If your child has special needs, a standard estate plan — will, trust, power of attorney, and health care proxy — may not be adequate for your family. If your child will not be able to support herself or live independently as an adult, you need to make special provision for her in your estate…
Whether as a friendly companion or a fully-fledged family member, pets have become an intrinsic component to many households. According to the American Pet Products Association, 67% of American families own a pet today. Not only is pet ownership up from 56% in 1988, but Americans are also spending significantly more on their pets. In 2016, the…
Elder abuse is real and needs to be taken seriously. An estate and trust can help from preventing that. In this article that was published in the Los Angeles Times, there have been recent reports that Marvel Comics founder and creator Stan Lee has been a victim and is placing suit against those responsible. Article…
Medicaid and Work Requirements On January 11, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a State Medicaid Director Letter providing new guidance for Section 1115 waiver proposals that would impose work requirements in Medicaid as a condition of eligibility. As of press time, CMS has approved work requirement waivers for Kentucky, Indiana and Arkansas. As…
The federal government is issuing new Medicare cards to all Medicare beneficiaries. To prevent fraud and fight identity theft, the new cards will no longer have the beneficiaries’ Social Security numbers on them.The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is replacing each beneficiary’s Social Security number with a unique identification number, called a Medicare…
A recent report from the Alzheimer’s Association states that one in nine Americans age 65 or older currently have Alzheimer’s. With the baby boomer generation aging and people living longer, that number may nearly triple by 2050. Alzheimer’s, of course, is just one cause of dementia—mini-strokes (TIAs) are also to blame—so the number of those…
Do you have an estate plan? If not, you are not alone. Fewer than half of Americans have an estate plan—the percentage varies between 55 percent and 70 percent, depending on which survey you rely upon. For those of you with an estate plan, there are mistakes that can be easily avoided. In this article,…
Written by Liz WestonEstate planning mistakes can be expensive to fix — that is, when they can be fixed at all.That’s the thought that haunts New York attorney Mari Galvin whether she’s creating an estate plan for a client or confronting the aftermath when people didn’t properly plan.“People think, ‘Oh, I have a simple life,’…
The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) is now officially law. Both the House and Senate passed the new tax reform bill in December with straight party-line votes and no support from Democrats. President Trump signed it into law right before Christmas. It is the first overhaul of the tax code in more than 30…
Written by, CRAIG W. SMALLEY, MST, EA For most practioners the estate tax hasn’t come into play for many years. Instead of eliminating the estate tax, the estate tax exemption has been raised to $11 million for an individual, and $22 million for a married couple that elects portability. For a majority of people the…