42 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JULY 2021
FAMILY & EDUCATION
POWER OF YOUR ATTORNEY
YOUNG FAMILIES REALIZE
IMPORTANCE OF ESTATE PLANNING
THE COVID WAKE-UP CALL
BY JENNIFER CONA, ESQ.,
CONA ELDER LAW
Jill’s husband Rob fell critically
ill with COVID and was on a
ventilator. They did not have
Wills and by the time they
sought to have a Will drafted
for Rob, he passed away before it
was signed. The laws of intestacy
controlled the distribution of
Rob’s estate so Jill received
$50,000 and one-half of the assets
and their children, ages 15 and
13, received the other one-half.
Certainly not what Jill and Rob
intended or wanted.
COVID has taught us that the
unexpected and unthinkable can
happen to any of us at any time.
This wake-up call has resulted
in younger families prioritizing
their personal affairs to be sure
they are in order. Protecting
yourself, the ones you love, and
your assets starts with estate
planning.
Last Will and Testament: The
most essential document in
your estate plan is a Last Will
& Testament. This is a legally
binding declaration of how
you wish to have your assets
and property distributed upon
your death. Young families
typically execute Wills in order
to name guardians of their minor
children. It is also important to
leave assets in trust for minors
until an age you specify (i.e.
18, 25, 30). If you have a child
with special needs, it is critical
that you direct your child’s
inheritance into a Special Needs
Trust so that your child will not
lose their government benefits
(Medicaid, SSI) upon receiving
the inheritance.
Advance Directives: These
legal documents, namely, a
Power of Attorney, Health Care
Proxy, and Living Will, allow
you to plan ahead in the event
of incapacity. These important
documents enable you to keep
c o n t r o l o f
key financial
a n d h e a l t h
care deci sions
by making arrangements in
advance and appointing trusted
agents to assist you in the future.
Note that the Power of Attorney
Law just changed on June 13,
2021. As of that date, wholesale
changes to this legal document
were made so be sure you sign
the new Power of Attorney
document.
Virtual Access/Document Vault:
Cona Elder Law offers a virtual
document vault so you can
securely store your important
estate planning documents for
on-line access anywhere at any
time. You and whomever you
authorize will be able to access
your important legal documents
wherever and whenever they are
needed.
We’ve had the COVID wakeup
call. Now is the time to take
action to protect yourself, your
assets and your loved ones.
Be sure to seek the services of
the experienced attorneys at
Cona Elder Law to receive your
customized trust, estate and
elder law plan.
Jennifer B. Cona, Esq. is the
Founder and Managing Partner
of Cona Elder Law PLLC. Cona
Elder Law is an award-winning law
firm concentrating in the areas of
elder law, estate planning, estate
administration and litigation,
and health care law. The firm has
been ranked the #1 Elder Law
Firm by Long Island Business
News for eight consecutive years.
For additional information, visit
www.conaelderlaw.com.
PARTNER CONTENT
Tina Brady thinks her daughter Braylin,
who just completed fourth grade, will be
fine, since she had in-person school each
day and had to quarantine for only one
short period. She does, however, worry
about her older daughter Keely, 17, who’ll
be a senior this fall at West Babylon Senior
High School.
“She was only there every other day,”
says Brady.
For her junior year, Keely had 80-minute
learning blocks for math, English, social
studies and science.
“There are definite concerns,” her mom
says. “She does work hard, but I think
there’s going to be a gap there.”
Because of the disruption in learning,
Brady had Keely opt out of her English
Regents, which was optional this year.
“I didn’t want to make her feel more
stressed out,” says Brady.
Missing out on track and other social activities
was also an issue for Keely, who
will continue working with a tutor this
summer for help with her SAT and math.
“I definitely feel she missed out,” says
Brady. “They need to be in school all together,
every day, without restrictions.”
A TUTOR’S TAKE
This summer, Heidi Fisher, a Port
Washington-based tutor for middle
school through college students, is
working with more students than
usual.
“The shift I’m seeing is tutoring becoming
more of a hybrid,” says Fisher,
who notes that the traditional one-hour
lesson per week is changing. “There’s
really a lot of communication with
parents and students. That’s really
key now, particularly with remote
learning.”
Parents and students are also questioning
the validity and value of SAT and
ACT tests, Fisher says.
“I think Covid really pushed that to
the forefront,” she says. “I think those
conversations were starting to happen,
but now they’re really more front and
center.”
These days, a tutor needs to be more of
a jack-of-all-trades.
“It can’t be just content anymore,”
Fisher says. “It’s also being intuitively
focused on the student and their need
beyond just what’s on the page. As
tutors, we have to be more and more
flexible and responsive than ever.”
TEACHERS WEIGH IN
“In my experience, a lot of teaching
and learning went on this year,” says
Ivy Cohen, who teaches third grade
special ed at the Lawrence Primary
School. “The children really became
very responsible for their own learning.
They became very independent
learners. They developed excellent
technology skills.”
For the most part, Cohen taught her
students in the classroom, though there
were several weeks of remote learning.
This summer the Lawrence School District
has expanded its summer reading
program.
“It’s a brain fitness program that looks
to improve language, reading, memory,
attention and processing all at once,”
says Cohen.
Cohen thinks the students will be fine
next year, but teachers should be on the
lookout for anyone exhibiting social or
emotional issues.
‘There’s been a lot of communication
between the teachers and families, so
I really think if there’s any child that
shows that they’re struggling or falling
behind in any area, the district will be
on top of that,” Cohen says.
Come September, there will definitely
be learning deficits, predicts
Jessica Campbell of Lynbrook, who
teaches fourth grade special ed in
Brooklyn.
“We started in person,” says Campbell.
“Every time we got tested, we were
closed for 10 days. I had kids not logging
on, not completing the work. It’s hard
for them to do it over the computer —
it’s not for everyone.”
Because she didn’t see the students
every day, the break in continuity
resulted in learning losses, Campbell
says.
“When I start fourth grade in September,
I definitely have to go back, because
they missed so much,” she says.
continued from page 41
"There's been a lot of communication between the
teachers and families,"
says Ivy Cohen, a third-grade special ed teacher.
/www.conaelderlaw.com
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
/www.conaelderlaw.com
