The SECURE Law hasn’t gotten too much coverage but it took effect January 1, 2020. The main thrust of the law is to increase American retirement savings, but there’s one provision that seems intended to increase income tax revenues and it could have a big impact on your estate planning. Read more about the new …

Many seniors do not plan for the likelihood of long-term care. Yet, nearly two-thirds of seniors will need care in their lifetime. It is important to collect as much information as necessary to assist in decisions regarding long-term care that will not only affect the elderly, but their families, as well.

Many of us are already managing a parent or other family member’s finances as their power of attorney agent, or we know we are up for the job when they are no longer able to do it themselves. In my role, I see a lot of Power of Attorney Agents do the best they can, …

Caregiver Agreement: The Reason I’ve had many clients come to me who have been taking care of mom or dad, sometimes for years, and been paying themselves from mom or dad’s money. There’s nothing wrong with this, often mom or dad is the one who insisted on paying caregiver child. The problem comes if the …

Most of us have been forced to make a decision we didn’t like. I think for many of us, that decision often has something to do with limited funds. Health care decisions, unfortunately, can involve those same decisions—particularly when it comes to long term care. As I say in my workshops, planning for potential long-term …

It seems that people are often only starting a conversation with me when something has already happened, someone fell, someone hurt themselves, someone is already needing long term care. But then I realized, before you can even have a conversation with a third party, you need to know what you’re even discussing.

Many often wonder if self-made wills are valid. In short, yes they can be valid. However, in creating a will without the guidance of an attorney, costly mistakes and errors can be made. One of the most common mistakes is the incomplete or unclear distribution of assets. For example, if you state that Person A gets everything, but later in the document also indicate that Person B gets a specific item. This simple mistake could end up causing a dispute.

This will be the last in my series of having tough conversations. Last month I gave some advice for parents who want to make sure their children understand their wishes and what to do when the time comes. This month is for children, who see their parents getting older and want to make sure they do what their parent would want when that parent is no longer in a position to tell them.

This is general advice and may not apply to every situation. It is no substitute for consultation with an attorney and should not be considered legal advice. Please contact the Law Offices of Aviv Bliwas if you have questions, concerns or to setup a consultation with our team!

The ABLE Act allows states to establish a savings program for persons with disabilities. The program is modeled after the 529 savings accounts. ABLE accounts may be used to accumulate savings, with certain restrictions, for use by a beneficiary with a disability.