It is a good problem to have, as they say, but many wealthy individuals are concerned about the impact of leaving significant wealth to their children.  CNBC recently published a review of several famous people who share the belief that leaving their money entirely to their heirs can do more harm than good. As Warren Buffet is quoted as saying: “I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing.”  Rock star Gene Simmons agrees, saying that he believes everyone, including his own children, “should be forced to get up out of bed and go out and work and make their own way.”

Inherited wealth can certainly have the unintended effect of making it unnecessary for your heirs to work hard and earn a living, which, although it may sound good to those of us who do so out of necessity, can lead to an unfulfilling life over the long term.  Regardless of the level of your wealth, these are important things to think about, and are issues we discuss with our clients in the course of planning how to pass their assets on to their children. Will your children be overwhelmed by inheriting a large sum of money?  Will they be able to manage it responsibly and avoid the temptations that may come with it, including the temptation to give up working, which may not benefit them in the long term?  In many cases, it is prudent to stipulate that assets will be held in trust for children, with distributions being made only for specific purposes or in limited ways, or delayed until a child reaches a certain age.  This type of arrangement prevents wealth from becoming a disincentive for beneficiaries to establish themselves in their careers and support themselves and their families.  Trusts can also protect against “predators and creditors” to which young beneficiaries are vulnerable, including divorce, bad business decisions, and poor judgment in money management matters.

For individuals who can say, like Pierre Omidyar (the founder of eBay), “We have more money than our family will ever need,” or for those who are charitably inclined, creating a plan that leaves some money to children and some to charity may be appropriate.  Bill and Melinda Gates have created a foundation that bears their name, and have challenged other wealthy individuals to consider carefully how much of their wealth they need to leave to their families and to leave the rest to charity.  In support of this philosophy, Michael Bloomberg has said: “And if you want to do something for your children and show how much you love them, the single best thing—by far—is to support organizations that will create a better world for them and their children. Long term, they will benefit more from your philanthropy than from your Will.”

No matter how much money you have, being thoughtful about how you leave your money to your heirs at death is important.  Good estate planning will address these issues and create a plan that benefits your heirs over the long term.

July 2015

One of the most frequent concerns clients express is the fear that they will lose all of their assets paying for long-term nursing home care.  This is a valid concern.  The cost of long-term care is very high – $10,000 to $14,000 per month in Massachusetts, and there is no easy way to pay for it.  Medicare or other health insurance plans cover only a limited amount of long-term care costs.

Medicaid, also called MassHealth in Massachusetts, is the state and federally funded program that will pay for long-term nursing home costs for individuals who are both medically and financially eligible.  Here are five basic rules for eligibility for long-term care Medicaid – but beware!  Each rule has exceptions that could apply, depending upon the particular situation.

1. In order to be eligible for long-term care Medicaid benefits, a person cannot  have more than $2,000 of countable assets.    In Massachusetts, countable assets include bank accounts, stocks and bonds, retirement accounts, and annuities. The cash value of life insurance policies may be countable, depending upon the face value of the policy.  An individual’s primary residence is not a countable asset. This means a person who owns a home will not be required to sell the home in order to be eligible for long-term care Medicaid benefits.  However, this is not as great as it sounds.  The Commonwealth will place a lien against the home of a MassHealth recipient and will collect amounts paid to the nursing home on behalf of the homeowner when the home is sold or after the death of the nursing home resident.

2. The spouse of a nursing home resident may retain countable assets over and above the $2,000 that the nursing home resident may keep.  When a nursing home resident has a spouse who is living in the community, the spouse is entitled to keep additional countable assets.  The amount the spouse is entitled to keep is called the Community Spouse Resource Allowance (CSRA).  This year (2015), the CSRA is $119,220.

3. A person who is eligible for long-term care Medicaid benefits must pay most of his monthly income to the nursing home.  A person who receives Medicaid for long-term nursing home care costs must pay her monthly income to the nursing home.  This includes Social Security, pension income, annuity payments, and net rental income.  A person is permitted to keep enough income to pay for her health insurance premium and a small monthly personal needs allowance ($72.80 in 2015).

