This weeks installment is a guest blog from Wade Chessman of Chessman Wealth Strategies. The American taxpayer relief act of 2012 extended qualified charitable distribution (QCD) provisions for 2012 2013. A qualified charitable distribution is an otherwise taxable distribution from an IRA owned by an individual who...
The American Taxpayer Relief Act permanently sets the estate tax exemption at $5 million for (adjusted due to inflation) an individual and $10 million for a couple which is the same amount that has been exempted for the past two years. However, Congress did change the...
Although irrevocable 529s (for college education) and UTMAs (accounts for minors) are not considered a resource for certain Texas Medicaid programs, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (which governs Medicaid eligibility in Texas) currently counts resources and income in prepaid tuition programs and higher...
The 2013 Protected Resource Amount dollar figures have recently been published. This is used to determine how much can be protected when one spouse is a nursing home and applies for Medicaid and the other spouse lives in the community. As many of you know, when...
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently issued a letter of clarification indicating that room and board paid to an independent living facility should not be considered as a deductible unreimbursed medical expense in most cases. One of the most important eligibility requirements in getting VA...
The Obama Administration has agreed to settle a nationwide class action lawsuit to end the standard practice to require Medicare beneficiaries to show a likelihood of improvement before Medicare would pay for therapy or skilled nursing services. As previously reported in the Texas Elder Law e-letter,...
In what could be a harbinger of things to come, House Bill 6300 (the Medicaid Long-Term Care Reform Act of 2012) has been recently proposed to make findings or substantial changes in connection with Medicaid long-term care financing (which helps pay for care costs in...
Most seniors will need to seek a better deal for a Medicare prescription drug plan for year 2013 if they are enrolled in Human Walmart-Preferred Rx Plan, First Health Part D Premier, First Health Part D Value Plus, Cigna Medicare Rx Plan One, Express Scripts...
There are many types of digital assets stored on computers, smart phones, websites, etc., including: (1) personal assets (such as photos, medical records, tax documents, etc.) that require a login with a different password; (2) social media (i.e., Facebook and Twitter, emails that store videos,...
In a somewhat stunning development, many veteran benefits planners are reporting that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has started denying some applications for benefits in cases where the veteran has made a recent transfer to reduce net worth to obtain benefits. For many years...
