Adamsky Law Offices Blog

No news from the Senate on the Estate Tax issue. I guess they will take it up next year and be faced with the problem of people who die after 1/1/10 and before they change the law. Here are some other's opinions: Tax Girl: http://www.taxgirl.com/federal-estate-tax-update/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+taxgirlfeed+%28taxgirl%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher . And from a lawyer on an internet discussion group: "Dear Client, Please don't die in 2010. Congress has apparently taken no action to alter or amend the consequences of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001(EGTRRA). Therefore the estate tax is repealed as to decedents dying after midnight December 31, 2009 and for the year 2010. Modified carry over basis rules, IRS sec. 1022, will now be applicable, rendering reserved life estates not eligible for step up basis adjustments and requiring a return, yet to be developed, under IRS sec. 6018, be filed by an e...

Well, the House Passed an Estate Tax measure to deal with the issue of the impending end of the Estate Tax (for one year!). But, the Senate hasn't acted yet, and they only have 15 days left. Some reports said the Senate would attach the issue to a spending bill. Now that appears unlikely. No one really knows what will happen. The IRS isn't ready for this, and everyone's Estate Tax Planning will be up in the air for the foreseeable future! Thanks a lot Members of Congress. Here's a blog entry about it from another Lawyer. Estate Tax - Repeal and Retroactive Reinstatement Now Seem Likely

A durable power of attorney (POA) allows the person creating the document, called the "principal," to name a trusted agent who can act on his behalf. Because of the risk of abuse, many banks will scrutinize a POA carefully before allowing the agent to act on the principal's behalf, and often a bank will refuse to honor a POA. In a recent Florida case, Bank of America rebuffed an agent's request that funds be transferred from the principal's account. The agent fought back in court and just won a $64,000 judgment against the bank. Clarence Smith, Sr., named his son, Clarence Smith, Jr., as his agent under a POA. When his father no longer wanted to manage his own finances, he asked Clarence Jr. to step in as his agent. Clarence Jr. reviewed his father's account activity and became suspicious about some withdrawals from a bank account that Clarence Sr. owned jointly with a friend from his retirement community. Acting as his father's agent under the POA, Clare...

Most parents do not want their children fighting after their passing (although some parents seem to do things to incite their children). So, when planning their estates, parents should strive for harmony and use certain techniques to avoid fights. In some families, with lingering animosity from earlier disagreements, it may be impossible to avoid a fight. But for most families, a well laid out plan and perhaps a separate written explanation, can go a long way to avoid misunderstandings. The first key is to provide for open and honest communication. Whatever a parent does with one child, or tells to one child, should be told to the others. The child who doesn’t understand why something happened is often the one who starts a fight. This is especially true when it comes to gifts or loans to children. If you give money to one of your children, you need to make clear whether you intend to be paid back, or whether the gifts should be deducted from that child’s inheritance. If you don’t equal...

Who will speak for you if you become unable to speak for yourself or suffer a medical emergency? Have you planned for that unexpected possibility? You hope it won’t happen, but if it does, you must be ready. You must have the tools on hand to take proper care of you and to ensure that your wishes are followed. The first and most important planning tool is a Health Care Directive (a “Health Care Proxy” or a “Power of Attorney for Health Care”). This essential legal tool appoints a chosen and trusted person to communicate your wishes and decisions to medical professionals. If you can speak, then your wishes control, but if you cannot then your Health Care Agent will have full legal authority to speak with your doctor and to consent to treatment. Most importantly your Agent can refuse treatments that you may not want, such as feeding tubes or ventilators. It is vital that you have a discussion with your named Agent, and communicate your...

The Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that there will be no change in the Community Spouse Resource Allowance (CSRA) nor the Maximum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance (MaxMMNA) for 2010. These amounts are what a community spouse may keep in assets or is allowed to have as income, when the other spouse is in a nursing home on Medicaid. The figures are tied to inflation and adjusted yearly by CMS. Since the government inflation figures were less than zero for this year, there will be no adjustment for next year. The CSRA for 2010 will be $109,560 The MaxMMNA for 2010 will be $2,739 The Minimum MMNA is adjusted in July each year and it remains $1,821.25 until July 2010.

Jan L. Warner, a nationally syndicated elder law columnist and a founding member of the Carolinas Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, died of cancer on October 27, 2009, in Columbia, South Carolina. He was 67. Warner was a founding partner of the Columbia and Rock Hill law firm of ElderLaw Services of South Carolina, P.A./Warner, Payne and Black, L.L.P. After launching a column on divorce issues called "Flying Solo" with writer Jan Collins 20 years ago, Warner and Collins teamed up again in the late 1990s to start an elder law column called "Next Steps." Both columns are syndicated by United Media (United Features Syndicate). Warner and Collins also wrote a book called Next Steps (Linden, 2009), which was published in August. "Everything Jan did he did with great zeal," his partner Mitchell Payne said in an article on Warner published in The State , a Columbia newspaper. "He seemed to be able to do everything at once." ...