With careful Medicaid planning, you may be able to preserve some of your estate for your children or other heirs while meeting Medicaid's low asset limit. The problem with transferring assets is that you have given them away. You no longer control them, and even a...

The Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act allows people with disabilities who became disabled before they turned 26 to set aside up to $15,000 a year in tax-free savings accounts without affecting their eligibility for government benefits like Medicaid and...

Prepaying for your funeral is one way to ease the burden on your family following your death and make sure your wishes are carried out. But pre-paid funeral plans come with risks, so you need to exercise care when purchasing a plan. Funerals are expensive and can take...

A new report finds that almost no retirees are making financially optimal decisions about when to take Social Security and are losing out on more than $100,000 per household in the process. The average Social Security recipient would receive 9 percent more income in...

Written and Submitted to the Academy of Special Needs Planners By: Lelia Wardwell Mander Among the many challenges for families is making sure there will always be enough money to provide lifetime care for their special needs children. The costs are daunting:...

Eliminating a cruel quirk in federal bankruptcy law, legislation signed into law by President Trump on August 23, 2019, protects veterans disability benefits from creditors in bankruptcy proceedings. "By protecting their disability compensation during bankruptcy, we...

An annuity can be a useful tool for long-term care planning, but annuities are also complex financial products that are hard to understand. If purchasing an annuity, you need to consider your options carefully. An annuity is a contract with an insurance company under...

Thinking about your funeral may not be fun, but planning ahead can be exceedingly helpful for your family. It both lets them know your wishes and assists them during a stressful time. The following are steps you can take to plan ahead: Name who is in charge. The first...

As the number of passengers traveling with service and emotional support animals continues to increase, the federal government has provided some much-needed guidance on airlines’ responsibilities to accommodate people with disabilities. In the past year, multiple...

Yes, and yes. You can take out a reverse mortgage, and you can get reimbursed from the mortgage for money you advance for repairs to the house. However, be very careful to document every dollar that you spend. The best approach is to lend the money to your mother and...

A New Jersey appeals court holds that the state wrongly required a Medicaid applicant to produce information that did not exist to verify her assets and that the state should not have denied benefits for that reason. L.A. v. Division of Medical Assistance and Health...

Beezer the cat can be a member of the family, but what happens to Beezer or [insert your pet's name] after you are gone? How can you ensure your pet will be cared for? One option is to create a pet trust. While you can give directions in your will to leave your pet to...

The knowledge that we will eventually die is one of the things that seems to distinguish humans from other living beings. At the same time, no one likes to dwell on the prospect of his or her own death. But if you postpone planning for your demise until it is too...

Trust protectors -- long popular in offshore trusts set up by high rollers -- are growing more common in trusts established here in the U.S. by less affluent folks. A trust protector is someone who is appointed to watch over a trust that will be in effect for a long...

Medicare covers preventative care services, including an annual wellness visit. But confusing a wellness visit with a physical could be very costly. As part of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare beneficiaries receive a free annual wellness visit. At this visit, your...