Divorce, remarriage, and blending families are treacherous enough waters to navigate, let alone wondering if all sides of your family will get along when you die. Those are all critical junctures to update your estate plan, whether it be a trust, a will, power of attorney, health care directive, or just beneficiary designations. If all aspects of your estate plan…
It starts out innocently enough, you bank with Chase, but your new mortgage is through Bank of America, and they offer you a half a percent discount on your mortgage if you open a new account with them. Then a local credit union offers a great rate on a car loan, so you open an account with them and become…
Experts say more than 6.5 million seniors suffer from depression. While the illness is not uncommon at any age, seniors tend to face a variety of special challenges, including retirement, illness, loss of a spouse or significant other, and the prospect of being forced out of their homes due to illness or disability. When left undiagnosed or untreated, the depression…
The days following the death of a spouse can be confusing. There are a lot of decisions to make and tasks to undertake. One area that must be dealt with quickly and competently is your finances. It is very important to get a clear picture of what steps you must take to secure your financial future. For example, it is…
Betsy slowly lowered herself into a kitchen chair and buried her head in her hands. Since her husband, Bill, had died three days ago, she had been swept up in a whirlwind of activity. Between planning a funeral, notifying relatives, and nonstop condolence calls, she hadn’t had any time to grieve, much less think. Her gaze swept the room and…
The California Department of Health Care Services recently announced new Medi-Cal resource numbers for 2019. In All County Welfare Directors Letter (ACWDL) 18-28 the Community Spouse Resource Allowance (CSRA) was increased to $126,420 and the Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance (MMMNA) was increased to $3,161 for 2019. The CSRA is the amount of non-exempt assets that the spouse of a…
“Retiring certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted,” Lily said as she shuffled through a pile of papers on her kitchen table. “I can’t believe all of this paperwork.” Her husband, George, scowled. “Why are you even messing with that stuff? We decided not to claim Social Security for a few more years so we can maximize the benefit. And you’re not…
This is another installment in our series on Medi-Cal planning. In this blog post we discuss common eligibility problems and a few of the tools we can use to solve them. Once we have analyzed our client’s situation and see why they are ineligible, either because they have too much income, too much assets, or both, we can create a…
Eligibility requirements relating to assets This is another installment in our series on Medi-Cal planning. We have been discussing Medi-Cal eligibility from the standpoint of income. In this blog post we will discuss eligibility requirements relating to assets. In analyzing our client’s situation we have to consider assets. If the client’s assets are of a value greater than what Medi-Cal…