[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Too people say about estate planning, “I’m not ready for that yet.” A person must be able to think clearly enough to make a will, trust, power of attorney, deed, health care directive or other estate plan document. As we wrote in our blog article, […]

Employees of many Hoosier hospitals ask patients the same question during the admission process every day, “Do you have a living will?” This may surprise people, but a patient’s answer to that question does not matter because when a living will arrives at the hospital, it is “dead on arrival.” This article explains why Indiana’s […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Many disabled children face disheartening experiences when they become adults. Public and private resources offer a variety of therapeutic services, summer recreation camps, and adaptive educational accommodations to disabled children, but many of those benefits and abruptly at adulthood. A federal tax law known as […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] The Indiana State Department of health (ISDH) updated and improved the Indiana Physicians Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST) form in December 2016. The new form is available for download in PDF and Microsoft Word formats at http://www.in.gov/isdh/25880.htm,  and it should be available in the […]

[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 […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Recipients of Social Security retirement income, Social Security disability income, veterans’ pensions, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, and other social insurance and public assistance benefits will experience cost-of-living adjustments in January 2017. The benefits and applicable deductions, such as Medicare premiums, will rise together with […]

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.] In our most recent blog, “Plans for Final Illness, Death, and Human Remains Disposition,” we mentioned issues that affect people’s choices about health care in final illness, death, and disposition of their bodies, including a few brief references to spiritual issues. We are expanding that […]