Dear Clients and Friends, Have you ever heard of a “pooled trust?”  I get a lot of questions about them, like the one that follows. CLIENT QUESTION: I am reaching out on behalf of my grandfather. I am wondering if your services and firm focus on pool trusts or can provide …

Dear Clients and Friends, From time to time I like to share relevant articles from the website of the Special Needs Alliance which is an organization I’m proud to be associated with. This issue of The Voice® was written by Special Needs Alliance member Jane Skelton, Esq., who established the Maine Elder …

Dear Clients and Friends, Today’s question seems like another irrevocable trust question but it really isn’t. This question is really about coordinating your IRA beneficiary designation with any trust, although here it specifically relates to a special needs trust. Read on. CLIENT QUESTION: I have an irrevocable trust set up with …

Dear Clients and Friends, Inheriting assets from someone may affect your own carefully made plans, as is pointed out by this client’s question. CLIENT QUESTION: So I have just made an irrevocable Medicaid trust with you. Now someone has told me they want to put me on as a benefactor of …

Dear Clients and Friends: Many of you have questions that involve property that is being held in an Irrevocable Medicaid Trust. Here’s one that specifically asks about mortgaging a house in a trust. CLIENT QUESTION: I enjoy your Listen to Lawrence Letters and find them very helpful. My question is as …

Dear Clients and Friends: Do you always need a Medicaid Irrevocable trust? This client raises this commonly asked question. CLIENT QUESTION: Dear LAWRENCE, I read your newsletter all the time and also bought your book but cannot find this answer: what happens if your one beneficiary predeceases you and you …

Dear Clients and Friends: If you’re on or about to go on Medicare there is a lot of new information for 2022 that you should be aware of, especially the Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles and the Medicare Part D Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amounts. I’d like to …

Dear Clients and Friends, 2022 ALERT In Revenue Procedure 2021-45, the IRS released the official inflation-adjusted amounts to be effective in 2022. The Federal Estate Tax Exemption will be $12,060,000 per person and the Federal Annual Exclusion Gift will be $16,000 per person. Please note that the President and Congress can still change these numbers. Stay tuned! And, pass …

Dear Clients and Friends, Sometimes I talk and expect everyone to LISTEN TO LAWRENCE, but sometimes my message isn’t getting through. I get it, it’s complicated. But I need you all to get it, so I will repeat this message as often as I have to. So check out today’s question and my response. …

Dear Clients and Friends, “When should I start my elder law planning?” is a very common question, like the one that follows: CLIENT QUESTION: Lawrence, as I approach my 73rd birthday along with my wife, who is also 73, (both in good health) we are wondering more and more when we …

Dear Clients and Friends, Sometimes clients put a home in an irrevocable Medicaid trust, but later want to get some equity out of the house, like the following client: CLIENT QUESTION: Dear Lawrence Davidow, I enjoy your responses to questions and I have one question for you. You set up a trust …

Dear Clients and Friends, Whenever I create an irrevocable Medicaid trust, I have to deal with the issue of what to do with trust income. Trust income leads to questions like the following: CLIENT QUESTION: I have an irrevocable trust. Stocks are included in the trust. Can I personally receive the dividends? If …

Dear Clients and Friends, The paperwork to probate and/or administer an estate at death can be daunting and confusing. Check out the following question from one of my clients: CLIENT QUESTION: I recently was mailed a “Waiver of Process; Consent to Probate” letter (along with the form I need to sign …

Dear Clients and Friends, If a tree falls in the forest when no one is around, does it make a sound? If you die with a will that no one can find, did you die with a will? Check out today’s question. CLIENT QUESTION: What happens when someone dies and they have …

Dear Clients and Friends: I get a lot of questions from clients who put their home in an irrevocable Medicaid trust and then want to sell it, like the one that follows: CLIENT QUESTION: My trust was funded with my house. No other assets. What would happen if the trust sold the …

Dear Clients and Friends, The answer to this next question is “Yes” but requires a careful explanation so as not to jeopardize the integrity of the trust. Read the answer carefully and all the way through to not only fully understand but to see how important it is to draft …

Dear Clients and Friends: When you make the decision to create an Irrevocable Medicaid Trust you may not be aware of how changes made to the assets being held in that trust could affect the protection benefits. Maybe you thought that you’d never sell your house so you didn’t ask …

Dear Clients and Friends, There are a lot of assets that you’d like to protect and obviously, the family home is at the top of the list. But right underneath that seems to be your retirement accounts. Let me put this important concern to rest by clearly answering this next …

Dear Clients and Friends: WARNING: I am not answering a client question today. Instead, I decided to dedicate this edition of the LISTEN TO LAWRENCE LETTER to put the fear of God into my clients who create irrevocable Medicaid trusts.  These trusts work great when you play by the rules. The idea is to place …

Dear Clients and Friends: This next question allows me to continue to highlight the positives of the Irrevocable Medicaid Trust. Although most people do know the basic intent of this type of trust, they may be uncertain when it comes to the specifics especially when they read or hear certain …