NOVEMBER 20, 2006 VOLUME 14, NUMBER 21 Medicare Part D (the prescription drug benefit plan begun last year) includes an annual “election period” from November 15 through the end of the calendar year. Seniors—many of whom struggled to understand the program a year ago and waded through reams of information to select the most promising…
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NOVEMBER 13, 2006 VOLUME 14, NUMBER 20 Even as the recent national election was ramping up late last summer, Congress passed and the President signed the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Billed as a great boon to most workers, the Act may not have nearly the advertised effect—primarily because of a continuing shift away from…
NOVEMBER 6, 2006 VOLUME 14, NUMBER 19 James Marier was married to his wife Kathleen for twelve years, until the couple divorced. As often happens, Mr. Marier continued to maintain a good relationship with his step-daughter, Tracy Marks. Her children called Mr. Marier “Grandpa Jim,” and he continued to spend holidays with his ex-wife, his…
APRIL 24, 2006 VOLUME 13, NUMBER 43 Sarah Ann Ester Straw went to her lawyer, N. Frank Lanocha, to have a will prepared. According to Mr. Lanocha, she wanted to leave the bulk of her estate to the lawyer’s daughter, Teresa Lanocha-Sisson. He prepared a will that did exactly that—in fact, it left $1,000 to…
APRIL 17, 2006 VOLUME 13, NUMBER 42 June Miller once told the trust officer at her bank that she loved her son Warren Miller but that she didn’t like him very much. That might have been her motivation for making a number of changes to her estate plan in the last few years of her…
APRIL 10, 2006 VOLUME 13, NUMBER 41 As many states have become more aggressive about recovering the costs of Medicaid care from the estates of deceased beneficiaries, one issue has appeared to be insoluble. Federal law permits states to make a claim against property held in joint tenancy at the time of a Medicaid recipient’s…
APRIL 3, 2006 VOLUME 13, NUMBER 40 Five years ago the Arizona Legislature adopted an interesting new law. Modeled on a similar law in Missouri, the “beneficiary deed” statute permitted property owners to designate who would receive their property on death—much like a “payable on death” bank account. Now the state legislature has revisited beneficiary…
APRIL 25, 2005 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 43 The Medicaid worker was helpful, seemed to understand the question and knew the answer. The applicant’s guardian/conservator asked the right question. Unfortunately, the worker’s answer was just plain wrong. When the guardian/conservator relied on that wrong information, he lost out—and lost the Medicaid recipient’s home after her death.…
APRIL 18, 2005 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 42 Samuel Paschall apparently posed some risk to himself and to the other residents of The Washington Home in Washington, D.C. From the day of his first admission to the nursing facility he had been closely monitored because he was difficult to handle, and becoming more so as time…
APRIL 11, 2005 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 41 When the legal system takes over decision-making and care of an incapacitated adult, there is a struggle between competing goals. It is important to provide adequate protection and supervision, but it is also important to maintain the ward’s personal autonomy and self-determination. It is often difficult to decide…