Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts (MAPT) in Long-Term Care Planning
Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts (MAPTs), also known as Medicaid Planning Trusts or Home Protection Trusts, offer a crucial planning strategy for individuals seeking Medicaid coverage but having excess assets. These specialized trusts provide a means [...]
Transferring Parent’s Home Under Medicaid Caregiver Child Exemption
When it comes to caring for elderly parents and securing their long-term care, the caregiver child exemption, also known as the caretaker child exemption, is a valuable option for families. This provision enables seniors to [...]
How to Plan Your Funeral
Thinking about your funeral may not be fun, but planning ahead can be exceedingly helpful for your family. It both lets them know your wishes and assists them during a stressful time. The following are steps [...]
Estate Planning in the Digital Age
What happens to my Facebook photos after I die? Can I pass on my iTunes music library to my children? Can my sister access my personal email account? At one point or another, questions like [...]
Digital Estate Planning for the 21st Century
The need for digital estate planning is fairly new, but it’s a significant and growing issue. From ownership of digital assets to control of email and social media accounts, the modern estate administrator has a [...]
Estate Planning is for the Living – Asset Management for Every Circumstance
Once upon a time, estate planning revolved largely around disposition of assets after your death. This was most often managed through a will, though some property might be titled to pass automatically to a surviving [...]
Avoid the Most Significant Real Estate Investment Risk
When you hear that real estate investment can be risky, the first thing that comes to mind is probably the possibility that you’ll end up taking a loss on the investment property. Maybe the local [...]
Asset Protection for Beneficiaries and Heirs
Often, people think about asset protection simply as a way to minimize risk during their lifetimes, separating risk management from estate planning. However, asset protection for beneficiaries can play a significant role in estate planning—especially [...]
What is Asset Protection?
For many people, the term “asset protection” brings to mind safes and alarm systems. Though physically protecting your valuables is important, true asset protection is much more sophisticated. What is Asset Protection for New Jersey [...]
HUD Makes Reverse Mortgages a Little Less Attractive
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced changes to the federal reverse mortgage program. Citing the need to put the program on better financial footing, HUD will raise reverse mortgage fees for [...]
Good Planning Protects Your Family’s Future
Fully protecting your spouse and children requires protecting yourself in ways that many young adults don’t consider, and preparing for eventualities most will never have to face. These tips on legal and financial planning for [...]
Using a Prepaid Funeral Contract to Spend Down Assets for Medicaid
No one wants to think about his or her death, but a little preparation in the form of a prepaid funeral contract can be useful. In addition to helping your family after your death, a [...]
Isn’t There Already A Law That Leaves Everything To My Spouse And Kids?
Many people think that if they die while they are married, everything they own automatically goes to their spouse or children. They’re actually thinking of state rules that apply if someone dies without leaving a [...]
How to Protect Your Child’s Inheritance from His or Her Untrustworthy Spouse
Parents who develop an estate plan often do so to provide for their heirs financially. Many want to make sure hard-earned assets, family heirlooms, or closely held businesses stay within the family. Indeed, a common [...]
How You Can Build an Estate Plan that Includes Asset Protection
Much of estate planning has to do with the way a person’s assets will be distributed upon their death. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. From smart incapacity planning to diligent probate avoidance, [...]
Is It Better to Use Joint Ownership or a Trust to Pass Down a Home?
When leaving a home to your children, you can avoid probate by using either joint ownership or a revocable trust, but which is the better method? If you add your child as a joint tenant [...]
Things to Discuss with Your Estate Planning Attorney
Why an estate plan is more than just a will. A will is a good start, but there’s much more to estate planning that drafting and signing a will. A will won’t necessarily preserve your [...]
How to Pass Your Home to Your Children Tax-Free
Giving your house to your children can have tax consequences, but there are ways to accomplish it tax-free. The best method to use will depend on your individual circumstances and needs. Leave the house in [...]
IRS Issues Long-Term Care Premium Deductibility Limits for 2017
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is increasing the amount taxpayers can deduct from their 2017 income as a result of buying long-term care insurance. Premiums for "qualified" long-term care insurance policies (see explanation below) are [...]
An Overview of the IRC Section 2704 Proposal
Section 2704 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) pertains to family-controlled corporations and partnerships, specifically dealing with gratuitous transfers between family members in connection with the family owned business. According to IRC, the IRS can [...]
