By: Leo Shane III A federal court for the first time will allow a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs to move ahead, a move that legal experts said opens the doors for a host of similar cases against the bureaucracy. The decision, which could affect thousands of veterans, came late last week in the…
In December of 2014 the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act (ABLE) was signed into law. Many special needs clients and their families have been shy about using ABLE accounts because HUD and other government programs did not make an official statement of how they would treat ABLE accounts until May of this year. Here…
The intention of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 is to make it easier for Americans to start retirement funding earlier in life, but some are calling it the Extreme Death Tax for IRA and Retirement Plan Owner’s Act. Currently only 40% of Americans utilize their retirement benefits offered by…
An intentionally defective grantor (IDGT) trust is an estate-planning tool used to freeze certain assets of an individual for estate-tax purposes, but not for income-tax purposes. The intentionally defective trust is created as a grantor trust with a purposeful flaw that ensures the individual continues to pay income taxes, as income tax laws will not recognize that assets have…
Contribution by the Eldercounsel, Jill Roamer, J.D. and Marchesa Minium, J.D. For a promissory note to be used successfully as a strategy for long-term care planning, it must meet certain requirements. The Nebraska Court of Appeals filed a Memorandum Web Opinion March 26, 2019 regarding a failed attempt by a Medicaid applicant to use a promissory note…
