The financial pitfalls facing a married couple when one spouse requires nursing home care are wide, deep, and surprisingly hidden. The emotional pain of a married person’s admission of his or her spouse to a nursing home rivals the painful experience of a spouse’s death. Unfortunately, critical financial decisions rush toward the healthier spouse like […]
[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] What comes to mind when you think of a prenuptial agreement? If you are like most people, you probably think about wealthy celebrities protecting their wealth from divorce. You may also think that a person would have to be a greedy, heartless jerk to ask […]
[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] The Medicaid system is maturing and showing promise of improving nursing home alternatives compared to the few meaningful alternatives to nursing home care that existed when we began our elder law career almost quarter century ago. Back then, almost every dementia or stroke patient had […]
[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] There is an old saying that, “the two certainties in life are death and taxes.” Those certainties used to inspire life insurance purchases to provide money for funeral expenses and “death taxes.” Today, increased estate tax exemption and the Indiana inheritance tax repeal have eliminated […]
[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Pop quiz: Which of the following business transactions could involve criminal behavior? Your restaurant customer pays the tab in cash and leaves a cash tip on the table. The next door neighbor gives your child a $10 bill to shovel snow. You clean a friend’s […]
The retirement plan concept leads us to believe that we should contribute as much as possible to IRAs and other tax-deferred retirement plans, and avoid withdrawing more than the required minimum distributions. While this strategy will maximize retirement plan growth and the likelihood that it will provide income late in life, it also sets up […]
[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] If a person has made a will, a power of attorney, an advance health care directive, or a trust, the person may think that those documents create a dependable estate plan. Unfortunately, many people do not realize that an estate plan includes every kind of […]
Nursing home bills usually turn a person’s world upside down when his or her spouse requires nursing home care (the average Indiana nursing home bed costs $7,167 per month in 2022). This article begins a two-part series about state and federal law can save a nursing home resident’s spouse from poverty, and how an experienced […]
We often hear from married couples during estate planning conferences that they do not plan to go to a nursing home. Our half joking reply is that lines rarely form for people wanting to enter nursing homes unless they are visiting nursing home residents. Unfortunately, according to the Indiana Long-Term Care Partnership Program, “individuals living […]
[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] The Apostle Paul described balanced responsibilities of children to honor their parents and parents to behave reasonably toward their children this way: “As for children, obey your parents in the Lord, because it is right. The commandment Honor your father and mother is the first […]
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