David Bowie’s Estate This year, we lost two music icons. While the death of Prince came as a surprise to the music community, David Bowie lost his battle with cancer. It was not surprising that David Bowie’s estate was left with almost $100 million dollars, a very large sum of…
Claiming inheritance upon its distribution is something that many individuals welcome and conversely is the source of many family disputes. There are many reasons why someone may want to refuse their bequest however, in a process in estate planning referred to as disclaiming inheritance. Some beneficiaries seek to disclaim their…
Advance Directives When determining the type of health care you wish to receive in the event that you are no longer able to make medical decisions, advance directives give you the ability to determine when you will continue or cease to receive medical care, the kinds of care or treatment…
International Will Issues As our world continues to grow and technology allows us to move places once never thought imagined, many individuals have the opportunity to live abroad throughout the course of their lives. After spending time in a specific area, whether it is for the majority of your life…
CERTAIN LIMITATIONS ON SPECIAL NEEDS TRUSTS Last year a case out of the Western District of Massachusetts Federal District Court dealt with the interplay of a special needs trust and eligibility for certain governmental benefits that the special needs trust was supposed to address. The case of DeCambre v. Brookline…
CONVERSION OF LIFE INSURANCE DURING LIFE OF COVERED INDIVIDUAL As this blog discussed in the past, long term planning insurance is something that many consumers are reluctant to purchase for a number of reasons One of the main reasons for this reluctance is the long term cost may not financially…
SIMPLE GUIDELINES, EASY TO UNDERSTAND AND FOLLOW The Center for Disease Control (CDC) released guidelines to help prevent and mitigate falls among senior citizens in 2012. The CDC program is called STEADI, an acronym coming from the full title Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths and Injuries. Research shows that falls are…
It is a fortunate state of affairs that it is happening less and less, with the requirement for every American obtain health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (often called Obamacare), that some people do not have proper health insurance coverage for a catastrophic injury. It is still unfortunate that…
LEGAL DISTINCTIONS THAT MATTER When a person applies for Medicaid eligibility there are many pitfalls that an unsuspecting or unsophisticated applicant can run afoul of. To help them retain the benefit of certain monies that they would normally have access to third parties or the applicant themselves can create a…
CREATE A GLOBAL PLAN TO GO INTO EFFECT TODAY If you are a parent, stepparent, grandparent or caretaker of a special needs child you need to prepare for the day when you are no longer able to physically and financially care for your special needs loved one. While it is…