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Category Archives: Estate Planning

Home Health Care Patients With Chronic Conditions Are Having Trouble Getting Medicare

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Medicare is supposed to provide up to 35 hours a week of home care to those who qualify, but many Medicare patients with chronic conditions are being wrongly denied such care, according to Kaiser Health News. For a variety of reasons, many home health care agencies are simply telling patients they are not covered.

Medicare is mandated to cover home health benefits indefinitely. In addition, Medicare is required to cover skilled nursing and home care even if a patient has a chronic condition. Unfortunately, many home health providers are not aware of the law and tell home health care patients that they must show improvement in order to receive benefits. Continue reading →

Avoid Sibling Disputes Over Caregiving By Putting It in Writing

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Caring for an elderly parent can be stressful for families. Siblings may disagree over how to provide care or where a parent will live, and if these squabbles escalate into a guardianship battle, it can cost the family thousands of dollars. To avoid this, lawyers have begun drafting sibling agreements (also called family care agreements).

If a parent becomes incapacitated and can no longer take care of him- or herself, questions can come up between siblings over where a parent should live, who should manage the parent’s money, or who will assume primary caregiving duties. A sibling agreement can address these issues and provide consequences if the agreement is not followed. Continue reading →

How Will the New Tax Law Affect You?

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While most of the new tax law – the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – has to do with reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, some provisions relate to individual taxpayers. Before we get into the details, be aware that almost everything listed below sunsets after 2025, with the tax structure reverting to its current form in 2026 unless Congress acts between now and then. The corporate tax rate cut, however, does not sunset. Here are the highlights for our readership:

  • Estate Taxes.If you weren’t worried about federal estate taxes before, you really don’t need to worry now. With the federal exemption already scheduled to increase in 2018 to $5.6 million for individuals and $11.2 million for couples, the Republicans in Congress and President Trump have now nearly doubled this to $11.18 million (estimate) and $22.36 million (estimate), respectively, indexed for inflation. The tax rate for those few estates subject to taxation remains at 40 percent.
  • Tax Rates. These are slightly reduced and the brackets adjusted, with the top bracket dropping from 39.6 percent to 37 percent.
  • Standard Deduction and Personal Exemption. The standard deduction increases to $12,000 for individuals, $18,000 for heads of household and $24,000 for joint filers, all adjusted for inflation. Personal exemptions largely disappear.
  • State and Local Tax Deduction. Now referred to as “SALT,” this is now subject to a cap of $10,000,
  • Home Mortgage Interest Deduction. The limit on deducting interest on up to $1 million of mortgage interest stays in effect for existing mortgages. New mortgages taken on after December 15, 2017, are subject to a $750,000 limit. The deduction for interest on home equity loans disappears.
  • Medical Expense Deduction. After much outcry in response to the House version of the tax bill, which would have eliminated the medical expense deduction, it survived. And, in fact, it was enhanced by permitting medical expenses in excess of 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income to be deducted in 2017 and 2018, after which it reverts to the 10 percent under existing law.
  • 529 Plans. These accounts permitting tax-free accumulation of capital gains and dividends to pay college expenses can now be used for private school tuition of up to $10,000 a year.

Continue reading →

Spending Down Assets to Qualify for Medicaid

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Medicaid has strict asset rules that compel many applicants to “spend down” their assets before they can qualify for coverage. It is important to know what you can spend your money on without endangering Medicaid eligibility.

In order to be eligible for Medicaid, applicants must have no more than $2,000 in “countable” assets (the dollar figure may be slightly more, depending on the state). In addition, Medicaid also has strict asset transfer rules. If an applicant transfers assets for less than market value, the applicant will be ineligible for Medicaid for a period of time. Applicants for Medicaid and their spouses may protect savings by spending them on non-countable assets.

A Medicaid applicant can spend down money on anything that would benefit the applicant. Following are examples of what a Medicaid applicant may be able to spend money on: Continue reading →

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