Estate and Elder Law News
Kayaking West Virginia’s Big Water Upper Gauley River (story with video/audio)
Now almost 58 years old, I had last kayaked West Virginia's Upper Gauley river (American Whitewater Class IV-5.0 difficulty rating) in my early 40s. Prior to this year, I had been away from whitewater kayaking 10 years. With boater friends one mist-shrouded morning...
It’s Time to Protect Our Elders Now
I can still remember the gentle resistance to the clear drinking glass rim as I pressed it through the soft biscuit dough. Then the hard "clack" as the glass struck the countertop. The child I was knew the fledgling biscuit was cut, almost perfectly round. My...
This Too Shall Pass: How to Keep the Novel Coronavirus in Historical Perspective (Essay and WTOB Radio Interview)
(Medical Illustration of an AIDS Virus) Viruses, as a group, are 1.5 billion years old, predating humans (200,000 years old) by approximately 1,499,800,000 years. Humans live intertwined with viruses in a complex web of life. As one looks at tinier and tinier...
Why You Should Not Wait Too Long to Set Up an Asset Protection Trust in North Carolina (WTOB Radio Interview)
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder and special needs law, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker as he explains how an asset protection trust should be set up early in North Carolina, to better create a family "nest egg" of assets free from...
5 Inexpensive Ways to Reduce Accident Liability Risks on Your North Carolina Rural Property (WTOB Radio Interview)
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker as he explains how it does not take much money to better protect your rural North Carolina real property from accident liability risks. For a...
Lords and Kings: A Brief History of Asset Protection in North Carolina
The basic right of a person to dispose of his or her possessions at death (testamentary transfer) originated in ancient times. The ability for the deceased to then protect the transfer of those possessions against claims by the State or government, or against other...
Why You Should Use a Trust to Pass Down Family Valuables in North Carolina
Photograph: Jaqueline Kennedy, First Lady and wife of the 35th President of the United States John F. Kennedy, arriving at Lincoln Center, New York City, September 23, 1962. WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, and estate planning...
Ropes, Knots, and Wisdom–A Father’s Day Tribute to My Dad
From my earliest memory, my family lived near the water, and as a young boy, I wanted to be just like my dad. How wise he was—how could he know so many things? We always had a small powerboat, and, from the time I was little, my dad was always teaching me how to use...
Why You May Need an Elder Law Financial Power of Attorney in North Carolina (WTOB Radio Interview Attached)
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker as he explains how the new North Carolina Uniform Power of Attorney Act (enacted December 2018) may have made your existing financial power of attorney...
Children’s Asset Protection Planning in North Carolina: Don’t Leave the Liability Window Open!
Whenever I draft wills for a young couple expecting their first baby, or for a couple who already have at least one child, I always set up a children's asset protection trust for them within the will documents. In case the parents pass away before their children have...
Disinherited Heirs May Have a Harder Time Challenging a Revocable Trust in North Carolina
A lawsuit called a will or trust "contest" occurs where a disinherited heir tries to get assets which were not willed to him or her, or not distributed to him or her through a trust by the deceased asset owner. Frequently, the deceased person had a very good reason...
Who Will Help Me to Age in Place?
Elder and special needs, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker discusses why good elder caregiving begins in childhood, in his new opinion essay "Who Will Help Me to Age in Place," published on March 5, 2019 in the Winston-Salem Journal. To read Vance's essay in...
Why Are More North Carolina Millennials Becoming Elder Caregivers?
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker about why more and more millennials are becoming elder caregivers. Vance discusses the huge need for family caregivers as millions of baby boom parents...
Don’t Scam an FBI Man
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker about how telephone scammers can hit anyone, even a retired FBI and CIA director and his wife. Vance concludes with basic tips for senior telephone and...
