FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM FEBRUARY 11, 2021 • QUEENS BUSINESS • THE QUEENS COURIER 31
queens business
Myrtle Ave. business owners discuss concerns with City Council candidate
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
City Council candidate Juan Ardila
and state Senator Jessica Ramos entered
Tasty’s Diner to ask the establishment’s
owner if he’d like to talk about his concerns
as a small business owner.
“Concerns? We don’t have enough time
or alcohol,” Tasty’s owner George Lagos
chuckled.
But Lagos made some time, and spoke
about the hardships of maintaining his
business for what is nearly a year of the
COVID-19 pandemic. Lagos, who noted
Tasty’s has been in Ridgewood for 40
years, said not having indoor dining and
getting “a bunch” of violations from the
Department of Transportation for his outdoor
setup are some of his biggest issues.
While Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced
a week ago that indoor dining will come
back at 25 percent capacity on Feb. 14, just
in time for Valentine’s Day, Lagos sees it as
“short notice.”
“It’s a mess,” Lagos said. “You can’t
expect people to bounce back aft er they’ve
been closed. I’ve been fortunate enough
that I haven’t closed, but somebody who’s
been closed for the last eight weeks …
they need time to prep, they need time
to rehire staff . You can’t just throw this
together in a week and hope for the best.”
Ramos agreed “there’s been very little
clarity” and “very little input from the restaurants
themselves” when it comes to the
state’s guidelines.
Ramos joined Ardila, a Democrat running
for Council District 30, for a walkthrough
of Myrtle Avenue to talk with
some local business owners and ask for
their support by sporting a campaign
poster on their storefront on Friday, Feb.
5.
Some of Ardila’s main platform points
revolve around aff ordable and fair housing,
public transportation and investing
in education. When it comes to small
businesses, Ardila told QNS he wants to
help them get the resources and relief they
need by “partnering with allies in Albany
and Washington, D.C.”
He wants to help keep small businesses
in their spaces by supporting rental assistance
programs; restructuring to allow
business owners time to recover; expanding
the Visiting Inspector Program to
ensure businesses can receive free consultation
on compliance with city laws and
licenses; reducing unfair fi nes from the
city; and collaborating closely with the
Department of Small Business Services
to help businesses adapt to online platforms
and equip them with various language
access.
Ardila was critical of incumbent
Councilman Robert Holden’s role in aiding
small businesses. He cited instances
of Holden voting “against the interests of
working-class New Yorkers,” such as voting
against the expansion of street vendor
licenses, paid safe and sick leave, assisting
displaced hotel workers and making rent
regulation easier — all of which the City
Council passed
When asked for his response to Holden’s
calls to open indoor dining to 50 percent
capacity, Ardila said it’s “irresponsible.”
Holden wants the governor to allow for
the city’s restaurants to open indoor dining
at the same capacity of Long Island,
where there is a higher positivity rate of
COVID-19 compared to the city, before
more go out of business.
“I don’t think we’re there yet,” Ardila
said, noting that although restaurant
workers are now eligible to get the
COVID-19 vaccine, many have yet to
receive it.
Read more on QNS.com.
Elder Law Minute TM
Nursing home debt — who is responsible?
BY RONALD A. FATOULLAH, ESQ.
AND JOSEPH BRENINGSTALL, ESQ.
Th e death of a loved one can be very
overwhelming. Th ere are funeral arrangements
to be made, belongings to be sift -
ed through, and property and accounts
to be dealt with. So when a child receives
a nursing home bill aft er a parent’s death,
it can be very distressing. Th e question is,
what is their responsibility for those bills?
Th e short answer is that it depends on the
particular nature of the debt.
Th ere are two kinds of potential fi nancial
responsibility: personal responsibility,
where the child would have to pay
from his/her own funds, and responsibility
on behalf of the parent to pay from
his/her funds. One would only have personal
responsibility if one signed a personal
guarantee with the facility. It should
be noted that nursing homes are prohibited
from requiring third-party guarantee
agreements, so it is best never to
sign any kind of personal guarantee for
one’s parent. Otherwise, children are not
responsible for their parents’ bills, medical
or otherwise. Th e child could, however,
be required to pay from his/her parent’s
funds, if there are funds left in his/
her probate estate.
ELDER LAW
Th e fi nancial responsibility of a surviving
spouse would depend upon the
contents of the deceased spouse’s probate
estate. If the deceased spouse did
not have any funds other than the
joint bank account with a surviving
spouse, and that account passed directly
to the surviving spouse upon the
deceased spouse’s death, there is no probate
estate. If a deceased individual’s
total debt exceeds the value of the assets
in the probate estate, this is considered
an insolvent estate, and once the estate
assets are depleted the debt is typically
wiped out. Th at being said, the surviving
spouse may still owe the nursing
home. First, unlike children, spouses
are responsible for one another’s maintenance,
potentially including health care
costs. Th is means that the nursing home
may seek to recover the balance from the
surviving spouse. However, in order to
do so, the nursing home must fi rst prove
to the court that they tried to collect
the money from the deceased spouse
or his/her estate but that the funds were
insuffi cient, and also that the surviving
spouse has the resources to pay the debt.
Additionally, what is owed may be the
deceased spouse’s income that should
have been paid to the facility. If that
income went to the surviving spouse,
then he/she would owe it to the facility.
It is crucial that all agreements with a
nursing home be read carefully so that
one’s family will fully understand what
their potential liability for their loved
one’s care might be.
Th e information above applies to a private
pay scenario, meaning that the person
in the nursing home is paying outright
and not receiving Medicaid long
term care benefi ts. Under certain conditions,
assets in an individual’s estate
may be used to reimburse Medicaid aft er
his/her death. Th ese rules may diff er
from the private pay scenarios described
above. Medicaid recovery can be a complex
matter and is beyond the scope of
this article.
As always, it is important to consult
with a competent elder law professional
to better understand nursing home debt
and/or Medicaid recovery as they apply
to each individual’s circumstances.
Ronald A. Fatoullah, Esq. is the founder
of Ronald Fatoullah & Associates,
a law fi rm that concentrates in elder
law, estate planning, Medicaid planning,
guardianships, estate administration,
trusts, wills, and real estate.
Joseph Breningstall, Esq. is an elder
law attorney with the fi rm. The law fi rm
can be reached at 718-261-1700, 516-
466-4422, or toll free at 1-877-ELDERLAW
or 1-877-ESTATES. Mr. Fatoullah
is also a partner of Brightside Advisors,
a wealth management fi rm that provides
a continuum of fi nancial and investment
advice for individuals and businesses in
Los Angeles and New York.
Th is summary is not legal advice and
does not create any attorney-client relationship.
Th is summary does not provide
a defi nitive legal opinion for any factual
situation. Before the fi rm can provide
legal advice or opinion to any person
or entity, the specifi c facts at issue
must be reviewed by the fi rm. Before an
attorney-client relationship is formed, the
fi rm must have a signed engagement letter
with a client setting forth the Firm’s
scope and terms of representation.
RONALD FATOULLAH
ESQ, CELA*
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
NY State Senator Jessica Ramos and City Council Candidate Juan Ardila speak with the owner of
Tasty’s Diner in Ridgewood on Feb. 5, 2021.
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