Relax In Drafting Estate Documents – You Can Change Your Mind
One of the most persistent problems I see for clients and others in drafting estate documents is the anxiety associated with making choices. The dialogue goes something like this – “If both my husband and I die, should my mother and father serve as guardians or my husbands’ parents?” That is a tough question especially […]
Continue readingWhat You Need To Know When The Public Health Emergency Ends
In the wild, complicated world of health insurance we are experiencing today, complicated further by three years of the global COVID-19 pandemic, it can be excusable to lose track of what is happening regarding health insurance coverage. It can even be more bewildering to discuss emergency actions taken and their relationship to Medicaid and other […]
Continue readingFinancial Calculators Might Not Account For Long Term Care
Before COVID-19 shut down any reasonable chance of doing so, in 2019 and 2020 I spent some serious time studying to become a Certified Financial Planner. This was in addition to my practice as an elder law attorney and my certification as a Certified Elder Law Attorney. Having completed all of the program requirements except […]
Continue readingPennsylvania’s Elder Law Attorneys Meet at Bedford
From February 23 through the 25th if anyone tried to reach me I was away at the 15th Annual PAELA Winter Conference in Bedford, Pennsylvania. It was no mere vacation trip but instead the annual opportunity to meet up with elder law attorneys statewide and to learn and bring back to the practice new knowledge […]
Continue readingAdvice If You Are Confused When Your Loved One Dies
You just faced the most difficult time of your life and feel you must make decisions soon. This may be so but some decisions are immediate and others can be deferred. Remember to distinguish what must be done now, soon, and later. If your husband, wife, mother, father, child or sibling dies you need to […]
Continue readingInexperience Leads to Problems and Opportunities Post COVID
Probably no experience in our lifetime so completely changed what we do and how we think as the COVID-19 pandemic. We still deal with the after effects in healthcare, business management, technology, views of the workplace, and socialization. Before COVID we probably never even considered or understood the concept of “supply chain.” We took for […]
Continue readingHousing Options When One Needs Help And One Does Not
Housing options for seniors have been the subject of many articles and I have myself made it the subject of columns many times. One subject that has not received much attention, however, is what to do when long standing couples find that one of them needs additional help and the other does not. The need […]
Continue readingPlan Your Health Insurance For Retirement
One of many decisions to be made by average Americans in planning for retirement is the decision what health insurance will follow them after. For those who have been covered by an employee plan that will follow them into retirement the decision may not be as critical. However, as employers look to reduce overhead, those […]
Continue readingDifferent Types of Taxes Can Be Confusing
When I am reviewing taxes for an estate client sometimes I hear the comment “<y>ou told me the rate is 4.5%. Why is this different?” The rate for inheritance under the Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax for children, grandchildren and other “lineal” descendants is 4.5% If the beneficiary is a brother or sister of the decedent it […]
Continue readingPlans Underway For Affordable Housing Alternatives For Seniors
In October, 2022 AARP published a summary of a program they sponsored known as the “2022 AARP Livable Communities Workshop.” The purpose of the program, the article, and the several publications and resources following, many of which are now available on line is “to <bring> together thousands of local leaders, housing practitioners, and AARP staff […]
Continue readingReasons Why a Will Is Not Enough For An Estate Plan
With the beginning of the new year many readers may be looking to redraft their Wills executed years ago or starting out to review their estate plans generally. Having attended several programs over time and drafted many estate plans I know the emphasis has almost always been on explaining Wills. Today it is most often […]
Continue readingYear End Tax Strategies Can Include Qualified Charitable Distribution or QCD
At about this time Americans looking to save taxes for the 2022 tax year might be casting about for strategies. One of these that can be beneficial for some taxpayers age 70 ½ and above is a Qualified Charitable Distribution or QCD. QCD’s can use the federal tax code to benefit taxpayers, mostly in the […]
Continue readingConsiderations Before Disinheriting a Child
Frequently Wills drafted for husband and wife with surviving children designate assets to flow from husband to wife if husband dies first and from wife to husband if wife dies first. Then, when the parents have both passed, assets would be distributed equally to their children. This testamentary plan works in most cases especially with stable […]
Continue readingDoes A Life Estate Make Sense For An Estate Plan
Life estates have received some attention recently as a way to resolve partial ownership of a property. Like any other estate planning tool it needs to be considered in light of the objectives of the parties involved. A life estate is a form of joint ownership that allows one person to remain in the house […]
Continue readingSupreme Court Case Examines Right to Sue Regarding Nursing Home Care
A case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court could decide whether Medicaid beneficiaries and their families can obtain relief for some nursing home violations in federal court or be left to filing a complaint with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The case of Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County (HHC) […]
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