Trusts Can Help Protect Seniors from Elder Financial Abuse in North Carolina
In the Jan 24, 2019 article "Scamming Grandma: Financial Abuse of Seniors Hits Record," the Wall Street Journal states that U.S. banks reported a record 24,454 suspected cases of elder financial abuse to the Treasury Department last year, more than double the amount...
Caring for a Senior with a Caregiver Agreement in North Carolina
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker about how a caregiver agreement allows a senior to transfer assets to a family member who is caring for him or her, in a way allowed by Medicaid....
10 Ways to Protect Your Assets Before Marriage in North Carolina
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker about how to protect your assets before marriage. Adults of all ages fall in love, and hope to get married. As adults get older, they may accumulate more...
Using a Medicaid Qualified Promissory Note to Shelter Assets from Medicaid in North Carolina
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker about using a Medicaid qualified promissory note to shelter assets from Medicaid. Particularly useful with couples, an elder lawyer may transfer an ill...
How to Protect a Car From Estate Creditors in North Carolina
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker about using joint with rights of survivorship (JTWROS) ownership to protect your car from estate creditors after you pass away. If you pass away leaving...
How a Life Estate Works to Protect Real Estate Against High Medical Costs in North Carolina
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker about using a life estate deed to protect your home or other real property against future high healthcare bills or other unknown creditor costs. A life...
How to Take Care of a North Carolina Special Needs Child Using a Third-Party Special Needs Trust
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker about how forming a third-party special needs trust may be an excellent way to save protected funds for your child (or other important beneficiary in your life.) A...
Which Assets are Protected Against Probate Creditors in North Carolina?
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker about why your assets may be subject to probate creditors after you pass away in North Carolina, and how probate creditors may keep assets that you will to...
How to Protect Your Assets in North Carolina
It’s not hard to imagine a white-bearded old-timer, somewhere up in the North Carolina mountains, up early one morning, barely visible through the mist as his spade turns up dirt. He is burying an old WWII ammo can underneath a tree out back, filled with some jewelry he has collected over his lifetime, cash neatly double-wrapped in gallon Ziploc bags, and his collection of gold and silver coins. He feels relieved when this job is done.
Caring for Your North Carolina Pet With a Pet Trust
You love your pet as a member of your family, but what might happen to your dog or cat if you couldn’t be there for him or her? Unfortunately, many pets from senior owners end up at North Carolina animal shelters, after their owners either become ill or pass away....
How to Decide on Adult Guardianship for a North Carolina Special Needs Child
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, guardianship and estate planning attorney Vance Parker about how to make planning decisions for your special needs child before he or she becomes an adult at age 18. If appropriate, and your child...
Immigration Policy Threatens Seniors’ Care
Explaining immigration is no easy task. In this article, Elder and Special Needs Law Attorney Vance R. Parker explains immigration in this Winston-Salem Journal article how reducing the supply of U.S. immigrants threatens the caregiver supply for American seniors....
Pet Trusts in North Carolina
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker about why it may make sense to protect your pet with a pet trust. Because animal shelters are facing a crisis of unwanted pets from incapacitated seniors...
Using a Medicaid Annuity to Shelter Assets From Medicaid in North Carolina: WTOB Radio Interview With Attorney Vance Parker
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker about using a Medicaid Compliant Annuity (protected by federal law), to shelter assets when applying for Medicaid. When applying for Medicaid coverage of...
Special Needs Trusts (SNTs) and Adult Guardianship in North Carolina
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker about how to use a special needs trust to keep an inheritance or other financial award from disrupting a senior or person's Medicaid or disability benefits. Vance...
What Is Incapacity Planning in North Carolina?
WTOB FM/AM Radio in Winston-Salem, NC interviews elder, special needs, and estate planning attorney Vance Parker about the most effective estate planning for a senior (or younger person) diagnosed with a dementia or disabling illness. Click below to play the attached...
