Blog - "Altman Speaks"

May is Older Americans Month!

Little known fact: May is Older Americans Month. Here's a passage from Administration on Aging's web site, detailing the History of Older Americans Month: When Older Americans Month was established in 1963, only 17 million living Americans had reached their 65th birthdays. About a third of older Americans lived in poverty and there were few […]

A Cautionary Tale - Do Not Put Off Estate Planning

The biggest hurdle facing estate planners is proscrationation. No one expects anything bad to happen. Most figure they can wait one more day, one more week, one more month to do estate planning. Some opt to buy that flat screen TV or go on another vacation rather than to do estate planning. In fairness, most of […]

Hospital Discrimination Against Gay & Lesbian Couples

Last week, President Obama signed a memorandum requiring any hospital that received Medicare or Medicaid funding to permit gays and lesbians to have non-family visitors and to grant their partners medical power of attorney. Prior to this legislation, many hospitals insisted that only family members by blood or marriage be allowed to visit patients - denying gay […]

IRS Misses Out On $4 Billion in Estate Tax Revenues

Houston gas mogul, Dan Duncan, was the 74th richest person in the world when he died last month. His $9 Billion estate might have meant upwards of $4 Billion for the IRS, however, with no federal estate tax imposed this year, they get nothing. This scenario, some believe, could encourage lawmakers to push to retroactively impose an estate tax. Others […]

Inoculating Estates From Health Costs

April 3, 2010 Wall Street Journal article, "Inoculating Estates From Health Costs" by Kelly Greene: Should you give away your nest egg to your heirs—and then stick Medicaid with your nursing-home tab when the time comes? Outrageous though it might seem, it is a perfectly legal estate-planning strategy. Mark Matcho Mother and son Vera and Paul Kubala […]

Can a Will Be Kept Too Safe?

Contributed by: Renee A. Bouchard-Kaiser Can a will be kept too safe? Surprisingly, the answer is yes! We were recently engaged by family members to probate and administer a person’s Will and Estate. During the initial estate settlement meeting with family members, we explained that in order to probate the Will and have the Personal […]

Court Finds Inherited IRAs Are Not Exempt Under Bankruptcy Code

Under current federal bankruptcy code, an exemption applies for certain tax-qualified retirement funds and accounts including assets such as many 401Ks, annuity plans, IRAs, qualified governmental plans, deferred compensation plans (state and local) and some tax-exempt organizations. However, a Bankruptcy Court has concluded that, unlike a debtor's own traditional individual retirement account (IRA), a debtor's […]

Legal Zoom Gets Served

Those of you who have been following this blog, know of my weariness against “DIY” estate planning services. I believe using these services, such as Legal Zoom, for one’s own estate planning services - wills, trusts, power of attorneys, etc. - is just a recipe for disaster. While I can understand why people who do not […]

Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage

In an advisory opinion issued to the Maryland legislature, Attorney General, Douglas Gansler, issued an opinion on Wednesday that Maryland Courts would likely recognize as married, same-sex Maryland couples who were legally married in other states. This should provide gay married couples with the same rights and obligations as heterosexual couples. The exact implications of […]

Court Decision | Importance to Keep Estate Plan Up-to-Date

In a very common scenario, a participant in an ERISA plan (any qualified retirement plan) names his spouse as the beneficiary of his pension plan. The parties subsequently divorce, and although the divorce decree purports to disclaim any interest the spouse may have in the pension, the participant fails to change his beneficiary designation. When […]

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