Most people have heard that each individual is allowed to gift $15,000 per year to another person without paying a gift tax. However, exactly what the gift tax is, and the consequences of going beyond $15,000, are less clear.
As retirees live longer, many worry about outliving their savings. However, many older Americans haven’t planned for a looming expense: the cost of long-term care.
With a Power of Attorney, you designate which individuals are in control of your assets and who can take care of your affairs, if you are unable to do so.
I am a single retired parent to an adult daughter, who is an only child. The home I currently reside for the last 26 years still has a mortgage and the deed is in my name only. I have a will that states everything is left to my daughter, and then to my grandson, if she proceeds me in death. Should my daughter be added to the deed?
An applicable multi-beneficiary trust can solve some--but not all--of the challenges that the new act presents.
It is critical that parents and grandparents give careful thought to any gift of money or bequest in an estate plan, when the recipient has special needs.
As family members age and require care, the burden of that care often falls on an adult child. For those that leave jobs to care for family members, it can become a financial hardship for the family.
Medicare has a series of income limits that trigger increasingly higher payments for retirees. And it’s not just the rich who are affected.
Estate planning documents often are treated like the photocopied permission slip for a child’s field trip. You fill in your name, include the children’s names and dates of birth and sign. The document is filed away to be used if needed, but you really never expect it to be used.
Both the state and federal government, administered through the Social Security Administration (SSA) and Medicaid provide disabled individuals with a variety of life enhancing, and sometimes life sustaining, public benefits.
