here is a 2012 update on important numbers used in Estate Planning and Medicaid Planning in Hawaii. How much money and property can a person have at death without paying estate taxes? Under a...
View ArticleWho Inherits When Someone Dies? (February 2012)
WHO INHERITS WHEN SOMEONE DIES? When someone dies without a will, we say that the person died “intestate.” The law of intestacy explains who will inherit the property of a person who dies without a...
View ArticleMaking It Easier For Your Loved Ones (March 2012)
MAKING IT EASIER FOR YOUR LOVED ONES From time to time, our law firm has a client who passes away with a situation similar to the following actual experience. The wife died. She handled all of the...
View ArticleUnderstanding Revocable Living Trusts (April 2012)
UNDERSTANDING REVOCABLE LIVING TRUSTS Trusts began in England in the Middle Ages. The Statute of Uses is a law enacted in 1536 under King Henry VIII. The Statute of Uses is the basis of trust law in...
View ArticleThe Durable Power of Attorney – Part 1 (May 2012)
Every adult should have a Durable Power of Attorney. A “Power of Attorney” is a legal document in which one person gives another person the power to act for him, including the power to sign papers for...
View ArticleThe Durable Power of Attorney – Part 2 (June 2012)
THE DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY – PART 2 Not all Powers of Attorney are of equal quality. You need a carefully written Power of Attorney which contains special wording for estate planning situations....
View ArticleHAWAII ESTATE AND GENERATION SKIPPING TRANSFER TAXES (July 2012)
HAWAII ESTATE AND GENERATION SKIPPING TRANSFER TAXES On July 5, 2012, Governor Abercrombie finally signed into law the Estate and Generation-Skipping Tax Reform Act, which is Act 220. Parts of this law...
View ArticleQUESTION: Will a Revocable Living Trust protect my assets from lawsuits? (Sep...
ANSWER: Ethan R. Okura, Attorney Specializing in Estate Planning (Trusts, Wills, Medicaid Planning & Probate). No, a revocable living trust will not protect your assets from lawsuits. You...
View ArticleTenants by the Entirety Protection Available in Trust (Dec 2012)
NEW LAW: TENANTS BY THE ENTIRETY PROTECTION AVAILABLE IN TRUST Hawaii has a new law which allows married couples or reciprocal beneficiaries who hold real property as tenants by the entirety to...
View ArticleNew Law: Saved from the Fiscal Cliff? (January 2013)
NEW LAW: SAVED FROM THE FISCAL CLIFF? By Ethan R. Okura As you may know, President Obama cut short his vacation in Hawaii to return to Washington D.C. and deal with the problem of the fiscal cliff. For...
View Article2013 Estate Planning Update (February 2013)
2013 ESTATE PLANNING UPDATE By Ethan R. Okura Here is a 2013 update on important numbers used in Estate Planning and Medicaid Planning in Hawaii. How much money and property can a person...
View ArticleAsset Protection – Part 1 (March 2013)
ASSET PROTECTION – Part 1 By Ethan R. Okura Today I want to talk about Asset Protection. What is Asset Protection? Asset Protection is creating and implementing a plan to protect your...
View ArticleAsset Protection – Part 2 (April 2013)
ASSET PROTECTION – Part 2 By Ethan R. Okura Last month, we started talking about asset protection. We discussed what it is, why it’s necessary to protect ourselves in our country, and how having...
View ArticleCreative Medicaid Spend Down Techniques (May 2013)
CREATIVE MEDICAID SPEND DOWN TECHNIQUES By Ethan R. Okura As you are probably well aware, my father, Sanford K. Okura, and I have both written extensively on qualifying for Medicaid to pay for long...
View ArticleHow Does Income Tax Work With My Trust? (June 2013)
HOW DOES INCOME TAX WORK WITH MY TRUST? By Ethan R. Okura Last month after writing my article on Medicaid planning techniques, we received a message from a concerned client who is worried about higher...
View ArticleHow To Title Real Estate: LLC, Revocable Trust, Personal Name? (July 2013)
HOW TO TITLE REAL ESTATE: LLC, Revocable Trust, Personal Name? By Ethan R. Okura For many people—especially in Hawaii—real estate is the most valuable investment they own and the largest part of their...
View ArticleAgreement of Sale (August 2013)
AGREEMENT OF SALE By Ethan R. Okura We all know that we had a recent real estate boom and bust cycle. From the early 2000s until around 2007 or 2008 the real estate market was going gangbusters....
View ArticleTax Identification Numbers (September 2013)
TAX IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS By Ethan R. Okura Back in June, I wrote an article on how Obamacare affects the income taxes that trusts pay. It’s a very complicated subject (taxes always seem to be, don’t...
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