Elder Law

Understanding Elder Law Estate Planning – Trusts and Tax Reporting

Published on: March 18, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

If you are the beneficiary of a trust, there are a number of considerations you should be making when filing your taxes. When filing taxes each year, you should determine how much of your trust distributions made throughout the year will be taxable. In the event that a trust retains income after the calendar year has ended, they will be subject to taxation on that leftover income, thus, it is important to communicate to your trustee, whether that is an individual or a corporate entity, your tax status and what you would like to maintain.

A trust consists of both income and principal. Principal is the corpus of the trust, being any trust property owned by the grantor and now the trust, as well as stocks and investments that have funded the trust. Income is the monetary amount made off of the investments or other products attributed to principal. Based on what distributions were made from principal and what were made from income, the trust must file a K-1 and a 1041.

The 1041 is the tax document important to the trust and trustee because it provides the trust’s deductions from its taxable income distributions made to beneficiaries. The K-1 is given to the beneficiary and gives them a breakdown of the distribution and what their tax liability is to be reported by outlining what distributions were made from income and what came from principal.

The Basics – Guardianship and the Elderly

Published on: March 15, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

As we continue to age, it can be difficult to admit when you are no longer able to handle personal affairs and financial matters on your own. There are a number of alternatives available to those seeking to have their affairs managed by another party, depending upon the individual’s mental capacity to comply with assigning these rights. Those providing caregiver services to the individual, commonly a loved one, may seek retaining legal guardianship of the elderly individual, assigning durable power of attorney and health care power of attorney to specific individuals, or establishing a trust.

Guardianship

Guardianship is a legal status given by the court to create a relationship between someone who is incapacitated or unable to care for themselves and a person determined to be suitable to administer and manage the incapacitated person’s affairs. In order to get a guardianship order, a person must file a petition with the court to review the case at hand. The court assesses the situation, the petitioner, as well as the elderly person to determine what will be the least restrictive method of guardianship. The appointment may include only managing financial affairs, but may also assign responsibility for day to day decision making including support, maintenance, and personal care.

Early Onset Dementia and the Importance of Estate Planning

Published on: March 11, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease affects more than five million Americans today. While a large majority of those affected are over the age of 65, it is not just a disease for the elderly. Symptoms of Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease can occur in individuals as young as 30 years old, and currently affects an estimated 200,000 people in America. The diagnosis can often be missed or misdiagnosed as another condition or an association with the changes both men and women go through during their 40s and 50s, however, a comprehensive medical examination is required in order to properly diagnose those with early onset dementia. While the cause of the disease is not yet known, it is important to look to your family history as a way to determine if you or your loved one should be monitoring specific behaviors and changes in personality.

The thought of losing your memories, ability to perform basic tasks, as well as ability to think clearly, remember the time, date, or place, is a very scary feeling for anyone. As these functions start to go, it is important that the loved person, either elderly or young, has in place a comprehensive medical and estate plan, when the day comes that he or she is no longer able to make decisions for themselves. The unfortunate reality of this disease is that it is not a question or if, but of when they will no longer be able to make their own decisions based on a lack of capacity.

First, the individual in question must have their legal capacity assessed to determine if they are able to understand and appreciate the consequences of their actions in signing documents that give specific power to named individuals. In doing so, you should also consult a medical professional if you have doubt as to their ability to understand and make decisions. Also, if the individual has previously executed any wills, trust, or power of attorney documents, those should be revised as necessary to accommodate their current condition while still respecting their wishes.

Are Illegitimate Children Considered Beneficiaries?

Published on: February 24, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

The legal rights of illegitimate children and their ability to take under the terms of a trust have for years been the subject of many litigation proceedings. Illegitimate children are traditionally known as children who are born out of wedlock or to unmarried parents, however, the most widely known cases are those children who were born as the result of an affair by either or both parents. When one parent is the beneficiary of the grantor of a trust, the other spouse of the child, when old enough, may try to assert claims that they are also entitled to access the trust due to blood relation.

How Does an Illegitimate Child Take?

While traditionally under common law, an illegitimate child was not seen as a legal child of either parent, with no right of parental support or right of inheritance, today the laws have changed to better reflect the rights of an illegitimate child. Although states differ regarding their laws on wills and trusts, many now favor giving children rights, under statutes such as The Status of the Children Act as well as the Equal Protection Act. Under the Status of the Children Act, there is a presumption that any reference to children not further defined in a will includes both legitimate and illegitimate children, regardless of their relationship to the father.

