Sam, Mary’s son and agent under her power of attorney, didn’t bother to seek legal advice after Mary entered a nursing home. “She only has $60,000. There’s nothing we can do”, he told his sisters. Five months later, with her funds exhausted, Mary sought Medicaid to pay for her care. To Sam’s shock and dismay
If you need a lot of cash on hand upon retirement, Social Security offers a lump-sum payment option that’s worth six months of benefits. However, it comes at a cost. It is important to understand the details before agreeing to the payment. If you have waited beyond your full retirement age (66 for those born
An intentionally defective grantor trust (IDGT) is a common estate planning tool that is used by wealthy families to transfer assets from one generation to the next while achieving significant tax savings. IDGTs are especially useful if you have assets that will appreciate significantly over time. An IDGT is “intentionally defective” because it purposely
Did you know you could be responsible for your parents' unpaid bills? More than half of all States currently have laws making adult children financially responsible for their parents, including their long-term care costs. Among those States, Pennsylvania is perhaps the most notorious. In most States, these laws are rarely enforced. Not so in Pennsylvania.
If your spouse dies, you may have to decide whether or when to sell your house. There are some tax considerations that go into that decision. The biggest concern when selling property is capital gains taxes. A capital gain is the difference between the "basis" in property and its selling price. The basis is the
The amount you can gift to any one person without filing a gift tax form is increasing to $16,000 in 2022, the first increase since 2018. The federal estate tax exclusion is also climbing to more than $12 million per individual. The IRS’s announcement that the annual gift exclusion will rise for calendar year 2022 means
Running a small business can keep you busy, but it should not keep you from creating an estate plan. Not having a plan in place can cause problems for your business and your family after you are gone. While an estate plan is important for everyone, it is especially important for small business owners. Planning
Elder law and estate planning serve two different -- but equally vital -- functions. The main difference is that elder law is focused on preserving your assets during your lifetime, while estate planning concentrates on what happens to your assets after you die. Elder law planning is concerned with ensuring that seniors live long, healthy,
A Roth IRA does not have to be used as just a retirement plan; it can also be a way to transfer assets tax-free to the next generation. Unlike a traditional IRA, contributions to a Roth IRA are taxed, which means that the distributions are tax-free. Also, unlike a traditional IRA, you are also not
If your spouse is in a nursing home or at heightened risk for needing such care in the future, special planning measures should be taken. Those measures include dealing with what happens if you, the healthy, so called “community spouse” pass away first. In that case, the spouse in the nursing home may become ineligible