Understanding the Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust
Life insurance can give great peace of mind to the insured by providing for their loved ones after their death. Life insurance benefits can help pay for your children’s college education or provide for your [...]
Does My Trust Need a Separate Tax ID Number?
The type of trust that you utilize in your estate planning will affect how the trust’s income will be taxed. This is an important consideration when creating a trust as it will determine who will [...]
Paying for Long-Term Care
As individuals age, they often begin to think about where they would like to live out their days. Most would like to stay in their homes for as long as possible. However, this often requires [...]
Estate Planning for Cross-Border Families
Estate planning is always a highly involved process but for cross-border families, estate planning can be rife with difficulties. Those who own assets in foreign countries or are married to a non-citizen spouse have additional [...]
Using Trusts as an Alternative to Prenuptial Agreements
Although it is difficult for couples to imagine divorce while they are in the midst of pre-wedding bliss, it is a reality that must be addressed in an age when close to fifty percent of [...]
Transferring a Mortgaged Property into a Living Trust
Estimates from online real estate search firm Zillow indicate that nearly one-third of homeowners own their home free and clear. For the unlucky two-thirds who have either one or multiple mortgages on their home and [...]
Stepped-Up Basis in Inherited Assets
When considering leaving property to beneficiaries, tax considerations factor heavily in estate planning. Since one is hard pressed to find any aspect of our life (and death) that is not subject to some form of [...]
Why Most Estate Plans Do Not Work
Estate planning can be a tedious and complicated process, which if not conducted properly can result in assets being wasted due to being placed in expensive probate proceedings or unduly subjected to creditor claims and [...]
Medicaid Crisis vs. Medicaid Planning
A health condition that requires a family member to receive permanent, long-term care often does not occur with a great deal of advanced notice, particularly if the health event occurs suddenly such as in the [...]
Important Facts About Medicaid Planning
When it comes to dealing with the excruciating cost of long-term care services, there is no room for error and knowledge is power. For that reason, we summarized for our readers the answers dealing with [...]
Who Needs Estate Planning?
Estate planning isn’t about how much money you have, it's about protecting what you have for you, during your lifetime and for those you love after you’re gone. It ensures what you have gets to [...]
Your Cyber Legacy: 3 Tips for Your Digital Assets
There’s an entire category of commonly-overlooked legacy to consider – digital assets. Don’t worry if you didn’t consider these assets when made your will or trust – it’s surprisingly common and, luckily, easy to correct. [...]
IRAs and Estate Planning
In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Clark v. Rameker altered the landscape of estate planning strategies concerning protecting inherited IRAs from creditor claims. In Clark, the court considered whether a person who had [...]
Keeping Control of Your Trust
Every different form of trust contains its unique benefits and drawbacks that depend on an individual’s estate planning needs. One particular example involves the choice between irrevocable and revocable trusts. As the name implies, an [...]
5 Reasons to Protect Your Retirement Accounts Now
During your lifetime, your retirement account has asset protection, but as soon as you pass that account to a loved one, that protection evaporates. This means one lawsuit and POOF! Your life long, hard earned [...]
Caution: Your Traditional Asset Protection Plan is Set Up to Fail
You may be surprised to learn that not only has asset protection planning been around for a long time, but you have already engaged in it at some point during your life. In fact, you [...]
The Shocking Truth About Asset Protection Planning
Some view asset protection planning with a skeptical eye. They believe there is a moral obligation to pay one’s debts. They think that asset protection planning is immoral because it prevents a creditor from collecting [...]
Three Liability Planning Tips for Physicians Anyone Can Use
Whether you are a physician or not, you probably know that the practice of medicine is a profession fraught with liability. It’s not just medical malpractice claims either – employment related issues, careless business partners [...]
3 Asset Protection Tips You Can Use Now
A common misconception is that only wealthy families and people in high risk professions need to put together an asset protection plan. But in reality, anyone can be sued. A car accident, foreclosure, unpaid medical [...]
Lifetime QTIP Trusts – The Gift That Keeps Giving
Estate planning for married couples can be tricky when one spouse is significantly wealthier than the other and each spouse wants different beneficiaries to ultimately inherit their estate. One solution to this problem is the [...]
The Trust Protection Myth: Your Revocable Trust Protects Against Lawsuits
WARNING: Many people believe once they set up a Revocable Living Trust and transfer assets into the Trust, those assets are protected from lawsuits. This is absolutely not true. While Trusts commonly provide asset protection [...]