4. The spouse of a nursing home resident may be entitled to keep some of her spouse’s income.   When the nursing home resident has a spouse who is living in the community, the spouse may be entitled to keep some of the resident’s monthly income.  The government recognizes that people living in the community need money to pay their bills.  The Medicaid rules include an “allowance” for the spouse of a nursing home resident.  If the community spouse’s income is less than the amount of the allowance, then the income of the nursing home spouse can be retained by the spouse at home rather than be paid to the nursing home (see #3 above).  This is called the Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance (MMNA).  This year (2015), the maximum amount of the MMNA is $2,980.  This means that if the monthly income of the spouse in the community is at least $2,980, she will not be entitled to keep any of her spouse’s income (unless she meets one of the exceptions to this rule).

5. Giving away assets will cause a period of ineligibility.  The Medicaid program is intended to provide assistance to those who cannot afford to pay for long-term care costs.  In order to prevent individuals from taking advantage of the program by giving away assets to meet the financial eligibility requirements, there is a five-year look-back period.  The application for long-term care Medicaid benefits requires that the applicant disclose all gifts made within the five-year period preceding the application.  If gifts were made to anyone other than a spouse during those five years, there will be a period of ineligibility imposed.  The length of the ineligibility period will be based on the value of the assets given away.

There is no penalty for transferring assets between spouses.  However, the ineligibility period will apply even if the non-applicant spouse is the one who gives away assets.  For example, if a wife gives her son $50,000 in January and her husband goes into a nursing home in September, the $50,000 gift will cause the husband to be ineligible for Medicaid benefits for a period of time.

As noted above, the Medicaid eligibility rules are complex and there are multiple exceptions to just about every rule.   If you have concerns about paying for long-term care, consult with an experienced elder law attorney who can explain how the rules apply to your situation and discuss planning options.

Attorney Suzanne R. Sayward is certified as an Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation, a private organization whose standards for certification are not regulated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  She is a partner with the Dedham firm of Samuel, Sayward & Baler LLC.  This article is not intended to provide legal advice or create or imply an attorney-client relationship. No information contained herein is a substitute for a personal consultation with an attorney. For more information visit www.ssbllc.com or call 781/461-1020.

July 2015

Medicaid (a/k/a MassHealth) is a state and federally funded program that pays medical and long-term care expenses for people who meet the eligibility criteria of the program. While there are many programs available to individuals living in the community, the primary reason that clients consult with me about Medicaid is for payment of long-term nursing home costs.

The application process for long-term care Medicaid benefits is often long and difficult, and the eligibility rules are complicated.  One of the most misunderstood aspects of the eligibility rules concerns annuities.  Many clients tell me that they have been advised that annuities are not countable for Medicaid eligibility purposes.   In general that is not true – annuities are countable when determining Medicaid eligibility.  However, there is a germ of truth in that statement because an annuity can be a good planning tool for a married couple when one spouse needs long-term nursing home care.

An annuity is a complex financial product but for long-term care Medicaid eligibility purposes, we focus on whether it is a ‘deferred’ annuity or an ‘immediate’ annuity.

With a deferred annuity, an individual invests a lump sum of money in an annuity contract with the plan to leave the funds untouched for some period of time.  The invested funds grow income tax free so long as there are no withdrawals from the annuity. The funds are available to the owner of the annuity at any time, although there may be a penalty if the funds are withdrawn too soon.

With an immediate annuity, an individual invests a lump sum of money in an annuity and the financial institution pays a guaranteed stream of income to the owner for a set period of time.  For example, if I invested $50,000 in an immediate annuity with a term of 5 years, then I would receive about $850 every month for the next 60 months.

For Medicaid eligibility purposes, a deferred annuity is a countable asset.  That means that if either spouse owns a deferred annuity, the lump sum value of that annuity is considered as an asset in determining Medicaid eligibility.  (The eligibility threshold for a single person is $2,000 of countable assets; a spouse living in the community may keep an additional $119,220 of countable assets in 2015.)

