Back in the year 2000, a series of profiles of American centenarians debuted on National Public Radio (NPR) called “One Hundred Years of Stories.” Producer Neenah Ellis later translated those profiles into a book called If I Live to be 100: Lessons from the Centenarians. Ellis recognized that there are more 100-year-olds alive now than […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has updated the way it determines eligibility for VA health care benefits, making it easier for many veterans to get access to the benefits. The VA will no longer use the veteran’s net worth as a factor to determine eligibility and copayments. Previously, veterans who did not fit into […]
In most states, transferring your house to your children (or someone else) may lead to a Medicaid penalty period, which would make you ineligible for Medicaid for a period of time. However, there are circumstances in which transferring a house will not result in a penalty period. One of those circumstances is if the Medicaid applicant transfers […]
Some 29 states currently have laws making adult children responsible for their parents if their parents can’t afford to take care of themselves. These “filial responsibility” laws have rarely been enforced, but six years ago when federal rules made it more difficult to qualify for Medicaid long-term care coverage, some elder law attorneys predicted that nursing homes would start using […]
Medicaid’s RulesIn order to be eligible for Medicaid, you cannot have recently transferred assets. Congress does not want you to move into a nursing home on Monday, give all your money to your children (or whomever) on Tuesday, and qualify for Medicaid on Wednesday. So it has imposed a penalty on people who transfer assets […]
A power of attorney may seem like a simple document, but there are several important decisions that need to be made when creating one. From whom to appoint to what powers to grant, care and consideration should be put into each choice.A power of attorney is one of the most important estate planning documents you […]
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” — for financial purposes when and if you […]
Nowadays, we are all inundated with technology. It can certainly be confusing keeping track of all the passwords and PIN numbers we need in order to read our emails, access financial information, or even to simply take out cash from an ATM machine. That confusion is made worse when security concerns mandate that passwords are […]
There is currently proposed legislation being considered by Congress that would make an important change to the Medicaid income rules for married couples. Specifically, if H.R. 1771 (114th Congress) is enacted into law, it would mean that all income derived from certain annuities, whether payments are made solely to the community spouse or paid to […]
For many couples, it seems quite natural that sooner or later they will want to legally cement their relationship by getting married. Whether or not that couple attaches a particular religious or cultural significance to the act of getting married, it is a fact that our society recognizes a marriage as a de facto unification […]