Adamsky Law Offices Blog

Millions of retirees (or those still working but of retirement age) may not see any increase in their Social Security checks next year. In fact, they may see a decrease. This has not happened for over 30 years. The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting that there won't be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn't happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1975. Social Security benefits cannot go down, but they only go up automatically if inflation goes up too. With the recent bad economy we have seen "negative inflation" so (based on government numbers) there probably won't be any COLA increase next year and maybe not even the year after that. The problem is that there is still inflation in many areas of the economy, most notably health care. If seniors Medicare Part B and Part D costs rise, and if those seniors have those deducted from their Social Security checks, they may see a net decrease in their ch

The Wall Street Journal reports that plans are afoot in Congress to pass a bill that would temporarily stop the repeal of the Estate Tax which is scheduled for 1/1/10 under current law. Of course, that current law sunsets itself on 1/1/11, but for one year there is no estate tax at all. (Those with a dark sense of humor are wondering if advisors for wealthy but sickly individuals are trying to find medical care to keep them alive until next January - or advising them to try to die in 2009?) It had always been assumed that something would be done prior to 1/1/10 (or at least 1/1/11) to change the law passed in 2001. That law repealed the Federal Estate Tax with a 10 year phase-out. But, because the Republicans did not have a two-thirds majority, the bill itself could not be permanent. It had to include a "sunset" clause that repealed all of the bill's provisions at the end of 10 years. Many things intervened over the next several years, including the war on terror, hu