Elder Law Issues Fleming & Curti PLC

Supplemental Security Income -- SSI, to everyone who receives the benefit -- has horribly complicated rules. But recent announcements from the Social Security Administration promise to liberalize those rules dramatically. The new SSI rules should make it easier to qualify for benefits. More importantly, they should make it easier to manage and report relevant financial items that affect the benefits.

The key changes in the new SSI rules will take place at the end of September. They mostly revolve around the concept of "in-kind support and maintenance" (ISM). That concept reduces the SSI benefit under some circumstances where another person (a parent, for example, or a special needs trust) provides food and/or shelter to an SSI recipient.

In this podcast episode, we discuss the new SSI rules, and how they should benefit many recipients. We look forward to seeing how those benefits actually play out in individual cases.

"Incentive trusts." It's a term we hear from time to time in planning estates. What clients and advisors usually mean to describe is a trust that gives the beneficiary some incentives to behave, well, better. Like getting married or having children. Or giving up bad habits. Or finishing an education.

Are incentive trusts a good idea? And do they work?

Our lived experience suggests that the usefulness of the incentive trust is ... mixed. Sometimes they provide an incentive. Often they make the trustee's job difficult. How should the trustee judge the beneficiary's compliance? Will the trust alienate the beneficiary? Is the incentive good enough to urge behavior changes? Did the settlor really intend to punish non-compliance?

In this podcast episode we discuss incentive trusts and our experience with them. Join us.

You've scheduled a signing appointment for your estate planning documents. What should you expect that appointment to look like? And how long will it take?

In this week's podcast episode, we discuss the signing appointment. We also review the quaint practices lawyers still utilize -- involving wet ink and actual paper! And we explain why you still have to come to the office (in nearly every case) rather than just taking your printed-out documents to your bank to sign and notarize. But the good news: we're a lot of fun, and we'll make the signing appointment quick, easy and productive.

You signed your financial power of attorney! Great! Now your agent can sign anything you could sign, right?

Well, hold on. The IRS has special rules for using your power of attorney. They can be confusing and persnickety.

If we knew exactly when you will become incapable of signing your own tax forms AND which tax forms to sign, we'd be set. But we mostly have to give your agent the best tools we can, and have them figure out how to use those tools if and when the time comes. Let us explain.

You may have read news stories about conservatorship proceedings. A lot of reports address the problems faced by famous people subject to conservatorships. Maybe you've seen stories about Britney Spears,  Amanda Bynes, Michael Oher, and/or Wendy Williams.

But did you understand that the very word "conservatorship" means different things in different states? We talk about the variable uses of the term. We also help you distinguish between guardianship and conservatorship in news stories -- and clear up the common misconception that they are the same thing. They are not the same, and the terms are not even the same from state to state. We try to demystify the variable use of the term.

Here at Fleming & Curti, PLC, we're very big on having you give someone the power to tell you when to stop driving. We usually include that in our health care power of attorney form.

A recent article in the Washington Post addressed the issue. It suggested that everyone over age 65 should consider signing an advance directive for driving authority. Our response: poppycock! Everyone, of every age, should make a decision now about who they trust to tell them that when to stop driving. We have. Will you?