What is an Insolvent Estate? (Part 3)
In my blog post last week, I explained that when the assets of a decedent are insufficient to cover all estate debts, the debt is classified by priorities. Debts are entitled to be paid in a certain order of priority. Eventually, however, in the case of an insolvent estate we will get
What is an Insolvent Estate? (Part 2)
In this week’s blog post, I continue a discussion of insolvent estates. An insolvent estate is one in which there are not enough assets to cover all of an estate’s debts. The personal representative can’t, however, simply pay the bills as they come in. That’s because New Jersey probate law determines in
What is an Insolvent Estate? Part 1
As I have written about previously in this blog, estate administration involves gathering the assets of the person who died, paying all debts and taxes owing, and distributing the remaining assets to the rightful heirs - determined either by a will if there is one or by state intestacy laws
The SECURE Act’s 10 Year Rule (Part 2)
In last week’s post, I wrote about the SECURE Act, specifically the change that for most beneficiaries does away with the ability to stretch out the time period by which funds must be withdrawn from these accounts. This change will affect most children who inherit retirement accounts from their parents. Being 25
The SECURE Act’s 10 Year Rule (Part 1)
A recent caller asked me to confirm a change he said he read about relating to required minimum distributions from an inherited IRA. I wasn’t sure exactly what he was referring to so I did a little digging. Before I tell you what I found, probably a little background on the topic
FinanciallyEligible but Still No Medicaid (Part 2)
In my post last week, I told you that, while our focus in achieving Medicaid eligibility tends to be on the financial part, there are some non financial requirements we must also pay attention to. One is medical eligibility. Another is residency. Medicaid is a combination federal and state program. Federal funds are provided
Financially Eligible but Still No Medicaid (Part 1)
Many of my blog posts on Medicaid focus on the financial part of eligibility - meeting both the income and asset requirements. There are instances, however, in which meeting those requirements still won’t get someone Medicaid. That’s because there are other hurdles to get over. One is the medical requirement, establishing the need
The Perils of GoFundMe – Part 3
In my blog post last week, I discussed crowd funding sites like GoFundMe. We see families dealing with a sudden catastrophic illness or injury attempt to use these sites to raise money to pay for medical and other bills. It rarely is a solution if only because of the amount of money
The Perils of GoFundMe – Part 2
In my post last week, I wrote about a particular solution - really attempted solution - to the financial burdens caused by a catastrophic illness or injury. In the age of the internet, crowd funding websites have made it easier to raise money from a large group of people. The GoFundMe site
The Perils of GoFundMe (Part 1)
In this week’s blog post, I write about a particular solution - or really attempted solution - to the financial burden caused by a catastrophic illness or accident. A family member calls concerning a loved one who has suffered a serious illness or accident, one that will result in needing extensive