Isenbleck Articles

Isenbleck Articles http://www.isenbleck.com/article-library.php en-us Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:27:01 -0700 Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:27:01 -0700 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Your Retirement Age Can Affect your Child’s Disability Benefits Your Retirement Age Can Affect your Child’s Disability Benefits By:  Barbara A. Isenhour If you have a child with special needs you should think carefully about whether it is advisable to take early retirement.  Social Security has a formula for reducing retirement benefits depending upon how many years before reaching full retirement a worker retires (but not younger than age 62).  So for example, if you retired at age 64 you ...

http://www.isenbleck.com/article-library.php?entry_id=1298376188&title=your-retirement-age-can-affect-your-child’s-disability-benefits Special Needs Trusts & Estate Planning http://www.isenbleck.com/article-library.php?entry_id=1298376188&title=your-retirement-age-can-affect-your-child’s-disability-benefits Tue, 22 Feb 2011 04:01:00 -0800 How to Divide Your Estate HOW TO DIVIDE YOUR ESTATE: Does your estate plan need to provide equally for all of your children?   by Barbara A. Isenhour   A difficult consideration for parents as they prepare their estate plan is deciding how to divide their estate among several children when one child has special needs.  Should the estate be divided equally among the children so that feelings are not hurt?  Should the estate be left to the non-disabled children with the understanding that they will look after their sibling who has special needs?  Should all or most of the estate go to the child with special needs since that child’s future needs may be much greater than those of the other children?   These are hard questions and there is no single answer for all cases.  While this issue may not be a concern to families with substantial wealth, for most families with a special needs child this is a huge issue and one that is not always given the attention it is due.    Factors that can influence the decision about how to divide your estate include: Your total net worth; The ages of your children; The anticipated needs of your special needs child and your care plan for that child when both parents are gone; The needs of your other children; Family dynamics and relationships between siblings.   Ken and Susan’s Estate.   To illustrate the factors to consider in deciding how to divide your estate, let’s look at a hypothetical family, Ken and Susan Shaw.  Ken and Susan have three children, Tim, Sarah and Carrie.  Sarah has cerebral palsy.  Ken and Susan’s estate consists of the following:               Home                                      $300,000             Cash and investments:                        $150,000             Ken’s IRA                              $100,000             Susan’s IRA                              $50,000             Life insurance                         $200,000   If Ken and Susan died together, there will be $800,000 to provide for their children.    When There Are Minor Children.   Ken and Susan prepared their first estate plan when their children were ages 5, 3, and 1.  They prepared a budget for what it would cost for their nominated guardian to raise three small children if they died while the children were young.  This would include child care, health insurance, medical expenses, and room and board expenses incurred by the guardian.  Even with their estate of $800,000 and monthly social security survivor’s benefits for the children until age 18 (and lifetime survivors’ benefits for Sarah as a disabled child), Ken and Susan did not feel comfortable in allocating a larger share of their estate to Sarah while the children were minors or still in college.     If Ken and Susan had family members who could have afforded to pick up the expenses of raising their children, they may have considered leaving a larger share of their estate to Sarah.  This factor varies greatly within families.  Some families have many layers of potential guardians if the parents died with minor children.  Some families also have potential guardians who could easily absorb the cost of raising additional children without the need for financial support from the parents’ estate.  For Ken and Susan there were a limited number of options for a suitable guardian to raise their children, and their selected guardian would need funds to provide for the financial needs of all three children.   Although Ken and Susan decided to leave their estate to a common trust until their youngest child, Carrie, was twenty-five, they wanted any balance remaining in the trust when Carrie turned twenty-five be set aside for Sarah ...

http://www.isenbleck.com/article-library.php?entry_id=1298376034&title=how-to-divide-your-estate Special Needs Trusts & Estate Planning http://www.isenbleck.com/article-library.php?entry_id=1298376034&title=how-to-divide-your-estate Tue, 22 Feb 2011 03:59:00 -0800 The SSI Program for Disabled Children Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} The SSI Program for Disabled Children By:   Barbara A. Isenhour and Sean R. Bleck   The ...

http://www.isenbleck.com/article-library.php?entry_id=1298375350&title=the-ssi-program-for-disabled-children Medicaid, Medicare and Other Government Benefits http://www.isenbleck.com/article-library.php?entry_id=1298375350&title=the-ssi-program-for-disabled-children Tue, 22 Feb 2011 03:48:00 -0800 Medicare Premiums 2011 Medicare Premiums, Co-Payments and Deductibles for 2011 By:  Barbara A. Isenhour and Sean R. Bleck   The following are the new Medicare co-payments and deductibles for 2011.    Part A annual deductible:  $1,132 Part A co-payments for hospital stays from days 60 – 90:  $283/day Part A co-payments for hospital stays from days 91 and beyond:  $566/day Skilled nursing facility co-payment from days 21 to 100: $141.50/day Annual Part B deductible:  ...

http://www.isenbleck.com/article-library.php?entry_id=1298375219&title=medicare-premiums-2011 Medicaid, Medicare and Other Government Benefits http://www.isenbleck.com/article-library.php?entry_id=1298375219&title=medicare-premiums-2011 Tue, 22 Feb 2011 03:46:00 -0800