Archive for the ‘End of Life Issues’ Category

Are your parents financially healthy?

Monday, October 4th, 2010 Laurie Ohall

The Financial Health of Aging Seniors

With our current economic challenges, those of us looking forward to retirement need to be well-informed about our financial needs in coming years. And not only pre-retirees, but individuals already in retirement need to be wise to the changing economic environment. The good news is there are trained professionals who keep abreast of changes in the current economy, changes in laws and changes in government programs for the elderly. Professionals in this field are equipped to handle everything from help with retirement savings accounts, investment advice, guidance on government programs, estate planning or even new funding options such as reverse mortgages. A little planning prior to retirement will allow you to maintain your current lifestyle; whereas, a lack of planning may require you to live on an extremely tight budget. For those already retired, taking time right now to deal with financial problems instead of waiting for a crisis to happen is well advised.

A large number of retired individuals feel that they have planned well for the future only to find that rising medical costs, damage done to investment portfolios (by the current economy) and many other factors have caused them to go into debt. According to an article in “USA Today” seniors are racking up debt like never before. Elderly individuals who are in debt live with a constant burden over their heads. Most of these people are on fixed incomes and have no way of paying off credit cards and home equity loans that continue to mount to cover household budget deficits. In order to meet ongoing payments, seniors often forego purchasing medications and skimp on food budgets. They live like hermits — never going out and pinching every penny — in order to pay their obligations.

Most of these people worked hard their entire lives and managed their debt. They never anticipated the rising costs of prescriptions, expensive medical care or depletion of savings by living too long. The good news is there is help for these individuals. Here are just a few examples of some relief options that could be available. There are many more besides these.

Reverse mortgages - A Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), also known as a reverse mortgage, is a risk-free way of tapping into home equity without creating monthly payments and without requiring the money to be paid back during a person’s lifetime. Instead of making payments the cash flow is reversed and the senior receives payments from the bank. Thus the title “reverse mortgage”. For those seniors who are less fortunate financially but own a home, a reverse mortgage can allow them to remain in the home by creating extra income.

Life settlements — A life settlement enables older individuals, businesses and other organizations to sell life insurance policies they currently own – but no longer want or need – for an amount greater than the cash surrender value. In some cases the value can be 2-3 times the cash surrender value. Even some term life insurance policies with a conversion option to permanent coverage can qualify for a life settlement.

Government Programs — Some government programs such as food stamps provide temporary financial help for food. Other programs provide subsidized housing, help with medical expenses and provide tax credits. For veterans there is free health care, inexpensive prescriptions and disability income. Area agencies on aging offer individual counseling, legal help and advice with Medicare costs. (National Care Planning Council)

For some, living on a fixed income and dealing with debt can be an overwhelming burden. There are knowledgeable professionals and debt relief strategies that can assist in easing this burden. The National Care Planning Council keeps a list of financial advisers and attorneys who specialize in this area of planning at www.longtermcarelink.net.

Visit the Law Offices of Laurie Ohall for more information.

Posted in End of Life Issues, Estate Planning, Senior Lifestyles | Comments Off

Getting your Affairs in Order – Are you prepared?

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010 Laurie Ohall

Getting Your Affairs In Order

If we had a crystal ball and could see into the future, we would not need to prepare ahead for end of life decisions.

James was 62 years old when a stroke made it impossible for him to communicate with his family. Neither his wife nor children knew anything about his financial or medical information. James had always taken care of things himself and left no written directives in his behalf. Besides having to locate important documents, the family was left to make their own decisions about James long term care.

