This article addresses a topic that is important to clients and all wealth planning professionals – trusts. When used properly, trusts can provide significant advantages to clients and to the advisors who recommend them. Given the numerous types of trusts, this newsletter explores the general advantages of trusts as well as some of the most […]

Senior centers sometimes host presentations by sales agents offering free seminars or lunches that purportedly provide attendees with valuable information relating to estate planning. But these presentations often turn out to be unscrupulous efforts to persuade the elderly to purchase financial products they don’t need. For example, the presenters may be operating an annuity mill […]

A U.S. district court holds that requiring a Medicaid applicant to reside in-state for a period of time before her benefits are determined is a violation of her fundamental right to interstate travel as guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Duffy, et al., v. Meconi, et al. (Del., C.A., No. 05-127, Sept. 11, 2007).

Tens of Thousands of our Veterans have earned and qualify for a pension benefit of up to $1,800 per month that can be used to pay for assisted living or attendant in-home care, but information about the program appears to be a well kept secret.  Inquiries to local VA offices are often met with denial […]

Wills can be powerful instruments, as thewill of Leona Helmsley makes clear. The hotelier and real estate mogul became asymbol of 1980s greed and was given thenickname ”the Queen of Mean” afterrevelations of her tyrannical treatment ofemployees came to light during her 1988 trialon tax evasion charges. A housekeepertestified that she heard Helmsley say, ”Onlythe […]

An Indiana appeals court rules that before the state may be reimbursed for its Medicaid payments to an SNT beneficiary, the beneficiary’s parents must be paid for the uncompensated care they rendered. State v. Hammans (Ind. Ct. App., No. 55A04-0606-CV-294, Aug. 2, 2007).  

An Oregon appeals court rules that foreclosing on a lien to recover the costs of a resident’s care does not allow a nursing home to also recover attorney’s fees pursuant to a contract with the resident’s agent. King City Rehab, LLC v. Clackamas County  (Or. Ct. App., No. CV05020792; A132436, Aug. 1, 2007).

The Supreme Court of New Hampshire rules that a child conceived after her father’s death through artificial insemination is ineligible to inherit from him as his surviving issue. Khabbaz v. Commissioner. (N.H., No. 2006-751, Aug. 9, 2007).

The Supreme Court of New Hampshire rules that a child conceived after her father’s death through artificial insemination is ineligible to inherit from him as his surviving issue. Khabbaz v. Commissioner. (N.H., No. 2006-751, Aug. 9, 2007).

The Delaware Supreme Court fines an accountant for using two lawyers in a "contemptuous scheme" to circumvent its earlier order that the accountant cease engaging in the unauthorized practice of law by drafting wills and trusts for clients. In the Matter of Estep (Del., No. 647, 2006, Aug. 15, 2007).