Adamsky Law Offices Blog

From all of us at Adamsky Law Offices, we would like to wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year!!! Happy 2008!!! -Adamsky Law Offices

“Higher levels of education delay the onset of dementia, but once it begins, the accelerated memory loss is more rapid in people with more education,” said Charles B. Hall, PhD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York, author of a study published in the October 23, 2007, issue of the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “A person with 16 years of formal education would experience a rate of memory decline that is 50 percent faster than someone with just four years of education,” he added. The study found that for each additional year of formal education, the rapid accelerated memory decline associated with oncoming dementia was delayed by about two-and-a-half months. However, once that accelerated decline stopped, the people with more education saw their rate of cognitive decline accelerate four percent faster for each additional year of education. Past research had shown that people with more education had more rapid memory loss after diagnosis of demen...

Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for more than 54 million Americans will increase 2.3 percent in 2008, the Social Security Administration announced on October 17th. Benefits increase automatically each year based on the rise in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index. This year's increase in the CPI was 2.3 percent. The 2.3 percent Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits that nearly 50 million Social Security beneficiaries receive in January 2008. Increased payments to more than 7 million Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries will begin on December 31. Some other changes that take effect in January of each year are based on the increase in average wages. Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $102,000 from $97,500. Of the estimated 164 million workers who will pay Social Security taxes in 2008, nearly 12 million will pa...

A new study suggests that caregiving, especially for difficult patients such as those with Alzheimer’s Disease, can shorten caregivers’ lives by four to eight years. This stress shows up at the genetic and molecular level in the bodies of the caregivers. The study out of Ohio State University looked at numerous people in different life situations, looking for the indications of stress. One of the most stressed-out groups was caregivers. Other studies have found that caregivers are less healthy compared to non-caregivers. This broad study is not the final word on this subject, but as any caregiver knows, it is a stressful situation. The common conditions suffered by caregivers are: Higher hospitalization rates Higher death rates Higher incidence of headaches and insomnia Increased risk of heart disease Depression Anxiety disorders Higher incidence of suicide AARP has several articles and tips on its website for dealing with caregiver stress. Here are some of them:...

During a "Seniors Summit" held on Sept. 10, 2007 at the Securities and Exchange Commission, regulators released a report summarizing the results of their examinations of "free lunch" investment seminars. They looked at 110 securities firms and branch offices that sponsor sales seminars and offer a free lunch to entice attendees. The report concludes that 100% of the "seminars" were sales presentations, although most were advertised as "educational," "workshops," and "nothing will be sold." Almost a quarter of the time they found indications that unsuitable investment recommendations were made. And 13% appeared to be fraudulent and were referred to authorities for possible enforcement or disciplinary action. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said, "These findings are a wake-up call for securities regulators, the financial services industry and especially older investors. Not only were virtually all of the 'free lunch...

With the estate tax set to expire in 2010, a bipartisan bill has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would increase the estate tax exemption to $5 million, (phased in with a $250,000 increase each year from 2009, when the exemption will already be $3.5 million, to 2015). The exemption would then be indexed to increase at the rate of inflation. The bill, introduced by Reps. Harry Mitchell (D-AZ) and Christopher Shays (R-CT), would also create two tax rates: 15 percent for estates worth $25 million and less and 30 percent for estates worth more than $25 million. Under current law, the top tax rate will be 45 percent in 2009. Earlier in the year, the U.S. Senate voted 51-41 to reaffirm its support for a budget resolution that establishes the current-law 2009 estate tax rules through 2012. To read a copy of the bill, H.R. 3170 go to: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:h.r.3170:

Good news about Alzheimer’s Disease comes out almost every day. This is because the Alzheimer’s Association and others are contributing to new and better research. You can help in the fight against Alzheimer’s too. Adamsky Law Offices has put together a team for Memory Walk 2007. The walk will take place on September 30, 8:30 AM, at Boarding House Park in Lowell. Memory Walk is the major fund-raising event of the Alzheimer's Association. It’s a fun stroll through historic downtown Lowell. You can raise funds and not even walk if you like, just join in the party at Boarding House Park. Since 1993, Memory Walk in Massachusetts has raised more than $6 million to help over 140,000 individuals battling Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. More than $1.3 million alone was raised last year. Our team is looking for more members to walk with us (and/or raise funds) and we are looking for donations. You can help us out in several ways. Mail your donation check to our office (269 Mi...

