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Advance directive documents are simply making a decision about the care you would want to receive if you were unable to speak for yourself.  It involves deciding who will be your voice and advocate as well as specific treatment you do or do not wish to receive.  In Indiana, the legal documents you need for advance care planning are called a Durable Power of Attorney, an Appointment of a Health Care Representative and a Living Will.  The purpose of a Durable Power of Attorney is to name someone that can make financial decisions for you if you were unable to […]

The snapshot date is the date of institutionalization lasting at least 30 consecutive days. Institutionalization may be in a hospital, nursing home, similar health care facility, or any combination thereof, so long as the institutionalization is continuous and unbroken. The snapshot date relates to married couples only when one of the spouses is ill; and, it is necessary to know when applying for Medicaid assistance for the ill spouse. This is because all countable resources are valued as of the snapshot date, no matter when it occurred (even if years before the current application). Currently, the Community Resource Allowance cap […]

I have heard that there’s a five-year look-back for Medicaid.  Why shouldn’t I just have my parents gift their assets to me without the assistance of an elder law attorney? The temptation is great to try to go it alone when thinking about a future Medicaid qualification.  But that may not be the wisest decision.  When a gift is made directly to another individual, that individual determines what happens to that asset in the future; it can be spent, lost in a divorce, or become fair game in the event of a lawsuit.  Often elder law attorneys make use of […]

There are three planning documents that you need to have in place in case something happens that renders you unable to make your own health care decisions. These documents are: Health Care Power of Attorney; HIPAA authorization; and Living Will. A Health Care Power of Attorney allows you to name whomever you want to make health care decisions if you become incapable of making decisions yourself. The health care decisions that may be made for you can range from routine medical treatment to end-of-life decisions such as the withdrawal of procedures that artificially prolong life. A federal law known as […]

If you suspect that your child lacks the ability to make sound financial decisions, one solution is to leave their inheritance in a trust and appoint a trustee to make financial decisions on their behalf.A trust allows you to appoint a trusted individual (called a trustee) to manage your child’s inheritance. The trustee can be anyone from a family member or friend to a hired professional trustee, such as a bank. The trustee has the authority and responsibility to manage the trust assets and make distributions in accordance with criteria selected by you. A trust can be established during your lifetime […]

Even as public restrictions are being lifted, employers continue to deal with COVID-19 issues in the workplace.  In the Summer of 2020, the issues faced by many employers were working remotely and how to handle the paid leave provisions of the FFCRA.  Now, as the spread of COVID-19 continues to slow and vaccines have been developed, employers are facing new issues.  The primary issues facing employers as we come out of the COVID-19 haze is the ability of an employer to require employees to be vaccinated and the best advice about masks.  In May the CDC issued new guidance on […]

For more than a year, the COVID-19 has impacted all businesses.  Amid the recent vaccine efficacy and a nationwide decrease in COVID-19 cases, much of society seems to be inching closer to what was once considered “business as usual.” Nevertheless, assorted sets of guidelines on mask requirements have left many businesses and workplaces unsure as to whether or not mask requirements will remain a part of “business as usual” in the wake of the recent pandemic.For Indiana businesses and residents, more than a month ago, on April 6, 2021, Governor Holcomb ended the State’s mask mandate.  Most Indiana counties followed […]

I meet with many clients every year who wish to plan for their after-death gifting. The gifting of assets using a Last Will and Testament is responsible and essential, but it does not go far enough. What about your family’s emotional well-being? Do you need an Emotional Will?An Emotional Will is not a legal document, and not even a single document at all. It is a way of thinking about the emotional and practical challenges your family will face after you are gone and then preparing to ease those challenges. For example, your legal and financial documents should be updated […]

Q:        What is all this talk about “the loss of a step up in basis”; and, why is it so important?A:        The loss of a step up in basis relates to the state and federal (long-term) capital gains tax; and, it can potentially have quite a lot to do with estate planning.  In Indiana, this tax is at 3.23%, but for most people, the federal capital gains tax is 15% (0% if you make less than $40,000 and 20% if you make more than $445,850).  These rates are applied to real property you own that increases in value […]

The first and best alternative to guardianship is good planning. If possible, appoint a Health Care Representative and Durable Power of Attorney well before you ever need help with medical or financial decisions. If making those appointments is no longer an option, Indiana now endorses the use of lesser restrictive alternatives prior to the appointment of a guardian. Those alternatives include but are not limited to, the entry of a supported decision-making agreement; technological assistance; appointment of a representative payee; appointment of a health care representative; or a power of attorney. The goal of any lesser restrictive alternative is to […]