Elder law experienced no cataclysms in 2008. But significant trends emerged and public benefits planning continued to mature. First, the good news: Medicaid asset protection is being extended, state by state, to same sex couples. Also, all states...
Although assets are typically valued for federal estate tax purposes as of the date of death, Internal Revenue Code Section 2032(a) provides that, generally, if an estate elects, [i]n the case of property distributed, sold, exchanged, or otherwise...
Dear federal lawmakers: It's time to change the law so that individual retirement account custodians, not the elderly, are responsible for withdrawing the required minimum distributions (RMDs) from their IRA accounts. Let's stop expecting the...
The Internal Revenue Service has been concerned about whether retirement benefit plans qualify for the marital deduction when they're left to a trust that ordinarily qualifies for the marital deduction. Hard to believe that this would even be in...
Ever since brokers started swapping shares under that buttonwood tree in lower Manhattan, parallels have been drawn between Wall Street and the casino. Wall Street itself recognizes the similarities. Many proprietary trading firms, in fact...
In October, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the private retirement plans of Americans including 401(k) and IRA accounts dropped by some $2 trillion, or 20 percent in the 15 months ending September 30. Yes, those are big, scary...
In September and October, Houston-based financial advisor Mike Robertson was getting 60 calls a day from panicked clients. On Long Island, New York, about 5 percent of Mark Snyder's clients hit the phones. They're saying, What's happening? says...
Faced with gyrating markets, many retirees worry about exhausting their savings. To calm nerves, some clients may insist on reducing their spending. But if withdrawal plans have been carefully designed, advisors have little reason to make major...
All eyes are on the stock market's gyrations and its impact on retirement plans. Bear markets are a vexing problem for retirees, of course, but that's not the real issue. The coming retirement crisis is worse than a simple bear market cycle. Just...
