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Happy Spring and welcome to the April issue of The Elder Law Update, a monthly e-newsletter full of the latest legal developments and other trends of vital interest to seniors and their advocates.
Partner Howard S. Krooks presented a continuing education course on April 28-30, 2008. The course, ElderCounsel Programming: Tools, Techniques and Strategies to Build a Successful Elder Law Practice, was held at the Hilton Scottsdale Resort & Villas in Scottsdale, AZ. Mr. Krooks presented with ElderCounsel partners, Michael Amoruso, Esq. and Louis Pierro, Esq.
Click here to read our Navigating Medicare Part A and Part B brochure, which has been updated with figures for 2008. (A pdf will open in a new window.)
As always, we welcome your comments and questions. You may send them to Info@ElderLawAssociates.com. |
| New Tax Break Helps Surviving Spouses
Widows and widowers who don't want to sell their house right away will get a tax break under a new law. The law gives surviving spouses two years to sell their house and receive the full $500,000 capital gains exclusion that married couples are entitled to receive.
Couples who are married and file taxes jointly can sell their main residence and exclude up to $500,000 of the gain from the sale from their gross income. Single individuals can exclude only $250,000. Under the previous law, if a spouse died, the surviving spouse could file jointly -- and therefore get the full $500,000 exclusion -- only for the year in which the spouse died. The new law allows surviving spouses to get the full $500,000 exclusion if they sell their house within two years of the date of the spouse's death and other ownership and use requirements have been met. The result is that widows or widowers who sell within two years may not have to pay any capital gains tax on the sale of the home.
The change is contained in the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, signed into law Dec. 20, 2007. For more on the bill, click here.
For a Wall Street Journal article on the change, click here. (Article may be available only to online subscribers.) |
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Keeping Track of Your Will
 Once you've taken the step to create a will and get your estate plan in order, you need to figure out what to do with the will itself. It is important to keep track of the location of your current will as well as any old wills.
Where to keep a will
The safest place to keep the original copy of your will is in a bank safe deposit box. If you keep the will at home even if it is in a safe--you run the risk of it being stolen or being destroyed in a fire. Some attorneys may keep the original copy of the will. But if you leave the will with your attorney, make sure the attorney receives updated contact information from you when you move. That way if the attorney moves offices or retires, he or she will know where to find you and you will know where your will is.
You may want to keep a copy of your will at home with your other financial documents. It is usually not a good idea to give a copy to family members or friends because you may want to change the distributions at some point and may need the will back.
What do you do with an old will?
Once you have written a new will, your inclination may be to destroy the old will, but this may not be a good idea. If, for some reason, your new will is invalidated, the court may be willing to reinstate an old will rather than allowing your estate to pass intestate (according to state law). It is likely that your old will adheres more closely to your wishes than an intestate distribution. If the will is destroyed, it cannot be reinstated.
Making changes to a will
If you want to make changes to a will, do not mark up the will by hand, even if you have only small changes to make. A court could take a marked-up will as a sign that you intended to revoke the will. If you want to make a change, contact an attorney who can draft an amendment to the will (called a codicil).
For more information on estate planning, click here. | |
Book Review: Cents & Sensibility: The Practical Guide to Money & Aging
 Martin S. Finn and John Lavelle. Cents & Sensibility: The Practical Guide to Money & Aging, iUniverse, Lincoln, NE, 2006. 131 pages.
$14.36 from Amazon (click on book to order). Perhaps with the words of Jane Austen in mind that "a large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of," Cents & Sensibility attempts to help seniors get the most out of their income during retirement.
Written by two attorneys who are also certified public accountants, the book covers all the financial aspects of getting older, from investments to insurance to long-term care. In addition to providing information on estate planning and incapacity planning, Cents & Sensibility presents practical strategies for reducing taxes and increasing income in retirement. For example, the authors suggest taking Social Security early rather than selling appreciated securities in taxable accounts. The book also covers health insurance, protecting children with special needs, and retirement housing, among other topics.
Because the authors include a lot of technical detail, it is not the most easy-to-read book, but Cents & Sensibility contains valuable practical information that could be very helpful to individuals nearing retirement age. |
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10 Million Boomers Will Develop Alzheimer's, Report Predicts
 Alzheimer's disease will strike one in eight U.S. baby boomers, meaning that 10 million boomers will develop the mind-wasting disease, according to a new report by the Alzheimer's Association, the 2008 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures.
