Category: Blog
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CTA is Back On (Redux)
Yesterday, in Smith v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, et al., 6:24-cv-00336 (E.D. Texas), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas stayed its order dated January 7, 2025, which […]
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Per Stirpes: The Two Word Estate Plan that Never Fails
Legal Language as Software Code: In Defense of Per Stirpes The call for “plain English” in estate planning is louder than ever. Clients want documents they can read and understand—something […]
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Journey to the Third Question: Navigating Planning for those with an Alzheimer’s or Dementia Diagnosis
The estate planning and elder law fields need specific planning options geared at not just the legal documents but the aging and health care network that exists. Gone are the days when people seek out a “general practitioner.” Today, clients demand specialized providers and best-in-class care, with elder law being no different. As attorneys in…
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Third-Party Pooled Special Needs Trust Topics to Discuss with Your Client
This article outlines third-party special needs trust topics to discuss with your client; such as Disability, Reviewing the Joinder Agreement, Funding the Sub-Account, and more.
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Expanding Your Practice: The Vital Role of Elder Law and Medicaid Planning
As an estate planning attorney, your primary goal is to help clients’ wishes be fulfilled should they lose capacity and then preserve their legacy after they pass away. However, an essential, yet often overlooked, aspect of this protection is planning for their long-term care while they’re still alive. According to the U.S. Department of Health…
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Beware of a Spousal Rights Trap That “May Be” in a Revocable Trust
For years, I have been counselling clients as to who should have a revocable trust without ever thinking of a serious trap for the unwary. But as can happen, even after many decades of practice, you encounter clients whose circumstances make you rethink what you thought you knew and re-evaluate the sufficiency of your checklists.…
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Finally Final SECURE Regulations
Last week, the IRS issued the long-awaited final regulations implementing the changes made by the SECURE Act. The regulations take effect 60 days from the date on which they were published (the publication date is July 19, 2024) and certain provisions apply for purposes of determining required minimum distributions for calendar years beginning on or…
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Estate Planning Excellence: The ACE Roadmap to Success
The list of things they teach you in law school is long. We know how to read a case, how to draft a brief, and how to craft an argument. We know how to issue spot. We know how to “think like a lawyer”. The list of things they don’t teach you in law school,…
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Always Learning
I was new to estate planning in the early nineties, and I was reminded recently that even though it may seem like the nineties were ten years ago (and it truly does, to me), they were thirty years ago. Some of you reading this were born in the nineties. My reference is only to point…
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Take Steps Now to Harness AI for the Future
I am fortunate to be in a position that affords me access to other attorneys grappling with this subject and people with technical backgrounds who have a good understanding of current and developing AI technology. Although I am not an expert, I have experience in the area that other estate planning and elder law attorneys…
