More Veterans of the Iraq War are Pursuing Educational Opportunities A more generous version of the G.I. Bill that Congress passed in 2008 is allowing more veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to avail themselves of educational opportunities. In fact, more than 300,000 veterans and their dependents are enrolled in American institutions of higher…

No Change in Medicaid Spousal Impoverishment Standards for 2010 For the first time since 1989, when a law was enacted protecting the spouses of institutionalized Medicaid recipients from impoverishment, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is not raising its guidelines for how much money the husbands or wives of institutionalized Medicaid recipients may…

Protecting Students with Disabilities January 2010 – According to the House Committee on Education and Labor website, a U.S. Government Accountability Office report released last spring detailed hundreds of cases of students being abused “as a result of inappropriate uses of restraint and seclusion, often involving untrained staff. In some cases, children died. A disproportionate…

According to the Pew Research Center, currently around 30% of adult children in America contribute financially to the care of parents. Expenses range from medical care to assisted living care to simply making sure the household contains enough food. As a result, plans for one’s own future care may need to include plans for the care of parents.

When drafting a Will or trust document it is always important to consider multiple contingencies. One such contingency is the possibility that the primary beneficiary of your estate will not survive you. If a new beneficiary is not named, by default the state will decide how assets and property are to be distributed, according to state law. And the law may not correspond with your wishes.

Starting January 1, 2010, the rules governing conversion of traditional IRA or 401(K) accounts to a Roth IRA will change. Through the end of 2009, only people with a modified adjusted gross income of less than $100,000 are eligible to convert traditional accounts to a Roth IRA. The income restriction will be lifted in 2010, and all investors will be able to convert funds.

Until the end of 2009, the inheritance tax, also referred to as the estate tax, stands at 45 percent for estates over $3.5 million. The tax will sunset at the end of the year, for one year only. It will then be reinstated in 2011 at the rate of 55% with an exemption of $1 million.

It is still unclear whether the tax will be repealed in 2010. Earlier this month, the House passed a one-year extension of the tax, essentially freezing it at current levels until 2011. The House has also passed smaller extensions, from one to three months, in an attempt to give the Senate time to come up with a more permanent solution.

Senate Proposal Would Eliminate Use of Term “Mentally Retarded” Words hurt, and it has long been recognized that language shapes perception. So when Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) proposed Rosa’s Law, which would replace the term “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability” in federal programs, it marked significant progress for people with developmental disabilities. Rosa’s big brother,…

A revocable living trust is an arrangement by which you transfer ownership of your property into a trust throughout the course of your lifetime, the contents of which are transferred to your beneficiaries upon death. In some cases, a revocable living trust is used as a partial substitute for a Will. As with any trust,…

IRS Issues Long-Term Care Premium Deductibility Limits for 2010 The amount you can deduct on your taxes as a result of buying long-term care insurance has been increased by the IRS for 2010. For the first time, the maximum deductible limit for an individual exceeds $4,000. Premiums for “qualified” policies (see explanation below) are tax…