For Qualified Income Trusts, Not All Bank Accounts Are Created Equal
Medicaid Long Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) in New Jersey pays for nursing home care for people with alzheimers disease, catastrophic disabilities and other serious difficulties with self care. The program requires any applicant with more than $2205 (three times the SSI amount–new for 2017) of gross income to make a Qualified Income Trust. Our office assists applicants with this...
Person under Guardianship still has the right to vote
When a Court enters an order in a guardianship action that finds a person to be “incapacitated,” the Court is required in New Jersey to consider the functional areas in which the person needs or does not need a surrogate decision-maker, and must fashion the least restrictive arrangement that is consistent with the individual’s best interests. The Court can structure the...
What if the Medicaid home care services aren’t provided? part II
Previously I blogged about the problems faced by Medicaid-eligible people living in home and community-based settings when there isn’t a sufficient provider network to provide the services needed to maintain them in their residences, or there is substantial delay in getting the services started. The issue is that the government is obligated to provide the services in the...
The NJ Estate tax may be going away, but you can still do important planning with a Will
On October 14th, Governor Christie signed a tax package into law which does away with the New Jersey estate tax and certain income taxes in exchange for a 23 cent per gallon increase in the gasoline tax so that the roads and bridges can be repaired. There’s still no estate tax on any assets that pass at death to your spouse. At the present time, the estate tax exclusion is only...
Taxpayers over 70-1/2 can use their IRA for tax-free charitable gifts now
At the end of the year Congress passed and the President signed HR-637, the Permanent IRA Charitable Contribution Act of 2015, which makes a permanent amendment to the tax code to allow taxpayers older than 70-1/2 to direct a distribution from their IRA directly to a qualified charitable organization, bypassing the usual realization of income on the distribution. A taxpayer can use this...
Social Security procedures created for ABLE accounts
A year ago, the ABLE act was included in the Tax Extenders Package that was signed into law by president Obama. The ABLE Act is an amendment to section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code, which as you may know, provides for transfers into education funds whereby the income generated by the funds grows tax free. The ABLE Act provides a way for people who were diagnosed with a significant...
True Link a Possible Solution for Many Fiduciary Problems
FRE-L attorneys frequently act as fiduciaries for people in need. That could mean being someone’s Guardian, Conservator, Trustee or Durable Power of Attorney. Some of the people we help have more functional ability than others. You want to foster independence whenever possible but it can be very hard–as fiduciaries, we have to account to Medicaid, Social Security, the courts...
Using life insurance to fund a trust for your disabled family member
When you make an estate plan, you take into consideration the needs of all the family members who you want to give a benefit for. One child may have disabilities and may or may not presently require government benefits. You may think that you don’t have much assets to leave behind for their lifelong support. Are you worried that they will be able to work to a degree, but not be able to...
How to create a master plan for the care of your special needs child
If you’ve been caring for your child who has special needs, you have deep personal knowledge of how your child behaves and responds. You know what they like and what they hate. You know what triggers an anxious or distressed reaction. It could be a flavor, a show, a color, or a person.
As an aging parent, you are probably concerned about who will take care of your child when you are...
Support the Special Needs Trust Fairness Act
The Special Needs Trust Fairness Act of 2015 ( S-349) would correct an error in OBRA ’93, which was a major revision to the Medicaid Act that allowed Medicaid applicants or recipients under age 65 to make penalty-free transfers of their assets or income into a first-party Special Needs Trust for their sole benefit. To qualify for the exemption, the Trust had to be established by a...