How an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust Can Be Used to Avoid the Estate Tax
With the federal estate tax exemption possibly about to be lowered, it may be time to think about steps you can take to keep your estate from being taxed. An irrevocable life insurance trust allows you to pass on money to your heirs while avoiding both the federal...
Protecting Your House After You Move Into a Nursing Home
While you generally do not have to sell your home in order to qualify for Medicaid coverage of nursing home care, it is possible the state can file a claim against your house after you die, so you may want to take steps to protect your house. If you get help from...
Finding the Right Hospital Bed Rental
If you are caring for a loved one at home, you may need to rent a hospital bed. Here are the ins and outs of hospital bed rentals. The benefit of a hospital bed is that it adjusts to allow people with limited mobility to more easily get in and out of the bed. The...
How to Make Changes to Your Will
As life circumstances change (births, marriages, divorces, and deaths), it may become necessary to make changes to your will. If an estate plan is not kept up-to-date, it can become useless. The best way to make changes is either through a codicil -- an amendment to...
You Can Stretch the Gift Tax Limit by Paying for Education or Health Care
If you want to make a gift to family members but have exceeded the annual gifting limit, there is another way. Payments for a family member’s education or health care expenses are exempt from the gift tax. The annual gift tax exclusion for 2020 and 2021 is $15,000....
The Durable Power of Attorney: Your Most Important Estate Planning Document
For most people, the durable power of attorney is the most important estate planning instrument available -- even more useful than a will. A power of attorney allows a person you appoint -- your "attorney-in-fact" or “agent” -- to act in place of you – the “principal”...
Medicaid’s Coverage of Nursing Home Care
For better and for worse, Medicaid is the primary method of paying for nursing home care in the United States. But navigating the Medicaid system is complicated and confusing. Here are the basics. Medicaid (sometimes called by other names, such as "KanCare" in Kansas,...
Why an Irrevocable Trust May Be Superior to Gifting
Parents and other family members who want to pass on assets during their lifetimes may be tempted to gift the assets. Although setting up an irrevocable trust lacks the simplicity of giving a gift, it may be a better way to preserve assets for the future. A trust is...
Elder Law Question: Can I Transfer My Grandmother’s Car to My Name Without Causing a Medicaid Penalty Period?
This is something of a grey area. You must report most asset transfers to the Medicaid agency, and the transfer will usually cause a period of ineligibility for benefits. You could make an argument that the transfer of a non-countable asset does not need to be...
How the $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Bill Aids Seniors
President Biden has signed the latest COVID-19 relief bill, which in addition to authorizing stimulus checks, funding vaccine distribution, and extending unemployment benefits, also provides assistance to seniors in a number of ways. The $1.9 trillion American Rescue...
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Ease Recommended Restrictions on Nursing Home Visits
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued new guidance on whether families can visit loved ones in nursing homes. The guidance allows indoor visitation even when the resident has not been vaccinated. The coronavirus pandemic has hit long-term...
Mother’s Transfer of House to Son Who Worked Outside the Home Qualifies for Caretaker Child Exemption
A New Jersey appeals court holds that a Medicaid applicant’s transfer of her interest in her house to her son qualifies for the caretaker child exemption even though the son worked outside the home and hired aides to help care for his mother. A.M. v. Monmouth County...
People with Disabilities are Still Being Largely Ignored in State Covid-19 Vaccine Priority Lists
People with developmental disabilities are more than three times more likely than their peers to die from Covid-19. Despite this, most states have prioritized health care workers and people in nursing homes in their initial Covid vaccine rollouts, bypassing numerous...
The Film ‘I Care a Lot’ Highlights Vulnerabilities in the Guardianship System
Netflix’s popular new movie, I Care a Lot, may be far-fetched in a lot of ways, but it does highlight some real weaknesses in the guardianship system that make it possible for an unscrupulous guardian to take control of an elderly person’s life and bleed their...
Using Medicaid to Pay For Nursing Home Care
For better or for worse, Medicaid is the primary method of paying for nursing home care in the United States. But navigating the Medicaid system is complicated and confusing. Here are the basics. Medicaid (sometimes called by other names, such as "Kancare" in Kansas,...