A proposal is now before the Mississippi legislature to tax sodas in order to combat obesity in the fattest state in the nation, and as a way to provide additional funding for Medicaid. As I sit here sipping my caramel latte, I wonder exactly how this will work.  Will regular Coke be taxed, but Diet […]

While meeting with a client yesterday I heard a story that I thought was instructive and worth repeating.  My client's two aunts were both in the same nursing home.  One of her aunts was destitute, and her room was paid for by Medicaid.  The other had managed to save a couple of hundred thousand dollars […]

The estate tax expired on January 1, 2010. It remains to be seen whether Congress will reinstate it before it returns in 2011, but the fact that there is currently no estate tax can have unintended consequences for spouses. Standard language found in many estate plans may leave spouses with nothing. It is important to […]

The following is reprinted from the NAELA eBulletin: At first it was just a curious observation. Now it’s an undeniable conclusion, first published two years ago in a medical journal and now in a new book coming out Tuesday: “Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat.”   Oscar is the cat. David […]

A recent case decided by Mississippi's Court of Appeals illustrates the standard of review for overturning the validity of a deed.  In that case, the elderly owner of a funeral home moved in with her daughter in 2001 after being diagnosed with dementia and other infirmities. Over the next two years, the mother showed signs […]

The following was posed in Crescendo eNotes January 18, 2010, and I though it would be of interest to readers of this blog: As the first decedents pass away in 2010, executors and their advisors are now faced with great uncertainty. IRS Form 706 Estate Tax Returns will be due in nine months, although nearly […]

The Dow Jones Newswire here is quoting Rep. Rangel, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, as saying that he does not favor retroactive estate tax legislation. The same article quotes his Senate counterpart, Sen. Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, saying he wants retroactivity.

A San Juan Capistrano man convicted last year of bilking 124 elderly investors of more than $11 million in a Ponzi scheme was sentenced to 90 years and eight months in prison today.  Jeffrey Gordon Butler, 51, was convicted in June of 694 felony counts of stealing from elderly investors through the illegal sale of […]

Minnesota’s Attorney General and Great American Financial Resources announced a settlement over disputed sales of deferred annuities to seniors in the state by Great American subsidiaries.  The agreement covers 2,000 policies placed by Great American Life Insurance Company and its affiliates, Annuities Investors Life and Loyal American Life, with an estimated value of about $50 […]

60 Minutes recently produced a story exposing the delays that Veterans are experiencing in claiming VA benefits. The story suggests that one of the VA's motives in such delay in awarding benefits is the fact that if the applicant dies prior to an award, no benefits are awarded retroactively.  The claim just ends.  "Deny, delay […]