Dear Clients and Friends, ANNOUNCING THE ARRIVAL OF MY BOOK: LISTEN TO LAWRENCE IF YOU ARE Planning TO KEEP IT NOW LIVE ON AMAZON! Another way to Listen to Lawrence is my book, Planning to KEEP IT. It has been published and is now available on Amazon. Click here to check it out! For years …

Dear Clients and Friends, While so many of these LISTEN TO LAWRENCE LETTERS are dominated by Elder Law and Medicaid questions, a lot of our practice here at DAVIDOW, DAVIDOW, SIEGEL & STERN, covers estate and tax planning in general and also Special Needs Law. It is nice to shift gears here a little …

Dear Clients and Friends, Today’s LISTEN TO LAWRENCE LETTER is a follow-up question to Tuesday’s LETTER regarding a pattern of gifting and how Medicaid treats it. I hope this LETTER drives home the point. CLIENT QUESTION: I gift each year to my Grandkids towards their college tuition. Can these gifts be exempt from the Medicaid look back? I …

Dear Clients and Friends, We are shifting gears…our last question was simple and straightforward but today’s question is much more complex, so I’ll do my best to break it down. My answer might spark more questions on this topic and if so, let me have them. CLIENT QUESTION: I thought …

Dear Clients and Friends, This next question appears to be straightforward and simple but unless you are absolutely sure of the answer, you will be confused and uncertain about how to move forward. These are the questions I love to answer and not because they are quick answers! 😊 They are the …

I welcome new members to The Listen to Lawrence Letter and just because you may be new doesn’t mean that you can’t ask an old question! So, if you’re just joining me and think I may have already answered a question you have, ask it anyway. Even if I’ve talked about something …

Today’s question is a perfect example of the need to get specific with topics that I’ve already talked about. Although most people ask general questions, which is absolutely fine, once in a while it’s good to get a simple, targeted question. For example, a lot of you may already know …

Here’s a follow-up question to a topic I’ve discussed before which is exactly what I’ve been asking you to do! I want to make sure that you understand every aspect of a planning tool even if I’ve already talked about it. In other words, if someone asks a question and …

Perhaps the most commonly asked questions that I have been receiving are about Medicaid: eligibility, look-back periods, penalties, etc. And this is for good reason — it’s confusing! Not only is the concept of Medicaid and how it works confusing but to add to it, everyone seems to have a …

CLIENT QUESTION: We had our trust drawn up by Davidow and would like to know how a pour over will works. MY RESPONSE: First I want to point out that a “pour over will” is not a will for “poor” people, something I have heard people express in the past. …

CLIENT QUESTION: I had Mr. Davidow do an irrevocable trust in 2015 and since then I’ve sold my home and put the purchase money in the trust. My question is, I have six grandkids and wanted to give them some money toward college and graduate school. Can I do this …

CLIENT QUESTION: Wonderful and informative emails, finally emails I read! Thank you for your Listen to Lawrence Letters. Maybe you can answer this or even a simplified version of my question. 1) If the surviving spouse has a revocable trust that is funded with four single-family homes which are a) …

My wife and I established a Medicaid Trust with you about 3 1/2 years ago. The only asset in the trust is our house. The only other major assets we own are our IRAs. We have each named the other as Primary Beneficiary and our children, per stirpes, are named …

ALERT Inherited IRAs and RMDs — IRS SAYS OOPS! I have talked to you many times in the past about the SECURE ACT, you know, the one where, with limited exceptions, when you inherit an IRA on or after January 1, 2020, you must take out all the money from …

LISTEN TO LAWRENCE LETTER Dear Clients and Friends, Thank you for continuing to submit such excellent questions! The answers definitely benefit many people which has been the purpose of this Listen to Lawrence Letter from the very beginning. Let’s keep it going but remember, I can’t do it without you so keep …

CLIENT QUESTION: What are the pros and cons of naming a trust as beneficiary of an IRA or 401K? MY RESPONSE: Generally speaking, you always want to name an individual as beneficiary rather than a trust as beneficiary, that is unless there is a reason to put the retirement plan …

Dear Clients and Friends, ALERT NEW INTERPRETATION OF IRA DISTRIBUTION RULES…POSSIBLY! You may have heard that last year’s SECURE ACT, subject to certain eligible exceptions, changed the rules on how distributions must be made from INHERITED IRAs. I certainly wrote about this topic in past LISTEN TO LAWRENCE LETTERS. With this new …

Dear Clients and Friends, In my previous LISTEN TO LAWRENCE LETTER, I asserted that for all of you who placed your homes into an irrevocable trust, that your beneficiaries will receive a step-up in basis, wiping out your capital gains at death.  THIS ASSERTION REMAINS TRUE FOR ALL OF MY IRREVOCABLE MEDICAID …

LISTEN TO LAWRENCE LETTER Dear Clients and Friends, This is why The Listen to Lawrence Letter is so useful! You will see a very common question below that if not answered correctly, can evolve into the creation of misinformation causing serious and unnecessary concern. When the wrong information is passed around, it …