If you have an immediate annuity and you are applying for long-term Medicaid benefits, the annuity is not a countable asset but the monthly payment you receive from the annuity will have to be paid to the nursing home.  For example, if I have $2,000 in the bank and no other assets, and I receive $4,000 per month from an immediate annuity, I will be eligible for Medicaid benefits to pay for my nursing home care.  However, I will be required to give the nursing home my $4,000 annuity payment each month to be used towards the cost of my care.

Conversely, a spouse of a nursing home resident who is living in the community does not need to pay her income to the nursing home for the care of her spouse.  So in my above example, if the spouse in the community is the one receiving the $4,000 per month annuity payment, she would not need to pay that to the nursing home.  That is why an immediate annuity can be a good planning tool for a married couple where one spouse needs nursing home care.

These rules are complex and there are many factors which affect a person’s eligibility for Medicaid benefits.  If you have questions about Medicaid eligibility, don’t rely on the advice of your neighbor, your brother-in-law, or even your financial advisor – consult with an experienced elder law attorney to get the right advice for your situation.

June 2015

It’s spring, love is in the air, and weddings abound.  For an estate planning attorney, these events conjure up unromantic thoughts of prenuptial agreements.  A prenuptial, or premarital, agreement is a contract between two people who are planning to marry, by which they agree in advance to a division of their assets in the event of divorce or death.

Whenever clients express concern about protecting assets their child may inherit if the child’s marriage ends in divorce, the first question I ask is whether a prenuptial agreement was signed prior to marriage. These agreements are the single best way to protect inherited assets in the event of divorce.

Here are five facts to know about prenuptial agreements:

1. If You Brought It You Keep It. A basic prenuptial agreement provides that in the event of divorce, each party to the agreement will leave the marriage with the assets that each brought into the union or inherited during the marriage.  If a party owns an interest in a family business or co-owns property with other individuals, the agreement will stipulate that those interests are not subject to division between the parties in the event of divorce.  This prevents marital discord from impacting those assets and the other owners.  The agreement will also address the division of any jointly held assets in the event of divorce

2. Follow the Rules. A prenuptial agreement must be created with an eye towards whether the agreement will be enforceable if the parties divorce.  Understandably, the parties to a prenuptial agreement do not anticipate divorce occurring, and may not approach the creation of the agreement with the seriousness which is warranted. This is especially true if the agreement is being negotiated in the midst of wedding planning and the couple is under pressure from their parents to sign the agreement.  However, Massachusetts courts have established very clear parameters that must be followed for a premarital agreement to be enforceable if and when the time comes for the agreement to do what it was created to do – protect assets.

3. Separate Counsel Essential. When creating and negotiating a prenuptial agreement, it is mandatory that both parties have their own attorneys.  To many happy couples, it seems like a waste of time and money to meet and confer with separate lawyers.  However, this ensures each party understands how the terms of the agreement benefit and obligate them, and ensures the agreement will be enforceable in the future.  In order to be enforceable, Massachusetts courts have held that a prenuptial agreement must be fair both at the time the agreement is signed and at the time it is sought to be enforced.  Separate counsel also serves to ensure that one party is not overreaching when the agreement is created, which would jeopardize enforceability down the road.

4. Disclosure of Assets. Each party to a prenuptial agreement must fully disclose his or her assets, including anticipated inheritances.  The assets of each party are typically detailed on schedules to the agreement.  Full and complete disclosure of assets is also essential to the agreement’s enforceability.  If there are particular assets that are important to protect, such as a family business or vacation property, the agreement can be tailored to those particular assets, which the parties may find more palatable.

5. Timing is Everything. In order to be enforceable, prenuptial agreements must be entered into freely by each party, without coercion or influence from the other party or outside influences.  For this reason, courts have found that the agreement must be entered into far enough in advance of the wedding that neither party feels coerced into signing.  This can be one of the most difficult aspects of creating a valid agreement, as the parties are often busy with pre-wedding planning, which takes up a great deal of their time.  This is a good reason to get the agreement out of the way early on in the planning process, so that the months immediately before the wedding can be spent focusing on the big day.

