Estate Administration to Pursue Legal Claims – Part 1
We recently received a call from a personal injury attorney in need of help. The attorney had pursued a wrongful death claim on behalf of the children of their father who died in motor vehicle accident. Their father had no assets at the time of his death and in fact was a Medicaid
Changing Distributions After Death – Part 3
In my last two posts I have been talking about the challenge of redistributing an inheritance after death. Many people assume that they are free to accept the sum bequeathed to them or not and that is absolutely true. But as I explained last week, there are tax ramifications, specifically gift
Changing Distributions After Death – Part 2
In my post last week, I talked about a scenario where family members wish to change the distributions they are to receive after a loved one’s death. Because the death sets in place the wishes of the decedent (person who died) either by the will or the intestacy laws if there
Changing Distributions After Death – Part 1
Often when we have an estate administration matter, the will being probated is an old one. In some cases the person never actually executed a will although he or she may have communicated to family members his/her wishes with regard to the distribution of assets. In other cases the family members agree
Happily Married or Something Else? Part 3
In this third post of 3, I continue the discussion about second marriages and Medicaid and more specifically how to handle a fraudulent marriage. Last week I explained that if we make every effort to get the documentation from an ex-spouse for the Medicaid application process, regulations provide that the application
Happily Married or Something Else? Part 2
In last week’s post I went back to the topic of Medicaid and more specifically how the need for long term care might affect both spouses. The assets of both spouses are counted for eligibility purposes even if only one spouse is applying for benefits. I always remind people that a second
Happily Married or Something Else? Part 1
Through the years we have had many clients who have been happily married for the second or third time. When it comes time to address a long term care crisis, however, navigating the long term care system and determining how to get the best care for the ill spouse while not
New IRS Regulations Applicable to SECURE Act – Part 4
In this last post on the new SECURE Act regulations we’ll cover how naming a trust as a beneficiary of a retirement account is affected by this new law. First, however, lets look at the problem of naming a trust as beneficiary and how the law before SECURE Act treated trusts. Before
New IRS Regulations Applicable to SECURE Act – Part 3
In this third post on new proposed IRS regulations applicable to the SECURE Act, I cover cases where a disabled individual is the beneficiary of a retirement account. Before I do, however, let’s briefly review the changes made by the SECURE Act. The law, which became effective for 2020 tax year,
New IRS Regulations Applicable to SECURE Act – Part 2
The subject of last week’s post was the proposed regulations concerning the SECURE Act which was passed by Congress and signed by President Trump at the end of 2019. This law made significant changes to the rules concerning IRAs and other tax deferred retirement accounts. To briefly summarize, while the new law