You become eligible for Medicare as soon as you turn 65, and delaying your enrollment can result in penalties, so it is important to act right away. There are different options to consider when signing up for Medicare. Medicare consists of four major programs: Part A covers hospital stays, Part…
The basic concept of a reverse mortgage is that the bank will make payments to the homeowner, rather than the other way around. The payments can be a single lump sum, a line of credit or a stream of monthly payments. The bank does not have to be paid back…
DINK is estate planning lingo for dual income no kids. As Jamie A. Downes points out in her article: Just the Two of Us: Estate Planning for the Childless Dual-Income Household, childless couples where both spouses work are becoming more prevalent. These couples are often looking to pass their assets…
California recently passed a law allowing a doctor to prescribe a life-ending drug for a terminal patient. It is the California End of Life Option Act, and it comes into effect this June. This law brings to five the number of states allowing end-of-life decisions (California, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and Montana).…
Just as we create estate plans for our eventual demise, we also need to plan ahead for the possibility that we will become sick and unable to make our own medical decisions. Medical science has created many miracles, among them the technology to keep patients alive longer, sometimes indefinitely. As…
Learning what not to do can be just as instructive as learning what to do. That is the premises of The 101 Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes. Author Herbert Nass, an estate planning attorney for 25 years who has represented several celebrities, uses examples from celebrity estate plans as well as…
Once someone enters a nursing home it is not always easy to leave. While some residents may prefer nursing home care to living on their own, others would rather be independent. Residents who have been in a nursing home for a long time may have to start all over again when…
There are many Estate Planning issues to consider if you are thinking about purchasing a vacation home or now own a vacation home and are contemplating passing it on to your children. One of the most important is how title to the home is held. You can hold title in…
The recent changes to Social Security brought about by the 2015 Federal Budget Bill have removed two little understood, yet very powerful, benefit maximizing strategies that have been available to Social Security claimants since 2000. To better understand this recent change it is important to understand how Social Security benefit…
When choosing a beneficiary for a retirement plan, it is important to understand how your spouse will be treated under the plan. Surviving spouses are treated differently under 401(k)s and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). While a 401(k) provides protections for a surviving spouse, an IRA does not. Because the 401(k)…