The report predicts by 2010, there will be almost a half million new cases of Alzheimer's disease each year, and that by 2050, almost a million new cases will surface each year. Whereas today someone in America develops Alzheimer's disease every 71 seconds, by mid-century someone will develop Alzheimer's every 33 seconds. Women are nearly twice as likely as men to develop Alzheimer's disease (17 percent vs. 9 percent). The likelihood of developing Alzheimer's doubles every five years after age 65.
"Unchecked, this disease will impose staggering consequences on families, the economy and the nation's health and long-term care infrastructure," said Harry Johns, president and CEO of the Alzheimer's Association. In 2007, there were nearly 10 million Americans age 18 and over providing 8.4 billion hours of unpaid care to people with Alzheimer's disease valued at $89 billion, four times more than what Medicaid pays for nursing home care for people with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. In addition, a quarter million American children age 8 to 18 years old are providing care to loved ones with Alzheimer's, according to the Association.
Nevertheless, most people with Alzheimer's disease end up in a nursing home or an assisted living facility "and three-quarters of people with Alzheimer's will die in such a facility," said Stephen McConnell, the Association's vice president for advocacy and public policy.
The U.S. government has cut spending on Alzheimer's research, McConnell said. "Right now the government is spending about $640 million a year on Alzheimer's research," he said. "It seems like a lot, but we are spending over $5 billion a year on cancer, and more than $3 billion on heart disease each year. If we can just get that $640 million up to $1 billion a year, that would make a big difference."
"There is real hope for a better future where Alzheimer's is no longer a death sentence but how fast we get there depends on how much we are willing to invest today," added Alzheimer's Association president Johns.
For a press release and link to the report click here.
For an article in the Washington Post on the report, click here. |
Study Suggests Medicaid-Sponsored Home Care Reduces Nursing Home Use
 A recently released study of Medicaid-financed nursing home use over 18 months in 2001 and 2002 finds that in states such as Oregon that have extensive community based long-term care services, Medicaid-covered nursing home stays were shorter than the national average. The numbers suggest that where seniors have alternatives, their nursing home stays are more likely to be for acute care following a hospitalization or for a shorter period at the end of life.
The study, "Medicaid-Financed Nursing Home Services: Characteristics of People Served and Their Patters of Care, 2001-2002," conducted by Mathematica Policy Research for the Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, reports that over half of enrollees beginning Medicaid-financed nursing home spells were already residing in nursing homes when Medicaid began financing part of their stay, with 29 percent obtaining coverage within six months, 5 percent between six and 12 months, 7 percent between one and two years, and 9 percent after more than two years.
In 2002, more than 45 percent of nursing home costs nationally were paid by Medicaid, but a larger proportion of nursing home residents were Medicaid beneficiaries since even on Medicaid, some of the cost of their care is covered by Medicare, their own contributions from income, and other sources. In terms of all Medicaid expenditures, while aged and disabled enrollees make up about 25 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries, they account for 80 percent of Medicaid expenditures.
The report confirms the continuing trend that most nursing home residents are among the older old. The average nursing home resident who entered in 2002 was 76 years of age, with 32 percent each being between the ages 75 and 84 and 85 and older. Twenty percent were under age 65 and 16 percent between ages 65 and 74.
To read the study, click here. |
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Elder Law Associates PA is a boutique elder law firm that practices exclusively in Medicaid and long term care planning including long term care insurance, Medicaid applications, home and community-based Medicaid waiver services, diversion program benefits, nursing home benefits, spousal refusal applications, and Medicaid fair hearings and appeals; nursing home and assisted living facility residents' rights litigation; asset preservation planning with a special focus on planning in light of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, including personal service agreements, the purchase of life estates, income producing real estate and spenddown planning; disability planning, including special needs trusts and guardianship; estate planning, including wills and trusts and advance directives; and probate, which encompasses estate and trust administration as well as specialized litigation.
We assist clients in planning for the possibility of disability, incapacity, home health care, assisted living and/or nursing home placement. Our firm enables clients to avoid impoverishment caused by the escalating cost of long term care, to maintain their right to make health care decisions and to avoid unnecessary medical treatment.
We hope you have enjoyed The Elder Law Update. If you have questions about something you read, elder law matters or issues concerning persons with disabilities, we would be delighted to hear from you. We serve as an elder law resource to many professionals and organizations and want to become your elder law resource as well. You can reach us at Info@ElderLawAssociates.com.
Warm regards,
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Ellen S. Morris, Esq. & Howard S. Krooks, Esq., CELA
Elder Law Associates PA
phone: (561) 750-3850 / (800) 353-3752
fax: (561) 750-4069
This publication is intended for general information purposes only. It is not intended to constitute individual legal advice to any specific client. |
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