When people refer to “cousins”,  in a way that covers a variety of relationships. For family and social purposes there isn’t much difference between first cousins, second cousins and “cousins once removed. But for legal purposes when inheritances are involved, there are big differences. The distinctions arise in two particular situations:

  1. When a person dies

In this article we will review the inheritance rights of first cousins, first cousins once removed, and second cousins under New York law.

People often use the “cousin” terms loosely, as if they were interchangeable.  For family and social purposes they are interchangeable, but legally they are decidedly NOT.  This distinction arises in two particular

What happens if someone involved in an Estate is dead?  These situations are very common.  A few standard approaches apply….let’s look at a few situations:

The most important distinction to know is that PRE-deceased situations are very different than POST-deceased situations.  When I refer to “PRE” and “POST” I am talking about when the person

Who REALLY ought to make a Will?

If you are considering whether you need to or not, the answer to this question starts with a question…..

“Who would inherit from you if you did not make a Will?”

When I interview someone who is considering making a Will, the first issue I explore is THAT.