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Medicare Savings Programs: QMB, SLMB, QI, QDWI and Extra Help

Medicare Savings Programs

FEBRUARY 9, 2015 VOLUME 22 NUMBER 6 Health care programs for the elderly, the poor and the disabled can be complicated and confusing. We frequently find that clients are unclear about the differences — in eligibility and in coverage — between Medicare and Medicaid, for instance. Add in the fact that Arizona calls its Medicaid […]

Special Needs Trust Defective Because Arbitrary Rules Not Followed

JULY 22, 2013 VOLUME 20 NUMBER 27 We often find ourselves reassuring clients that the law makes sense. It may not be obvious or intuitive, but we can usually explain why some legal principle developed the way it did, and why it would be a bad thing if it were otherwise — even if that […]

Nursing Home Bills and “the Doctrine of Necessaries”

JULY 8, 2013 VOLUME 20 NUMBER 25 Under the English common law (inherited, to a greater or lesser degree, by all the states of the U.S.), a husband was obligated to support his wife and children. Because women could not legally enter into enforceable contracts, a person who provided goods or services to a woman […]

Put Your Accounts in Your Daughter’s Name — What Could Go Wrong?

FEBRUARY 18, 2013 VOLUME 20 NUMBER 7 Seniors are subjected to a constant drumbeat of advice: make sure you have no assets in your own name, or you will lose them to the nursing home. Transfer everything to your children to “protect” your assets. Is it good advice? We usually counsel against such transfers. They […]

Can a Special Needs Trust Pay Credit Card Bills? Security Deposit?

JANUARY 21, 2013 VOLUME 20 NUMBER 3 Administering a “special needs” trust can be a challenge. The rules often seem vague, and they occasionally shift. What may seem like a simple question might actually involve layers of complexity. Sometimes an expenditure might be permissible under the rules of, say, the Social Security Administration, but not […]

Not a Policy Wonk or Wannabe? Skip This Week’s Elder Law Issues

AUGUST 6, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 30 The Director of Arizona’s Medicaid program (AHCCCS – the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System) testified last month before the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging, and his remarks caught our attention. Director Thomas Betlach was testifying about “dual eligibles” — people who are eligible for both […]

Arkansas Court Refuses to Allow Trust Modification

JUNE 25, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 24 A recent Arkansas Court of Appeals case reminds us (yet again) how important it can be to plan for the possibility of a future disability in your family. Here’s the background (with names changed to help protect internet privacy): Ruth Olsen, like thousands of other seniors, created a […]

Maine Service Cutback Leaves Disabled Minor Without Program

FEBRUARY 6, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 5 Here’s an anecdote that we expect to see repeating itself over the next few years. It involves a fifteen-year-old boy with severe disabilities, and the Maine state Medicaid program. It also involves Maine’s efforts, like those of other states (including Arizona), to trim its eligibility roles for Medicaid, […]

Why You Should Not Create a Special Needs Trust

You should not create a special needs trust

JANUARY 16, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 3 Let’s say you have a child with “special needs,” or a sister, brother, mother or other family member. You have not created a special needs trust as part of your own estate plan. Why not? We know why not. We have heard pretty much all the explanations and […]

Principles of Self-Settled (“First Party”) Special Needs Trusts

First-party special needs trust

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 34 There is so much confusion about the difference between “self-settled” and “third-party” special needs trusts, that we want to try to explain and simplify some of the key concepts. Here are some of the most common questions (and misunderstandings): What is the difference between “self-settled” and “third-party” special […]

Robert B. Fleming

Attorney

Robert Fleming is a Fellow of both the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. He has been certified as a Specialist in Estate and Trust Law by the State Bar of Arizona‘s Board of Legal Specialization, and he is also a Certified Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation. Robert has a long history of involvement in local, state and national organizations. He is most proud of his instrumental involvement in the Special Needs Alliance, the premier national organization for lawyers dealing with special needs trusts and planning.

Robert has two adult children, two young grandchildren and a wife of over fifty years. He is devoted to all of them. He is also very fond of Rosalind Franklin (his office companion corgi), and his homebound cat Muninn. He just likes people, their pets and their stories.

Elizabeth N.R. Friman

Attorney

Elizabeth Noble Rollings Friman is a principal and licensed fiduciary at Fleming & Curti, PLC. Elizabeth enjoys estate planning and helping families navigate trust and probate administrations. She is passionate about the fiduciary work that she performs as a trustee, personal representative, guardian, and conservator. Elizabeth works with CPAs, financial professionals, case managers, and medical providers to tailor solutions to complex family challenges. Elizabeth is often called upon to serve as a neutral party so that families can avoid protracted legal conflict. Elizabeth relies on the expertise of her team at Fleming & Curti, and as the Firm approaches its third decade, she is proud of the culture of care and consideration that the Firm embodies. Finding workable solutions to sensitive and complex family challenges is something that Elizabeth and the Fleming & Curti team do well.

Amy F. Matheson

Attorney

Amy Farrell Matheson has worked as an attorney at Fleming & Curti since 2006. A member of the Southern Arizona Estate Planning Council, she is primarily responsible for estate planning and probate matters.

Amy graduated from Wellesley College with a double major in political science and English. She is an honors graduate of Suffolk University Law School and has been admitted to practice in Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, and the District of Columbia.

Prior to joining Fleming & Curti, Amy worked for American Public Television in Boston, and with the international trade group at White & Case, LLP, in Washington, D.C.

Amy’s husband, Tom, is an astronomer at NOIRLab and the Head of Time Domain Services, whose main project is ANTARES. Sadly, this does not involve actual time travel. Amy’s twin daughters are high school students; Finn, her Irish Red and White Setter, remains a puppy at heart.

Famous people's wills

Matthew M. Mansour

Attorney

Matthew is a law clerk who recently earned his law degree from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. His undergraduate degree is in psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Matthew has had a passion for advocacy in the Tucson community since his time as a law student representative in the Workers’ Rights Clinic. He also has worked in both the Pima County Attorney’s Office and the Pima County Public Defender’s Office. He enjoys playing basketball, caring for his cat, and listening to audiobooks narrated by the authors.