The Four Principles of Long Term Care Planning
The four principles: Knowledge is the key to success. Professional help is crucial in saving time, money and stress. When money is available for care, caregiver stress is reduced and…
The Who, What, When and How of Medicare
What is it? Medicare is a medical insurance-type program developed to pay medical costs for retired or disabled persons who have paid into the Social Security system. Medicare Part A…
Power of Attorney – to Keep You in Control
The Constitution of the United States and the privacy laws that have emanated from its protections guarantee the right of each competent adult to act in her own behalf regarding…
Plan For Your Health Care Decision-Making
The law presumes that every adult is competent to make his or her own health-care decisions, and that no one has authority to make such decisions for the individual unless…
Does Conservatorship End Joint Accounts?
Some folk think “estate planning” is putting their children on their bank accounts. However, this may not be enough if the client later becomes incapacitated. If the client does not…
Power of Attorney, Gifts and Self-Dealing
A recent Mississippi court case examined the legality of an attempted transfer of jointly-owned bank CDs by use of a power of attorney and how transactions done through the use…
Joint Custody by Grandparents Upheld by Court
More and more these days, grandparents have been called on to provide care for grandchildren due to problems experienced by their children. A recent Mississippi case expanded the interpretation of…
The New Reality of Old Age in America
People are living longer, more expensive lives, often without much of a safety net. As a result, record numbers of Americans older than 65 years of age are working —…
Why Do-it-Yourself Wills Don’t Work
From time to time, clients have come into our office with wills or powers of attorney they had prepared or printed from an online source. In most cases we have…
We Need to Be Careful with Tax Reform
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1) was introduced in the House of Representatives last week. This is the first major tax law overhaul since the 1986 Tax Act,…