The National Institute on Aging gives three simple, but important steps to putting your affairs in order:

  • “Put your important papers and copies of legal documents in one place. You could set up a file, put everything in a desk or dresser drawer, or just list the information and location of papers in a notebook. If your papers are in a bank safe deposit box, keep copies in a file at home. Check each year to see if there’s anything new to add.
  • Tell a trusted family member or friend where you put all your important papers. You don’t need to tell this friend or family member about your personal affairs, but someone should know where you keep your papers in case of emergency. If you don’t have a relative or friend you trust, ask a lawyer to help.
  • Give consent in advance for your doctor or lawyer to talk with your caregiver as needed. There may be questions about your care, a bill, or a health insurance claim. Without your consent, your caregiver may not be able to get needed information. You can give your okay in advance to Medicare, a credit card company, your bank, or your doctor. You may need to sign and return a form.” National Institute on Aging http://www.nia.nih.gov

Preparing Advance Directives or Living Will

Advance directives are legal documents that state the kind of medical care or end of life decisions you want made in your behalf. It is a way for you to communicate your wishes to family or health care professionals. Emergency response medical personnel cannot honor Advance directives or living wills. They are required to save and stabilize a person for transfer to a hospital or emergency facility. Once at the facility a physician will honor the directives.

The Living Will as part of your directives gives your consent or refusal for sustained medical treatment when you are not able to give it yourself. If this document is not in place then a family member or physician will decide such things as:

  • Resuscitation if breathing or heartbeat stops
  • Use of breathing machines
  • Use of feeding tubes
  • Medications or medical procedures

Advance Directives and Living Wills are legal throughout the United States; however, some states may not honor other states’ directive documents. Be sure to check with the state you live in for their requirements.

Review your directives periodically. They do not expire, but your wishes may change.
A new or revised Advanced Directive invalidates the old one. Be sure your family member or healthcare proxy has a current copy.

Choosing a Power of Attorney

General Power of Attorney – authorizes someone to handle your financial, banking and possibly real estate and government affairs as long as you remain competent.

Special Power of Attorney – authorizes someone you designate to handle certain things you cannot do yourself for a period of time.

Durable” Power of Attorney -The general, special and health care powers of attorney can all be made “durable” by adding certain text to the document. This means that the document will remain in effect or take effect if you become mentally incompetent.

Many people do not know the difference between a general and a durable power of attorney. A general power of attorney is a document by which you appoint a person to act as your agent.

Agents are authorized to make decisions for you, sign legal documents, etc. Many people are unaware that a General Power of Attorney is revoked when the person granting that power becomes incompetent or incapacitated.

It is the “Durable” Power of Attorney that allows for an agent to continue making decisions on your behalf no matter what happens to you. A responsible adult child of an aging parent would be given a “durable power of attorney” to act on behalf of the parent. This provides broader authority than just adding the child’s name to bank accounts and documents.

You may choose to produce notarized power of attorney documents on your own. If your estate is large and real estate or business is included it is advised to secure a reliable attorney.

Law Offices of Laurie Ohall    www.ohalllaw.com

National Care Planning Council http://www.longtermcarelink.net/a2cfindattorney.htm

Posted in End of Life Issues, Estate Planning, Health Care Directives, Living Will, Long Term Care Planning, Senior Lifestyles | 4 Comments »

Charitable Remainder Trusts: Income for Life and a Good Deed at Death

Thursday, August 26th, 2010 Laurie Ohall


Last Updated: 8/24/2010 11:45:31 AM

Many people like the idea of leaving bequests to favorite charities in their wills. But instead of leaving money to a charity in your will, you can put that money into a charitable remainder trust and collect income while you are still alive. Charitable remainder trusts have many other advantages, including reducing your income and estate taxes and diversifying your assets.

A charitable remainder trust is an irrevocable trust that provides you (and possibly your spouse) with income for life. You place assets into the trust and during your lifetime you receive a set percentage from the trust. When you die, the remainder in the trust goes to the charity (or charities) of your choice

A charitable remainder trust has many benefits:

  • At the time you create the trust, you will receive an income tax deduction for charitable giving.
  • Any profit from the sale of investments within the trust are not subject to capital gains tax, which means the trustee may have more freedom in managing the assets.
  • When you die, the assets in the trust will pass outside your estate and be eligible for the estate tax charitable deduction.

The downside of a charitable remainder trust is that it is irrevocable, meaning once you create the trust, you can’t cancel it. While you can’t revoke the trust, you may have the ability to change the beneficiary if you decide to give to a different charity. You may also serve as trustee, giving you control over how the trust assets are invested. In addition, note that any income you receive from the trust will be subject to income taxes.

