The Time and Expense of Having No Will
People will sometimes ask me why they need a will if they don’t have any probate assets. This might be because they believe everything is owned jointly with right of survivorship or because they own nothing. It usually turns out, however, that they do own something. It might be a car that is
How Not to Lose Medicaid (Part 5)
In last week’s post I explained that when the non-Medicaid spouse dies, the Medicaid spouse must receive at least a minimum amount of assets from the deceased spouse. This is known as the elective share and in New Jersey is determined to be 1/3 of the deceased spouse’s estate less what
How Not to Lose Medicaid (Part 2)
In my post last week I explained that once a Medicaid application is approved, everything isn’t on autopilot. What I mean is that you must be vigilant so as not to lose the benefits once you have them. That can happen a number of ways such as a change in circumstance.
How Not to Lose Medicaid (Part 1)
Whenever I talk to families about how to get Medicaid approved, there are so many elements to a successful application and so many confusing requirements that the tendency is to relax a bit, thinking the job is done when we first get the application approved. One example is with respect to
Real Estate Tax Problem – Part 3
In this third post of three, I go back to the problem caused by the death of an owner of real estate and the subsequent deaths of the next two people who were to inherit that property. As I explained last week, A died in 1994 and her interest in
Real Estate Tax Problem – Part 2
In my post last week I began to tell you about a real estate sale that we were asked to help finalize because the deceased owner’s estate administration process had never been completed. Actually, the person who inherited ownership had also died as did the person who inherited it from that
Real Estate Tax Problem – Part 1
I wrote two posts last November about a common problem we see. A real estate transaction is about to close when someone - usually the title company - determines that no one has been appointed as administrator or executor with authority to sign the closing documents on behalf of the deceased
Voice Cloning Scam – Part 2
In my post last week I told you about a financial scam involving artificial intelligence (AI). This type of imposter scam is expected to result in losses approaching $2.6 billion. As I explained, voice cloning has become very easy to do with technological advances. A distressed call from a family member can sound
Voice Cloning Scam – Part 1
I most recently wrote about financial scams in this blog back in October but a recent story on the tv news caught my eye. I wanted to share it here as another example of the “dark side” of technology to which seniors especially can be susceptible. It involves voice cloning. Advances
2023 Medicaid Penalty Divisor
As I have written about frequently in this blog, many of the Medicaid and VA benefit numbers are updated annually. Most are adjusted in lock step with Social Security’s cost of living adjustment (COLA). With inflation being as high as it has been in many years, the COLA for 2023 was also