There is no doubt that discussions about prenuptial agreements are difficult and can create tension between a parent and child, between a parent and the child’s future spouse, and between the happy couple themselves.  However, the value of these agreements in protecting family assets is significant.  Depending on the wealth or potential inheritance each party to the agreement will bring to the marriage, a prenuptial agreement may be a suggestion that both parties, and their parents, can get behind.

Attorney Maria Baler is an estate planning and elder law attorney and a partner with the Dedham law firm of Samuel, Sayward & Baler LLC. She is also a director of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (MassNAELA). For more information, visit www.ssbllc.com or call (781) 461-1020.  This article is not intended to provide legal advice or create or imply an attorney-client relationship. No information contained herein is a substitute for a personal consultation with an attorney.

Published June 2015

As elder law attorneys, we all know one thing—baby boomers are coming of age before our very eyes.  The oldest boomers turn 69 this year and they are hip, health conscious, tech-savvy Facebookers.  They have smart phones, enjoy great food and wine, walk their dogs in the park and go to the gym regularly.  As these boomers age, their care needs increase and so do their expectations for what is suitable for them.  In other words—our baby boomer generation is not looking for your grandmother’s old nursing home.  For them, it’s all about remaining active in the community for as long as possible.  Whether that means bringing in home care options, moving to a retirement community or transitioning to an assisted living facility, here are a couple of community care-based public benefits available to these boomers so that they can supplement their income, stretch their assets and remain in the community longer:

VA Aid & Attendance Program—

The A & A Program is administered through the Department of Veterans Affairs and offers a monthly stipend for veterans and their spouses who require the assistance of another person with activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, driving, meal preparation, medication management, etc.  A & A benefits are often the difference between remaining in the community or needing to move to a nursing home. The receipt of this stipend can make the monthly cost of assisted living or home care affordable for the senior. The veteran must be honorably discharged and have served more than 90 days in the United States armed forces with one or more days served during a wartime period.  For a list of service dates, see http://www.benefits.va.gov/pension/wartimeperiod.asp.  It is important to note that the veteran is not required to have a service-connected injury or ever even left US soil.  For 2015, the maximum monthly amount is $1,788 for a single veteran, $1,149 per month for a surviving spouse of a veteran, $1,406 for a veteran’s spouse if the veteran is still alive and $2,123 for a married veteran where the veteran needs assistance.  There is a financial qualification component to A & A which is based on the individual’s income, assets and medical expenses.  Unlike MassHealth, there is not a ‘hard and fast’ financial limit, however, a qualified elder law attorney can often assess whether an application for A & A will likely be successful and whether any additional steps must be taken to qualify for the program.  Additionally, while there is currently no lookback period for A & A, proposed regulations indicate that a three year period will be imposed shortly to penalize transfers of assets in order to qualify for the benefit.

Frail Elder Waiver Program—

This MassHealth program is for individuals age 60 and older who require a nursing home level of care, but who are not receiving this care in a nursing home.  Most often, the Frail Elder Waiver (FEW) program is appropriate for individuals who are (or need to be) receiving home care through an agency.  The FEW program falls under the Home and Community-Based Services Waiver program administered through MassHealth.  In order to be eligible, individuals must meet set income and asset limits.  For married applicants, both the income and assets of the non-applicant spouse are disregarded.  Additionally, there is no transfer penalty for moving assets into the well spouse’s name prior to applying.  An applicant’s assets must not exceed $2,000 and the applicant’s monthly income must be below $2,199 (2015).  The FEW program can provide the following community-based care options—adult day care, home delivered meals, housekeeping services, home health aides, certain home improvements to increase accessibility, transportation services and certain personal emergency response systems.  While the FEW does not often pay for 24-hour care, it is a wonderful option to provide an aging senior with a significant amount of care at home.

As our innovative, lively baby boomer population continues to grow and change, so will our community-based benefits programs. What an exciting time to be an elder law attorney!