Family caregivers provide essential, life-sustaining and dignity-enhancing care to their loved ones every day of the year. Almost all of this care is provided for free and is unrecognized by business leaders and politicians, even though it has a very real impact on the economy. Now, a study by AARP has put a dollar figure on these care costs, and it is a whopping $350 Billion per year. The new study, Valuing the Invaluable: A New Look at the Economic Value of Family Caregiving , finds that family caregivers are the “backbone of the nation’s long-term care system” and play a vital role in providing care to adults with serious illness, chronic conditions and disabilities. The AARP news release about the study compares the $350 Billion value of what family caregivers provide to the total spent on Medicare ($342 Billion in 2005), Medicaid ($300 Billion in 2005) and the US budget deficit ($248 Billion in FY 2006). The family care-giving value far exceeds the Medicaid expenditures of a...

A Federal Appeals Court has ruled that the Medicare Part D beneficiaries who were erroneously mailed a premium refund do not have the right to apply for a waiver excusing them from repaying it. This new decision overturns a prior ruling by a federal district court ordering the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to halt efforts to collect the mistaken refunds. In August 2006, about 230,000 people were mailed refunds for their Medicare prescription drug benefit premiums and told to pay their carrier directly. Although this was not correct, no one ever admitted how the mistake was made. Almost immediately, the government insisted that the money (about $215 per beneficiary) be paid back by the end of September. The Center for Medicare Advocacy filed suit on behalf of two senior’s rights groups, arguing that Medicare law states that the government cannot recover an overpayment if the beneficiary was not at fault and if such recovery would violate “equity and good conscienc...

Antipsychotic Drugs Increase Risk Of Death In Older People With Dementia It has long been a concern that the use of anti-psychotic drugs for elders with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia was not healthy. These drugs were designed to treat Mental Illness, not the symptoms of Dementia. However, dementia patients often suffer agitation, can be violent, and are hard to calm down. The widespread use of anti-psychotics to treat these symptoms was often just a convenience for caregivers and nursing homes. New research is showing that this may be a bad practice and should be carefully monitored. Some of the newer drugs show less problems, but the older drugs show an increased incidence of death among the elderly patients who received them. The FDA issued warnings in 2005 about the use of the newer drugs and their association with increased death. However, the study data was preliminary and not definitive. New, larger studies have found more definiti...

For the second year in a row, Adamsky Law Offices is taking part in the Memory Walk to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association. You can help by joining us on the walk or donating to someone who is walking. To sign up to walk or donate, follow this link: Team Adamsky Law Offices

Our quarterly newsletter has just come off the presses and will be mailed out in the next few days. Also, we have started a new monthly email newsletter. You can sign up to receive either by going to www.adamskylaw.com .

Periodically I write about the perils of Joint Ownership, and it’s time for another update. My clients keep telling me about their joint accounts with their children’s names on them. When I inform them of the possible pitfalls they are always shocked. I recently heard a first hand example of another disastrous result. Joint Ownership means that two or more people own an asset, each having a complete and undivided interest in the property, usually along with a right of survivorship. Right of Survivorship means that the last living joint owner has the entire rights to the property. Joint Ownership is often used with Real Estate, Bank Accounts, Savings Bonds, and Certificates of Deposit. The biggest advantage of joint ownership is that it is quick and easy. You just add another’s name to your bank account, and they have immediate access to the funds, and they will automatically own the funds if you pass away, without probate or other paperwork. However, there are several...

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