Section 121 exclusion of capital gains available if nursing home resident resided in home 1 of last 5 years
Sale or transfer of a primary residence is often a major consideration in elder care planning. Property may be transferred from an infirm spouse to the “healthy spouse.” Property may be sold because the homeowner has to move into a nursing home or other care facility. Property may be transferred to the “caregiver child” in connection with a Medicaid application. A...
WW II Crew memoirs available for interested readers
I have a group of books about World War II bombers that I would love to give to any of my readers who are interested in these subjects. Some of the books are crew memoirs with photos and mission descriptions from the Air Force campaigns in Foggia, Italy and North Africa, others are about related incidents in the Italian and eastern European Campaigns. Why do I have these? My late father...
Thoughtful Catholic approach to conversations about end of life care
I had the opportunity today to read a very thoughtful article about a meeting of Catholic physicians who are helping their very ill patients to wrestle with hard decisions about whether to utilize palliative care in place of active treatment with mechanical life support. The organization is the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) and the online newsletter article in the...
Section 8 housing rules for live-in caregivers
Did you know that if a person with physical or cognitive disabilities resides in section 8 funded HUD housing, the law requires the Public Housing Agency (PHA) to allow a necessary home health aide to reside with the tenant? The concept is that the PHA is required to make a reasonable accommodation for the tenant’s needs pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, to enable the...
We Respect Our Aging Parents by Helping Them Plan for Future Needs
Could this be you? You’re in your thirties or forties, with several active children and a busy social and business life. You’ve got volunteer activities and school programs to keep track of. Your parents are in their seventies or eighties, have their own home, and appear to pay all their bills when due. You have no idea what your parents’ income or assets are because they don’t want to bother...
Power of Attorney isn’t just a “form”
I’ve been thinking a lot about Power of Attorney issues lately because of a variety of problems my clients have encountered. A power of attorney is a document that reflects a relationship created between one person and another person in which the principal person appoints the other person as their “Agent and attorney-in-fact” with power to carry out different kinds of...
“Still Alice” — a compassionate film about Alzheimer’s Disease
On a very long flight back from Vietnam last week, I had a chance to see the film “Still Alice” starring Kate Bosworth. What a sympathetic and genuine depiction of the distress experienced by Alice, an accomplished university professor, wife and mother, when she learns that she has developed Alzheimer’s Disease at age 50. The rapid progression of the genetically-based early...
Understanding Alzheimers Disease and Creating a safe environment for aging
I just came across a great article in the Journal of Family Practice (January 2015) by Marisa Mendola PhD and Barry D. Weiss, MD, called “Addressing Alzheimers: A pragmatic approach.” JFP_06401_Article1 The article is, of course, addressed to physicians who may be noticing signs of cognitive impairment in their patients or who have been alerted that “there seems to be...
Elder Care Planning: Building your Team
Tuesday evening I was privileged to participate in a lively panel at the JCC in Scotch Plains that was answering questions on a wide range of elder care/ elder law issues. The panelists were terrific — Michele Morandi, D.O., geriatric physician based in Union and affiliated with Center for Hope Hospice https://centerforhope.com/ ; Chris Kaiser, MSW, LCSW, Director of the Older Adult...