May 2015

By Steven Joshua Samuel JD, MBA, AIF®

Significant changes are occurring in the long-term care insurance (LTC) industry, according to a recent Barron’s article.  Insurance companies are adjusting to mistakes they have made in the past few decades in setting insurance premium levels. Premiums are based on estimates of how many people will buy insurance, how many people drop policies after a few years or keep them for many years, and how many claims will be made and what those claims will cost the companies.

More people than expected are keeping their LTC insurance policies because they are placing higher value on them — knowing they likely are living longer and will be able to make more claims at higher expenses than expected. Insurance companies are making adjustments by increasing premiums for some existing policy holders as well as changing new offerings of LTC insurance. Here are five facts you need to know:

1. Many insurance companies no longer offer LTC insurance and are raising premiums for older policies

About 10 years ago, as many as 100 companies offered LTC insurance, according to the American Association of Long-Term Care Insurance.  MetLife, Prudential, Allianz and many others no longer offer new policies. These and other companies that abandoned the business are required to honor the polices they sold, but they are permitted to request permission of state insurance departments to raise premiums. Barron’s reported on April 11, 2015 that premium increases, which were approved in 2014, range from MetLife’s 20.5 percent on some older polices in New Jersey, to Allianz’s 75 percent on some older polices in Texas. As a rule, company requests for premium increases are not automatically granted by state insurance departments. Genworth’s request to increase some older polices in Massachusetts has been denied, and in protest, the company announced it will not offer new policies in Massachusetts until it negotiates a compromise on the issue.

2. Several large insurance companies still offer coverage

John Hancock, Mutual of Omaha, MassMutual, Transamerica and Genworth continue to offer  LTC insurance to residents in most states. The need for coverage remains as well, with national costs for long-term care rising and now averaging $91,250 per year for a private room in a nursing home. However, costs can be lower in some states and as high as $175,000 per year in San Francisco and New England. For most people, remaining at home with help is the preferred choice. Services for a home health aide averages $ 45,760 per year nationwide, according to a Genworth survey cited in Barron’s. And in the Boston and New York metropolitan areas, it is close to $30 per hour.  Unfortunately, to cope with increased claims, the companies that still offer coverage require higher premiums for some of the more valuable policy benefits, such as annual increases in the daily amount the insurance pays. Some companies offer only 3 percent rather than the previous 5 percent annual increase in daily benefits. All companies make this a more expensive choice.

3. LTC insurance still makes sense for people with $500k or more in assets

People with low income and little or no savings are not likely to be able to afford LTC coverage. They can qualify for Medicaid, though in many states Medicaid pays for nursing home costs and does not pay for care at home. Being able to be cared for in your own home requires either paying with your own money or having a LTC insurance policy to pay for all or some of the care. Jeffrey Brown, professor of finance at the University of Illinois, supports the view of many financial professionals, saying in Barron’s, ” Long-term care is exactly the kind of low probability, high-cost risk that you want to insure against.”  He points out that families having $500,000 or more in assets who pay for decades of care for an Alzheimer’s patient would leave a healthy spouse in a catastrophic situation, unable to meet his or her basic needs after burning through all the family assets. Affordable coverage is available to supplement family assets to mitigate these types of losses.

4. Many families can still purchase affordable, traditional LTC insurance by carefully designing policy benefits and getting quotes from more than one company

Age, health status and benefit choices determine the cost of LTC insurance. The age bracket of 50 to 60 is the sweet spot for purchasing a policy that is affordable. Purchase sooner and you’ll pay for a decade of coverage you don’t likely need at a time when money may be better applied to more pressing matters. Apply later, premiums will be higher and there is a greater possibly of poor health affecting the premium. A policy at age 65 will be about a 50 percent higher premium than at 55.

