Visits from loved ones in the hospital can greatly improve the mood of patients and assist in their recovery, but most hospitals restrict visitors to the human kind. Although many hospitals have pet therapy programs that use trained dogs, most do not allow visits by family pets. A few hospitals are bucking that trend, allowing patients’ own dogs and cats to visit under certain conditions…

An investor alert was issued by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority warning of calls from scammers falsely claiming to represent a well-known brokerage firm. In this scam, the imposters are claiming to be offering certificates of deposit with high yields, but the goal of the cold call is to get the potential victim to reveal personal or financial information. Such information may then be used in an attempt at identity theft or another crime. The fraud attempt is the latest twist on the common scam of “phishing” for information via cold calls.

On October 23, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) proposed rules under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act”) to permit companies to offer and sell securities through crowdfunding.¹ Historically, because offers and sales of securities to the public generally require compliance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “1933 Act”), crowdfunding has been restricted to non-securities matters, for example, to solicit donations. Under the SEC’s proposed rules, Section 4(a)(6) of the 1933 Act will be a new registration exemption available for crowdfunding offerings under certain conditions.

The Care Circles of Westchester is a new program to provide family caregivers with help from a group of volunteers who can assist with caregiving tasks.

A care circle is a group of volunteers who are willing to help a person who needs care – such as an elderly person – with the tasks of daily living, such as doing laundry, walking the dog, or giving the senior a ride to a doctor’s appointment.

Scammers and con artists often target older people, and elders may be more likely to fall victim to fraud, either because they are unfamiliar with some common scams or because the effects of early Alzheimer’s or other dementia allow them to be more easily taken advantage of. Of course, when older loved ones are no longer able to make financial decisions for themselves, then a power of attorney is appropriate. But when elderly parents are living independently, but potentially at risk of being taken advantage of, knowing how to protect them can be tricky…

There is a lesson to be learned from AMC’s “The Walking Dead”: advance preparation for the unexpected will prove beneficial. Surviving a zombie apocalypse requires planning: identifying a network of people you can trust, a safe place to hide, food, water and lots of firepower. And that is what estate planning is all about. While…

Estate planning is a financial process that can protect you and your family and is a very important component of your overall financial planning. The 3rd week of October is National Estate Planning Awareness Week and the perfect time to put your estate planning house in order. If you don’t have an up-to-date estate plan and you happen to get hurt or sick and cannot manage your financial affairs, the courts will have to appoint someone to manage them for you. The person they appoint might not be the one you would want to perform those tasks.

Sometimes, due to an inability to determine whether a child with special needs will be self-supporting and earn income as an adult, parents cannot assess the child’s future eligibly for government benefits. This is often the case with children who have Asperger’s syndrome or mild autism. In such a case, locking assets up in a Special Needs Trust may not be the best way of utilizing assets for the child’s care. There are strict guidelines for the disbursement of a Special Needs Trust’s assets, which are to be used to pay for services not covered by Medicaid, for recreational and cultural experiences and, for the most part, services or items that would enrich the beneficiary’s life.

There are as many as 78 million people between the ages of 49 and 67 in the U.S., and few of them report that they plan to end up in a nursing home unless it becomes unavoidable. While some of the Boomers are planning to move in with their adult children, many more are not choosing that option. And, with one out of every four Boomers childless, relying on adult children simply isn’t an option. For others, the increased likelihood that their adult children live thousands of miles away means that the one-third of the Boomers who are single are without established household companionship. But not, it seems, for long.

Despite a push by advocates for advance care planning, most Americans do not have a living will or other advance health care directive in place. This includes even many patients with serious health conditions, who should be considering end-of-life decisions such as whether they want to be resuscitated or intubated, and who is designated to…