A Pennsylvania appeals court rules that income from a father’s special needs trust is available to pay child support.  Mencer v. Ruch.  (PA.Super 182, 2007) No. 1902 WDA 2006. Heather Mencer instituted a support action against Gary Ruch, the father of her daughter. Due to a brain injury that occurred prior to the daughter’s birth, […]

What is Medicaid? Medicaid  is a federal government program that provides financial assistance to persons age 65 and over, or those under 65 who are disabled and who are in need of substantial medical assistance. Medicaid is a needs-based program a person must have a medical need for the assistance and must be of limited […]

The USA Today just ended a week-long series of articles dealing with the difficulties of dealing with taking care of one’s parents.  As science is able to keep us alive much longer than our bodies’ ability to care for itself, a growing number of children are finding themselves in the role of becoming the "parent" […]

Understanding VA Pension and VA Pension with Aid and Attendance "Aid and attendance" is a commonly used term for a little-known veterans’ disability income. The official title of this benefit is "Pension." The reason for using "aid and attendance" to refer to Pension is that many veterans or their single surviving spouses can become eligible […]

Medicaid law governing trusts is designed to prevent disabled individuals qualifying for benefits while still retaining full control over their assets. A third-party, however, is still free to plan with his own assets and either give them outright to a disabled individual or tie them up and restrict them in trust as he sees fit. […]

There are many types of trusts, and many reasons that people execute them.  In its most basic form, a trust is simply an agreement between two people to hold something of value for a period of time under a specific set of instructions.  "Will you hold my wallet while I swim in the ocean so […]

It is Alabama’s policy to value life estates at zero and to presume that annuities are saleable in determining the transfer penalty, even under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA), according to a recent letter by an Alabama Medicaid official.

The House and Senate have approved a $2.9 trillion budget resolution that would keep the estate tax at where it will be in 2009 under the current law. This means that the per-person estate tax exemption would be $3.5 million ($7 million for a married couple) and the top tax rate would be 45 percent.

A Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) official says that the agency believes states now have the option of imposing a transfer penalty on an institutionalized spouse if the community spouse transfers protected resources after the institutionalized spouse’s eligibility has been determined.

This article explores many of the common misperceptions about trust owned life insurance – plus a process for you to add significant value for your clients by incorporating policy reviews of trust owned life insurance. Although trust owned life insurance (TOLI) is a common planning vehicle for high net worth individuals and families, relatively few […]