Most LTC policies have four issues that require choices that influence premium: 1. Daily benefit, which is the amount per day the company will pay; 2. Term of the policy, meaning for how many days will the company pay the daily benefit; 3. Elimination period, which is a deductible in the form of how many days you pay for your own care before the company begins to pay; and, 4. Inflation protection, which increases the daily benefit each year by a specific amount or percentage. Choosing a daily benefit of $150 for three years would create a pool of $164,000 to pay for care before your family needs to use its own money. Adding an inflation adjustment of 3 percent per year to the $150 daily amount after 20 years increases the available money to $325,000. Help from a trusted financial professional is useful in determining what amount of premium a family can afford and what levels of benefits are worth the cost. Premiums for policies with similar coverage can vary widely so it is worth obtaining quotes from at least two or three insurance companies.

5. Newer, innovative LTC insurance policies

Recently, insurance companies have begun to offer polices that address consumer concerns about affordability. Shared policies for couples are becoming popular. For example, these polices at approximately a 15 percent more premium than single polices allow spouses to share the benefit years, equally or unequally. Six years of total coverage could be used all at once for one spouse, equally, or four years for one and two for the other. Newer policies combine life insurance with long-term care benefits. For example, universal life insurance policies are available with riders that allow 2 percent of the death benefit to cover long-term care needs until the death benefit is exhausted, so that a $500,000 policy will pay $10,000 monthly for about four years. For families that can afford large single premium insurance policies of $100,00 or more, the policy provides long-term care benefits as a multiple of three or more times the death benefit, paid monthly if long-term care is needed.

Most families with someone in need of long-term care want to keep their loved one at home for as long as possible. Though LTC insurance is becoming more expensive and the policies more complex, insurance is the only source of paying the cost of care at home besides family assets, in most states. If you are interested in looking into LTC coverage, be sure to consult a trusted professional who has specific and extensive experience in this area.

Samuel Financial LLC is located at 858 Washington Street, Dedham, MA 02026 and can be reached at 781.461.6886.  Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, member FINRA/SIPC, a registered investment adviser. Fixed Insurance products and services offered through CES Insurance Agency.

May 2015

For many clients, signing their estate plan documents (Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, etc.) brings a sense of relief and satisfaction -in  accomplishing an important life task.  However, signing the documents is often not the last task in the creation and implementation of an estate plan. Read on to learn about five steps that must be taken following the execution of the documents to ensure the success of your plan.

1. Distribute copies of your health care documents.  Documents expressing wishes regarding end-of-life-care and instructions regarding medical treatment are a vital part of every estate plan.  In Massachusetts, these often consist of a Health Care Proxy and a Living Will.  A Health Care Proxy is the legal document used to appoint the people who will make health care decisions for you if you are not able to so.  The appointed individuals are called your Health Care Agents.  A Living Will is not a statutory document in Massachusetts but is often used as a way to express a person’s wish that extraordinary medical measures not be used to prolong life in circumstances where death is imminent. Once signed, copies of these documents should be provided to your Health Care Agents and a copy of your Health Care Proxy should be given to your primary care physician’s office as well as to any other doctors who regularly treat you.

2. Update beneficiary designations.  While Wills and Trusts are the core of an estate plan, you will be remiss in your planning if you don’t review the beneficiary designations on your life insurance, retirement accounts (IRAs, 401ks, 403bs, etc.), annuities and the like to ensure they are in accordance with the rest of your plan, and are updated when necessary.   Assets that have named beneficiaries do not pass in accordance with the terms of the owner’s Will, but instead will be distributed by the life insurance company or financial institution to the people who are named as beneficiaries on the particular policy or account when the owner dies.  In my experience, it is not uncommon for clients to discover that the beneficiaries named on these assets include a former spouse or the client’s parents or siblings, when the intent is that these assets pass to their current spouse, their children, or to their Trust.  Also, because there can be tax implications in connection with designating beneficiaries of qualified retirement accounts (IRAs, 401ks, etc.) and annuities, it is important to follow the recommendations of an experienced estate planning attorney when making these designations.

3. Fund your Trust! If you take the time and trouble to create a Revocable Living Trust as part of your estate plan, then follow through and retitle your assets as directed by your estate planning attorney.  Two of the main reasons for creating Trusts include probate avoidance and estate tax savings.  However, your Trust will not achieve these goals if you do not change the ownership of your assets during your lifetime from your individual (or joint) names to the name of your Trust.  There is no question that this can be a time-consuming task since it may involve meeting with a customer service representative at the bank, calling financial institutions to determine the process for making the change, completing the paperwork, and then following up with the companies to confirm that the changes have been properly instituted.  However, these steps are essential to the success of your plan.  If you are not able to accomplish the trust funding tasks, contact your estate planning attorney to obtain assistance.  Many estate planning law firms offer trust funding services.

