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While many people choose to take their Social Security Retirement Benefits as soon as they can – i.e. at age 62 – the benefits are less than if you wait until your “full retirement age” (66 or 67) or even longer, until age 70.

In fact, waiting as long as you can – up to age 70 – can be extremely beneficial.  Each year you wait, benefits can increase between 6% and 8%.

Check out this Wall Street Journal article for more details and illustrations:

An Annuity Plan Called Social Security

And, if you are (or were) married, you might have even more options available, as reflected in this post from the Motley Fool:

Social Security: You Have More Control Over it Than You Think

So, before you take your Social Security as early as possible, do some digging to make sure that’s the best financial choice for you.

CAVEAT:  This web site and the information contained herein have been prepared for educational purposes only.  The information on this blog does not constitute legal advice, which would be dependent upon the specific circumstances of a particular case.  In addition, because the law can vary from state to state some information on this site may not be applicable to you.

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While the rules of Medicaid eligibility for long-term care in Georgia are complex, this is meant to be a simple overview.

First, while Medicare can sometimes assist with initial skilled nursing charges, and only if certain prerequisites are met, Medicare does not cover long-term skilled nursing care, nor does traditional health insurance.  Thus, unless an individual has long-term care insurance, he or she will either have to private-pay, or might seek Medicaid coverage for skilled nursing care.

Here are some of the basics of eligibility for nursing home Medicaid in Georgia:

• Applicant must be aged (65 or older), blind, or disabled
• Applicant must reside in a skilled nursing facility that participates in Medicaid for at least thirty continuous days
• Applicant must be a citizen or qualified legal alien
• Applicant must meet level of care requirement, i.e. intermediate or skilled nursing care in the facility
• Applicant must meet financial requirements.

In terms of financial requirements, applicants must be eligible in terms of income and resources.  While the income limit in 2013 is $2,130, applicants with income greater than that amount can still qualify if a Qualified Income Trust (aka “Miller Trust” or “QIT”) is properly established and administered. Note that certain payments, such as VA Aid & Attendance benefits, are not counted as income.

The applicable resource limit depends on whether the applicant has a spouse in the community.  Both the applicant’s resources and the spouse’s resources are counted together.  In 2013, a single individual has a resource limit of $2,000, while an applicant and community spouse can keep a total of $117,920 in countable resources.  Note that the following resources are not “countable,” and therefore do not apply towards the limit:

•  Homeplace
• Real or personal property listed for sale
• Income producing business property
• one vehicle per applicant
• retirement accounts such as IRAs, 401Ks, etc (if it is applicant’s account, he/she must be taking periodic payments which include a portion of the principal)
• certain annuities (generally must be irrevocable and actuarially sound based upon purchase price, equal monthly payments, and life expectancy and meet other requirements)
• burial/cemetery contracts may be partially or wholly excluded
• term life insurance
• burial exclusion ($10,000 per spouse may be applied towards burial exclusion, but limitations apply)

Note that this list is not exclusive.

Finally, transfers of assets for less than fair market value within the five years prior to the applicant qualifying and applying for Medicaid are penalized, unless an exception applies.

Note that planning for Medicaid eligibility is quite complicated, and it is not recommended that an applicant apply these provisions without the advice of competent legal counsel. This web site and the information contained herein have been prepared for educational purposes only.  The information on this blog does not constitute legal advice, which would be dependent upon the specific circumstances of a particular case.  In addition, because the law can vary from state to state some information on this site may not be applicable to you.

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For those veterans (or surviving spouses of deceased veterans) needing care due to a disability, the Veterans Administration’s Aid & Attendance pension benefit can be extremely valuable.  This benefit can help cover the cost of home care or care in an assisted living or skilled nursing facility (although it is rarely enough to cover the entire cost of care). Not surprisingly, elder law attorneys have seen an increasing number of clients interested in these benefits.

I previously published a post on the service requirements for Veterans Pension benefits.  In addition to the service requirements, the applicant (Veteran or surviving spouse of a deceased veteran) must also be permanently and totally disabled, or age 65 or older and the applicant must meet complicated financial limits (a topic for another post!).

Finally, to receive the Aid & Attendance benefit (the highest of the three VA pension levels, and the one most often sought by applicants needing care due to a disability), the applicant must show that he/she needs the regular aid and attendance of another person.  This can be shown by the following:

• The aid of another person is needed in order to perform at least two of the following activities of daily living (“ADLs”): bathing/showering, dressing, eating, getting in/out of bed/chair, and/or toileting; or
• The claimant is bedridden, in that his/her disability or disabilities require that he/she remain in bed apart from any prescribed course of convalescence or treatment; or
• The claimant is in a nursing home due to mental or physical incapacity; or
• The claimant is blind, or so nearly blind as to have corrected visual acuity of 5/200 or less, in both eyes, or concentric contraction of the visual field to 5 degrees or less.

So, in addition to being “disabled” (i.e. either permanently and totally disabled or simply over the age of 65), the applicant must also need the aid & attendance of another in one or more of these ways.

If the applicant meets the service requirements and the requirements outlined here, the final step is meeting the (complicated) financial requirements established by the Veterans Administration.  Stay tuned for a post on those financial requirements!

CAVEAT:  This web site and the information contained herein have been prepared for educational purposes only.  The information on this blog does not constitute legal advice, which would be dependent upon the specific circumstances of a particular case.  In addition, because the law can vary from state to state some information on this site may not be applicable to you.

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Now that you’ve (been responsible and) executed your Last Will, where should you store it?  This question comes up at the end of almost every estate planning case I handle.

This will be an easy blog post because there’s an easy answer:  

STORE YOUR WILL WHEREVER THE RELEVANT PEOPLE CAN EASILY FIND IT AND ACCESS IT.

We don’t generally recommend sharing the contents of your Will with your beneficiaries ahead of time, but your Executor(s) and Trustee(s) (i.e. the people you named to handle your estate/trust) should know how to access the documents.  If  your Will is stored in a safe deposit box at the bank, have you signed to allow another access? And do they know the Will is there?  If you haven’t given a third party access to your safe deposit box at the bank, a court order will be necessary.  If your Will is in your fire proof safe at home, does the necessary person have a key? And do they know it’s there?

Remember, too, that when when you sign your Last Will you will also execute a Financial Power of Attorney and Georgia Advance Directive for Healthcare.  The Financial Power of Attorney allows you to name an agent or agents to handle your financial affairs on your behalf while you are still alive.  The Georgia Advance Directive for Healthcare allows you to name a health care agent to make medical decisions if you cannot, and also allows you to indicate what your treatment preferences would be if you were terminal or in a permanent vegetative state.

Often, the Financial Power of Attorney and Advance Directive for Healthcare become immediately necessary because an emergency has occurred – a fall, a stroke, a hospitalization.  Knowing where these documents are stored and how to access them will make your loved ones’ lives much easier, so make sure you’ve shared that information.

One last thing – you can also store important account information and computer log-in information with your Will so that your loved ones will find that easily when they go to find your documents.

CAVEAT:  This web site and the information contained herein have been prepared for educational purposes only.  The information on this blog does not constitute legal advice, which would be dependent upon the specific circumstances of a particular case.  In addition, because the law can vary from state to state some information on this site may not be applicable to you.

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Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS ruled that same-sex couples, legally married in jurisdictions that recognize their marriages, will be treated as married for federal tax purposes regardless of whether they live in a state recognizing the marriage as valid.

As stated in a press release published by the Department: “Ruling Provides Certainty, Benefits and Protections Under Federal Tax Law for Same-Sex Married Couples.”

Click here to read the full press release.

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