Don’t Forget About Medicaid’s Medical Test – Part 3
In my blog post last week, I explained the risk of not satisfying Medicaid’s medical test when residing in an assisted living facility (ALF) as opposed to a nursing home. Assisted living residents do not typically need nursing home level care when they first enter a facility. While this may be expected
Don’t Forget About Medicaid’s Medical Test – Part 2
In my blog post last week, I began a discussion about Medicaid’s medical test. While the financial requirements to qualify for Medicaid are extensive and involve “looking back” through 5 years of financial transaction, we cannot forget that there is also a medical requirement of needing nursing home level care. As I
Don’t Forget About Medicaid’s Medical Test
When families call our office to inquire about Medicaid, the conversation tends to focus mostly on my explanation of the financial requirements. People generally understand that Medicaid is a needs based benefit with an income test and an asset test. The State’s scrutiny of an applicant’s finances over a 5 year period
Your Payable on Death Designation May Surprise You – Part 2
In my blog last week I began talking about payable on death designations. Wife died and 10 days later Husband died. Neither spouse had left a will but Wife had designated Husband as her primary beneficiary of her 401k. She did not designate any alternate beneficiaries. In the process of liquidating Wife’s 401k, we
Your Payable on Death Beneficiary Just May Surprise You (Part 1)
I have posted many times on this blog about the reasons why you should have a will. I have also written about certain types of assets that are not controlled by a last will. One such type is contract property, which is any account that has a payable upon death (POD) designation
How to Leave Personal Property (Part 4)
How to Leave Personal Property (Part 4) In my blog post last week discussing personal property, I explained that leaving a written list in your will can problematic for several reasons. This week I will tell you about one specific reason. The State of New Jersey may come calling. That’s because it periodically checks
How to Leave Personal Property (Part 3)
How to Leave Personal Property (Part 3) In this 3rd blog post on this topic I continue a discussion about how to leave personal property when one passes away. Last week I explained that when clients sign their wills, we also give them a personal property memorandum that they can complete at
How to Leave Personal Property When You Die (Part 2)
In last week’s blog post, I talked about tangible personal property and more specifically how the sentimental value attached to this property can cause issues after death in terms of distributing this property. I explained that if you want to identify specific people to leave specific items to, making specific bequests
How to Leave Your Personal Property When You Die (Part 1)
Some of the most contentious issues we see when guiding families with respect to estate administration involves tangible personal property. This is because of the emotional attachment to these items which may or may not also have financial value. New Jersey law provides a way to handle personal property which can alleviate
2026 Estate and Gift Tax Changes
In this week’s blog post, I discuss changes to estate and gift taxes for 2026. As with Social Security and the Medicaid and VA programs which I have already detailed here in past weeks, inflation adjustments have changed some numbers applicable to estate and gift taxes. Estate tax is due on certain