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If you have original Medicare, the doctor you visit can make a difference in how much you have to pay. While you can go to any doctor who accepts Medicare payments, if the doctor does not “accept assignment,” you can end up paying a lot more.  (This does not apply to beneficiaries who are in […]

While it is important to have an updated estate plan, there is a lot of information that your heirs should know that doesn’t necessarily fit into a will, trust or other components of an estate plan. The solution is a letter of instruction, which can provide your heirs with guidance if you die or become […]

Social Security doesn’t just pay retirement benefits to retired workers; in some circumstances, it also provides benefits to a worker’s spouse or ex-spouse and to a deceased worker’s surviving spouse. Here are the ins and outs of spouse and survivor benefits.
Spousal Benefits
Spouses are entitled to benefits if the marriage lasted at least 10 years. A […]

Amy Winehouse had many ups and downs during her short life, but it appears the singer/songwriter left behind an up-to-date and ironclad estate plan. Winehouse’s tragic death at age 27 illustrates why you are never too young for a will.
Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil were married briefly. Under English law, marriage negates any wills made before […]

Michigan recently began its long anticipated “Estate Recovery” program.  The program enables the state to seek recovery of the cost of the medical care expenses paid to a person older than 55 years of age, via the state’s Medicaid assistance programs, from their estate’s assets at their death.
Although “Estate Recovery” was first mandated by the […]

Long-term care can be very expensive, but many long-term care expenses can be deducted from your taxes. Two important recent decisions by the U.S. Tax Court provide guidance on when care giving services are deductible. In one decision, the court ruled that payments to non-medical caregivers are still deductible as medical expenses; in the other, […]

Open enrollment starts a month earlier this year - so expect information about your options to arrive soon.
There are some big changes to the open-enrollment schedule for Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D this year, so you’ll need to make key decisions about your 2012 coverage several weeks earlier than in the past.
Starting this year, […]

Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) are a popular investment tool for retirement, but they also need to be taken into account when doing estate planning. Although IRAs can be used to provide for heirs either directly or through a trust, to what extent your heirs will benefit from the IRA and avoid unnecessary taxes depends on […]

Most seniors prefer to stay at home as long as possible rather than move into a nursing home. For many families, this means eventually hiring a caregiver to look after an aging relative. There are two main ways to hire someone: directly or through a home health agency.
Hiring Directly
When you hire a caregiver directly, you […]

As more and more people marry more than once, prenuptial agreements have become an important estate planning tool. Without a prenuptial agreement, your new spouse may be able to invalidate your existing estate plan. Such agreements are especially helpful if you have children from a previous marriage or important heirlooms that you want to keep […]