Do you want to use your IRA to help a charity, but also benefit your heirs? Instead of leaving your IRA directly to your children, you can leave it to a charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT) while still benefiting your children. With rules about inherited IRAs potentially in flux, this may be an attractive estate planning […]
When faced with long-term nursing home placement, countless individuals and their loved ones lament having to consider them in the first place. However, in many cases, the 24-hour supervision and specialized services provided in these facilities are essential elements of necessary long-term care. It is quite simply not always a safe option to reside in […]
Annuities can be valuable retirement and longevity planning tools, but they are complex financial products that can be misused. There are two kinds of annuities: variable and immediate. Variable annuities have gotten a bad reputation in recent years because they are often sold to people, especially seniors, for whom they are inappropriate. Immediate annuities, on […]
As we stress often to families in our practice, planning for and dealing with the significant challenges and difficulties of long-term care is a daunting process. The complexities of very complicated state and federal Medicaid laws and regulations present many pitfalls for those who try to engage in that process on their own without working […]
Immediate annuities are among the tools elder law attorneys use to help married nursing home residents qualify for Medicaid coverage while protecting the standard of living of the healthy spouse and to help preserve assets for the families of unmarried or widowed nursing home residents. Immediate annuities can help Medicaid applicants in two basic ways: […]
Insurance agents and financial institutions often advertise annuities as the perfect way to generate retirement income. While annuities can be a valuable retirement tool, if you are buying an annuity as part of a Medicaid planning strategy, you need to fully understand what you are getting. And whether an annuity makes sense as part of […]
Do You Know How the New Connecticut Law Affects Your Power of Attorney?The legislature of the State of Connecticut, after years of debate, has adopted comprehensive new laws concerning powers of attorney for financial matters. Overall, the new laws offer additional needed guidance on what can be done under a power of attorney, help to […]
Last time we gave a brief description of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that recognized same-sex marriage as a constitutional right. Same sex marriage is now a right nationwide. Now that same-sex couples have the option of marrying in a manner similar to that of opposite-sex couples, it is worthwhile to […]
The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community is garnering a lot of national attention in recent months following the United States Supreme Court decision to recognize same-sex marriage. Advocacy groups have been working for years to recognize the unique needs of a growing sample within the community—LGBT elders. The Richmond Times-Dispatch recently profiled Bonnie […]
Can an individual suffering from dementia legally divorce his or her spouse? Or to put it another way, can someone with dementia possess the legal right to divorce and initiate a lawsuit yet at the same time to lack the capacity to manage property or drive or be employed? To what extent should the present-day […]