To find out if a charitable remainder trust is right for you, talk to a qualified elder law attorney.

For more information on trusts, click here.

Posted in End of Life Issues, Living Trust, Senior Lifestyles | Comments Off

Twitter’s new deceased-user policy vs. Facebook’s

Thursday, August 12th, 2010 Laurie Ohall

CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL ARTICLE

By Josh Lowensohn, CNET.com
August 11, 2010 11:16 am EDT

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Twitter's policy requires several pieces of information about how an interested party relates to the deceased user.

Twitter’s policy requires several pieces of information about how an interested party relates to the deceased user.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Parties must send in pieces of information about how they relate to that person
  • Twitter will remove a deceased user’s account, or provide an archive of the user’s tweets
  • Facebook has two options for the deceased – removing their account or “memorializing” it
  • Facebook puts emphasis on privacy and what can be done with user information
//

(CNET) — Consider it a sign of the times, or even just success that Twitter now has a policy in place to handle ownership of a user’s account once they’ve died.

As expected, interested parties need to send in several pieces of information about how they relate to that person before Twitter will take action.

Once the proper credentials have been sent to the company (via e-mail or snail mail), Twitter is then able to do one of two things: either remove a deceased user’s account entirely, or provide an archive of all that user’s tweets so family members can access them offline.

According to the new policy page, the steps required to get to either of these options include:

1. Your full name, contact information (including e-mail address), and your relationship to the deceased user.
2. The username of the Twitter account, or a link to the profile page of the Twitter account.
3. A link to a public obituary or news article.

Jeremy Toeman, who is the CEO and founder of Legacy Locker–a site that acts as a digital safe for things like Web site log-ins, and messages to family members that can be accessed after a person dies — thinks Twitter’s relationship requirements just aren’t good enough. In a post on Legacy Locker’s company blog Toeman notes:

“This policy lacks the concept of desired intent. What if an individual wanted their Twitter stream archived (and not just by the Library of Congress)? What if another user wanted it wiped out (a challenge with any service, we acknowledge) completely?

What about any situation wherein the desires of the user who dies are in conflict with those who support them, or a conflict within the surviving family members?”

Those certainly aren’t easy questions, which is why Toeman suggests that users not rely on Twitter, or other online social services like it, to create more comprehensive postmortem policies that can factor in these kind of potential problems.

Instead, Toeman suggests supplementing those safeguards with the use of Toeman’s own service, which lets users write down their log-in information, and explicit wishes for what to do with various online accounts after they’ve passed away.

Coming back around to Twitter’s new policy though — how does it compare to Facebook’s, which has been around since October?

Facebook’s system has two options for the deceased: either removing their account, or “memorializing” it. Unlike Twitter’s options, memorializing means the account lives on in Facebook’s system, and other Facebook members can interact with the deceased member’s wall.

What’s interesting about what Facebook put into place, compared to Twitter, is that there’s still a great deal of emphasis put on privacy and what can be done with the information that user has posted to the service.

For instance, only that user’s friends can still visit the profile or find it in Facebook’s public search tool. And Facebook goes so far as to remove all status updates and contact information, as well as bar that user from showing up in the company’s advertising or communication nags.

A more notable security measure on the Facebook front, compared to Twitter, is that it also keeps future log-ins of that user from occurring, meaning friends, family members, or any third parties that have access to the credentials cannot continue to use the account as they could have before.

This runs counter to the thinking over at Legacy Locker, but takes the onus off the company for having to juggle who has access, or in putting that responsibility back on Facebook.

Given the Web’s relatively short existence and people’s penchant for hopping from one social service to another, it’s hard to imagine Facebook and Twitter remaining as important a part of users’ lives 30 years from now as they are today. But that doesn’t mean policies like the ones mentioned above shouldn’t exist.

If anything they should be spelled out as clearly as possible, with lots of tools and options available for family members — especially in the area of recapturing uploaded content.

Facebook has gone from 300 million to 500 million users in less than a year, with few signs of that slowing down, and with any growth like that (and to some degree, Twitter’s as well) policies about a user’s death can end up being just as important as those you agree to when you first sign up.

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