Welcome to the January Issue of the

Texas Elder Law E-Letter

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Our next free “Estate Planning Essentials” workshop will be on Saturday, February 15, 2020 from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Seating is limited (our last workshops have had waiting lists). Call (214) 720-0102 to register or sign up online at www.dallaselderlawyer.com. We begin each workshop by asking “What questions do you have about estate planning or elder law?” Then we proceed to answer your questions over the course of the workshop.

Michael B. Cohen will be speaking on February 13th for the DFW Financial Planning Association Conference on the “Use of Irrevocable Trusts in Planning for Care Costs When There is Inadequate Long-term Care Insurance or Income”.

Also, on March 6th Michael B. Cohen will be speaking at the North Texas Probate Bench Bar at 10:00 a.m. on “Seven Different Types of Trusts Used in Public Benefits Planning”.

Please note that Michael B. Cohen’s radio show on estate planning and elder law can be heard on KAAM (770 AM) on Mondays and Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. and Saturday at 2:30 p.m. (unless a SMU basketball game is scheduled at that time). Prior shows (topics are categorized) can be heard as podcasts on SoundCloud and as indicated on our website www.dallaselderlawyer.com. Our podcasts can also be heard on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Subscribe to be notified of future releases.

Michael B. Cohen's Latest Blogs

CHANGE IN RETIREMENT ACCOUNT LAWS AND INCREASED TAXES (SECURE ACT) LEAVES MANY BENEFICIARIES INSECURE

Although the SECURE Act passage last month (which became effective January 1, 2020) covered 29 new provisions, the one provision likely to cause the most impact is the removal of “stretch” inherited IRA provisions to 10 years unless the beneficiary is an eligible designated beneficiary.

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“KNIVES OUT” CUTS TO CORE OF CERTAIN ESTATE PLANNING BASICS

The recent popular murder mystery movie “Knives Out” delves into several key estate planning topics (such as Will contests and undue influence) during this whodunnit thriller.

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SEVEN DIFFERENT TYPES OF TRUSTS USED IN PUBLIC BENEFITS PLANNING

Public benefits can range from payment of expensive drugs (no matter what age) to long-term care costs such as skilled nursing care. There are 40-50 Medicaid programs in Texas in addition to strictly federal public benefits programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Income (SSDI), Veterans benefits, and housing benefits.

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LADYBIRD DEEDS – WILL TITLE COMPANIES FOLLOW COURT RULES?

Ladybird Deeds are often used to protect a homestead from a Medicaid estate recovery claim as it avoids probate and are supposed to permit the grantor to reserve for the grantor’s life, the full possession, benefit and use of the property as well as the rents, profits, the ability to mortgage and the unilateral power of sale of any or all of the property with or without the consent of any remainder beneficiary.

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SIX REASONS TO USE A TRUST PROTECTOR – AN EXTRA LAYER OF INSURANCE FOR YOUR TRUST

A trust protector is a person or entity appointed by the one who establishes the trust (the “trustor”) to protect the trust assets and beneficiaries in the event the law changes or circumstances change and the trustor is unable to make such changes.

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Michael B. Cohen's Latest Podcasts

Listen to Michael B. Cohen discuss 5 new things we learned about Alzheimer's in 2019.

January 28th Podcast on Alzheimer's