Health Insurance Update
This week, we have a guest blogger. Karl Steinlage is part of the team at Steinlage Insurance, which is Lake St. Louis based family insurance agency. They specialize in medicare supplement, medicare advantage and medicare part D plans. It is really important for seniors to have advisers skilled on the health insurance side (as opposed... Read More
Are Irrevocable Asset Protection Trusts for Boomers?
Many times, as part of an asset protection plan (against long-term care costs), I will recommend to my senior clients that they consider establishing various types of irrevocable trusts. The goal of these trusts are typically to place the assets outside the view of various public benefit programs (like Medicaid). These trusts almost certainly involve... Read More
So You Want to be Guardian?
Occasionally, I will meet with someone interested in becoming a guardian over an individual (usually a family member) because that individual is not taking care of their self or their money. Sometimes this came as a result of a conversation with a doctor or hospital social worker, and sometimes it is because the person interested... Read More
Life Care Planning with an Elder Care Coordinator
Josephine came into the office in a state of panic. The week before, her husband, Al, who had been suffering from dementia for the past several years, had suffered a stroke and was currently in the hospital. The social worker at the hospital had told Josephine that Al would not be able to come home... Read More
VA Benefits for a Widowed Spouse
Alice’s daughter (Jane) called the office based on my card being paper-clipped to Alice’s power of attorney document. I had drawn up a basic estate plan many years ago for Alice. Recently, Alice had fallen and broken her hip and was in a skilled facility getting rehab services under Medicare. After mom’s fall, Jane had... Read More
Estate Planning for Special Needs Children
Jeff and Julie came into the office based on their financial advisor’s recommendation. In their late 40’s, they had never done any estate planning. Unfortunately, they were not unique in procrastinating to get proper planning done. However, they had a unique circumstance in that their youngest daughter had been diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome. I explained... Read More
The Importance & Basics of Special Needs Trusts
Imagine that you are the parent or grandparent of a child diagnosed with cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome, the victim of an automobile accident, or any of the countless other methods of being disabled. When preparing an estate plan, most parents or grandparents want nothing more than to provide for their disabled family member, but are... Read More
Great Article about Special Needs Children
I thought this was an incredible article on on often overlooked topic– what impact having a special needs sibling has on adolescent children. It is so easy to get wrapped up in the very real demands of the special needs child that the non-special needs child slips from the attention spotlight. I was also touched... Read More
My Disabled Child is Turning 18. Do I Need Guardianship?
Many times I have parents call me wanting to talk about a guardianship/conservatorship for their son/daughter who is disabled. Many times they don’t know if or why they might need to be doing something, other than that a friend or the school district has told them they need to do so. Here are some basic... Read More
What is a Veteran’s Affairs EVR (Eligibility Verification Report)
With every new year, our firm gets lots of questions from our existing clients that are receiving veteran’s administration VA benefits as either a wartime veteran or their surviving spouse. This is because these clients have just received an EVR (Eligibility Verification Report) from the VA.