4. Real Estate issues. You may be familiar with the phrase, “all real estate is local” used by real estate brokers to remind folks that the market conditions in one town are not necessarily the same as those in the next town.  The same holds true from state to state with respect to the legal aspect of transferring real estate.  This is because local “quirks” such as deed preparation, how the transfer may impact the availability of property tax exemptions, homeowner’s insurance coverage, or title insurance coverage must be considered whenever real estate is transferred.  As such, a lawyer who is licensed to practice in the state where your non-Massachusetts property is located should be engaged to prepare and record the deed and other documentation necessary for conveyance of that property into a Trust or otherwise as required by your plan.  This will sometimes cause clients to suggest that they will leave that property out of their Trust, especially if the property is not a high value asset, such as a timeshare interest or an unimproved lot of land.  This is absolutely the wrong approach.  Not only will that mean that the out-of-state property will need to be probated, it will need to be probated in the other state.  I have had situations where the cost of probating non-Massachusetts property exceeded the value of the property.  Retitling out-of-state property into the name of the Trust will avoid the need for an out-of-state probate, and is worth the additional expense of hiring a local attorney to accomplish the conveyance.

5. Update your plan as needed. Your estate plan is a work-in-progress because change is a fact of life.  Family members may marry, divorce, have children, become disabled, or die.  You may come into wealth, or suffer a reversal of fortune.  The tax laws will change, for better or for worse.   Your estate plan should be reviewed and updated on a regular basis to ensure that it continues to represent your wishes for yourself and your family.

I want to give a shout-out to my Dedham pals Mike and Paula whose perseverance in overcoming the trust funding challenges they encountered inspired this article – great job guys!

April 2015

Attorney Suzanne R. Sayward is certified as an Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation, a private organization whose standards for certification are not regulated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  She is a partner with the Dedham firm of Samuel, Sayward & Baler LLC.  This article is not intended to provide legal advice or create or imply an attorney-client relationship. No information contained herein is a substitute for a personal consultation with an attorney. For more information visit www.ssbllc.com or call 781/461-1020. 

Long-Term Care Planning—A Reality Check

For clients in their 60’s and 70’s, looking ahead to the potential need for long-term care is an important topic you should be discussing with your financial advisor and estate planning attorney.  Like any other planning topic, education is the first step.  Take the time to learn about the different ways people can receive care, and the different options available to pay for needed care. Then, make sure you do not reach conclusions based on what you hear on the radio or what your neighbor or your mother’s best friend did – look at your own family, financial and health situation, your own family history, and determine what type of plan is right for you.  We have all seen and heard the ads encouraging people to plan before it’s too late and before they “lose everything” to the nursing home.  Sometimes planning to protect assets is necessary and appropriate, but a threshold question is “Who are you protecting assets for?”  Although it may feel selfish, when it comes to long-term care planning, you need to think of yourself first.  Keeping control of your assets may the best way for you to ensure you will receive the care you need, where you want to receive it.  For some people, long-term care insurance is an appropriate part of their long-term care plan.  As with long-term care in general, education is the key before you reject long-term care insurance out of hand because it is “too expensive.”  To get you started, read this article where our own Steve Samuel and local long-term-care insurance expert Tobe Gerard are quoted.

Senior Wellness Event—4/16/15 at Cardi’s Furniture Community Room in South Attleboro

What matters most to seniors in the US? Don’t miss a FREE and informative event with key industry experts in estate and long-term care planning, home care and assisted living facilities, rehab and skilled nursing facilities, durable medical equipment and much more!  SSB’s Senior Associate, Pamela B. Greenfield, will present on critical estate planning documents for seniors.  For more information click here.

Published April 2015