Elderly Abandonment: An Issue Around the World

Published on: February 17, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Aging comes with a wide variety of issues and relying on the care of your family is not a resource available to all. Whether it is due to lack of accessibility, estranged familial relationships, or advanced care requirements, many elderly find themselves alone in their older age.

This is not a phenomenon specific to America, it is an issue experienced by countries across the world. Certain cultures are more focused on caring for their elders, much like those elders helped raise them, while others have a less integrated idea of family including care for their elders.

In fact, the issue of elderly abandonment was such a large problem in Japan it was deemed “granny dumping”. While this practice, where senile senior citizens were taken up to the top of mountains and left there by loved ones due to the inability to care for them, is a very old practice, the modern version of abandonment is once against becoming a problem. Today, elderly individuals are being taken to local hospitals, churches and charities, and being left like they used to in the mountains.

Medicare Changes Under New Administration

Published on: February 1, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Another major platform that President Trump ran under was the promise to repeal the widely contested Obamacare plans, and to instead bolster Medicare and Medicaid eligibility and benefits. Since taking office, the businessman has changed his position multiple times regarding whether an overhaul of the system will be made or whether he will keep his promise to leave Social Security and Medicare alone.

Medicare Proposals by the House

House Speaker Paul Ryan has been an avid supporter of overhauling the system, by combining Medicare Parts A and B and also increasing the Medicare age of retirement to that of the full retirement age that one must qualify for with Social Security. Additionally, this proposal would allow Medicare beneficiaries to choose which plan they wish to elect between private plans or traditional plans, based on their health needs, but would not take effect until 2024.

Death Tolls Rise in Winter Months

Published on: January 26, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Winter months are difficult on many of those who live in areas that experience great seasonal changes. The National Center for Health Services actually found that death rates are twice as high in the winter than the hottest part of summer. Not only do we have bundle up and face the chilling weather, there is also a major threat of seasonal illness.

Thus, it is not surprising that individuals have the highest risk of dying from natural causes in the end of December and beginning of January. In fact, one study showed that those who die from natural causes, circulatory problems, respiratory diseases, nutritional/metabolic problems, digestive diseases and cancer have a greater chance of dying between Christmas and New Years than any other time of year.

Not Just in America

Medical Devices and Infection

Published on: January 23, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Recent Recalls

Open heart surgery has saved the lives of thousands of patients across America, as well as the world. Performing this task takes a highly skilled team of doctors well equipped with the right medical devices to assist them. All of these tools require FDA approval and specific cleaning procedures prior to their implementation during surgery. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention announced that a heater cooler unit that has been used in the majority of these surgeries since 2012, could have been contaminated when it was in the manufacturing process.

Heater Cooler Units for Open Heart Surgery

Death with Dignity Act Gains More Approval

Published on: January 19, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Physician assisted suicide has been a controversial topic across the world, however as the reasoning behind it becomes better understood, many countries have chosen to legalize the practice for reasons outside of terminal illness. In the United States, in the past few decades, the public began to take notice with news headlines such as those regarding Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan physician who helped assist numerous patients chose when they would die from terminal illnesses and subsequently served eight years for his acts.

Today, physician assistance in dying is legal in Washington, Vermont, Montana, Oregon, with California recently signing in their aid in dying legislation in June 2016, Colorado approving a ballot measure in the most recent November 2016 election by two thirds majority, as well as the District of Columbia signing in their version of the same aid in dying law in December 2016. With a not so surprising passage of these laws comes the realization that Americans as a whole see the reasoning or at least themselves would want the option, in the circumstance they were to become terminally ill.

What is different with the United States’ various aid in dying laws in place is that they are all for those patients that are terminally ill, requiring certain validation steps through physicians and therapists.

Social Security Earnings Test & Increases in 2017

Published on: December 30, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

The Social Security Administration recently released a list of changes to take place in 2017, which included the cost of living adjustment that we discussed in a previous article, as well as a new earnings test limits for those older adults who continue to work but qualify for social security. While the cost of living adjustment came out to a roughly $50 a year increase, the other changes listed by the Administration have encouraged many of those who receive their monthly benefits.

The Earnings Test

In order to provide the most equal distribution based on need, the Social Security Administration has come up with a test in order to determine how much in benefits an individual should be allotted. The earnings test applies to those older adults who have not yet reached their full age of retirement, which is 66 years old, and who are still working. For those beneficiaries who attain full retirement age after 2017, they can claim exemption of earnings up to $16,920 a year, or roughly $1,410 a month.