The road to eligibility for long-term care Medicaid benefits can be long and winding, so it can be tempting to board a magic carpet ride and try a so-called “Medicaid” trust, more descriptively referred to as an irrevocable income-only trust. The theory behind such a trust is that assets owned by...
New Numbers for 2019
Estate/transfer tax
Vermont estate tax exclusion:
$2,750,000
Federal estate tax threshold:
$11,400,000
Federal gift tax exclusion (annual):
$15,000
Vermont Medicaid
Community Spouse Resource Allowance: $126,420
Minimum Maintenance Needs Allowance (spousal allocation): $2,114
Home Equity Limit (singles): $585,000
Tip Corner
Freezing Credit: A new federal law effective 9/21/18 permits consumers to freeze their credit, free of charge. For more information, visit:
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2018/06/free-credit-freezes-are-coming-soon-0
Estate Planning: Not a Game of Hide and Seek
Games are usually a lot of fun, but you don’t really want to play hide and seek with your estate planning documents. After you have signed and implemented your plan, you may want privacy, but you should not hide your documents from everyone. If you excel at concealing, it may not...
Estate Planning: Taxation of Life Insurance
Life insurance plays a vital role in many estate plans. Proceeds can provide essential funds to replace lost earnings, pay debts, finance college tuition expenses, or even cover estate tax liabilities. However, there is confusion about the taxation of these life insurance proceeds. Contrary to common belief, insurance benefits are taxable...
Elder Law: Legal Capacity ≠ Memory
Can you remember what you had for breakfast yesterday morning? Or what you wore last Friday? Details involving routine tasks elude many of us, but does that define our legal capacity? While that may provide clues, it is not an absolute ingredient in the test for legal capacity. In fact, there...
Elder Law: What Do You Know About Hospice
According to national hospice utilization data, Vermonters appear to avail themselves of hospice services at a lower rate than residents of other states. While there are likely many reasons, education should not be one.
Hospice is an end-of life care model of coordinated services and support for patients and...
The Paperwork of Caregiving
This is a great article that Stephanie Choate wrote and it was published in the Vermont Maturity Magazine. One of our partners, Glenn A. Jarrett, Esq. was quoted in the article.
The article is about Advance Health Care Directives and how important it is to have the discussions before it becomes too late to express...
Estate Planning: Superpowers in Your POA
With Spider-Man and Wonder Woman demonstrating their superpowers in the summer box office, it seems like an appropriate time to review some “super” powers that should be found in a comprehensive Durable Power of Attorney. (Yes, it’s ok to laugh, or groan at that segue, as you prefer.) Here are a few:
Power to gift...Scam Alerts
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