New Legislation to Benefit Veteran Caregivers
Lawmakers have approved reinforcing and expanding the VA Caregiver program, through the VA Mission Act, which expands caregiver support to benefit pre 9/11 veterans, in addition to post 9/11 veterans. The VA Mission Act, which authorizes $860 million in veterans’ caregiver support over the coming years, was signed into law on June 7, 2018.
How to Choose the Right Special Needs Trust in North Carolina
Elderly, special needs, and disabled persons may depend on public benefits programs such as Medicaid, Special Assistance, or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to assist with healthcare, assisted living, skilled nursing care, support, and other needs. These programs are “means tested,” meaning that they have strict asset, and/or income limits for applicants, and ongoing limits for beneficiaries supported by these programs.
How Can Medicaid Planning Help to Protect My Assets in North Carolina?
Medicare was set up by our government as a health insurance program, which helps to pay seniors’ health care costs. Because it is insurance, when a senior uses Medicare to pay for medical expenses, the senior does not have to pay Medicare back.
How To Will Assets to a Financially Risky Heir in North Carolina
In many cases, disinheritance is not the only solution for such financially risky heirs. I may instead structure a testamentary “discretionary trust” within a will document, or a discretionary subtrust within a trust document, to safely award assets to a financially risky heir.
How to Properly Use a Care Agreement to Compensate Family Caregivers in North Carolina
Family caregivers may provide essential care to disabled seniors, or to special needs/disabled adults of any age. Such family care may allow the senior or special needs adult to remain in the home environment that he or she prefers, and can provide numerous other benefits.
How to Use a Medicaid Promissory Note to Shelter Assets from Medicaid in North Carolina
Many individuals or couples must apply to Medicaid to finance nursing home or other long-term care costs. Medicaid planning allows an individual or couple to shelter their assets from Medicaid, while simultaneously “spending down” to meet strict Medicaid asset requirements.
Protecting Your Assets With the “StepAPT™” Asset Protection Trust in North Carolina
An irrevocable Asset Protection Trust (APT) may be used as part of an advance asset protection planning strategy, to help a client create a “nest egg” of assets to be passed to his loved ones free from the claims of all creditors.
How a Revocable Trust Works to Keep Your Assets Out of Probate in North Carolina
The old saying “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” certainly holds true in estate planning.
How Adult Guardianship Works in North Carolina
To fully protect an adult who is physically or mentally incapable of taking care of himself, it may be necessary to become his or her adult guardian.
How it Works: Using a Medicaid Annuity to Shelter a Couple’s Assets from Medicaid in North Carolina
When one member of a couple must apply to Medicaid to finance nursing home or long term care expenses in North Carolina, both members of the couple must meet certain asset restrictions.
Exercise Much Better for Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease than Prescription Medications
Given time, any brain can succumb to dementia — memories fade, thoughts scatter, basic abilities wither on the vine. Brains don’t come with lifetime guarantees, but there is one major step you can take to protect yourself from Alzheimer’s or other causes of mental decline: exercise your body.
Using a MAPT to Protect a Home With a Mortgage From Medicaid Estate Recovery in North Carolina
It’s often essential to protect an older person’s home from potential medical creditors, particularly if the older person could eventually need Medicaid to pay for long term care.
The Revocable Living Trust: A Better Way To Manage An Aging Senior’s Assets in North Carolina
As they age, some seniors become less and less able to manage their own assets. Attorneys frequently use the phrase “incapacity planning” to indicate estate planning done for a client diagnosed with dementia, or with other mental or physical disabilities, who will require another responsible adult to eventually manage his financial (and legal) affairs.
How A Caregiver Child Or A Sibling Can Save A Senior’s Home From Medicaid Estate Recovery in North Carolina
Seniors who must use Medicaid to finance their long-term care, risk losing their home to Medicaid estate recovery following their death, or following the death of their spouse.
Combination of Strength and Aerobic Training Found Best Medicine for Obese Elderly
For obese people over age 64, the combination of aerobic exercise and weight training is better for improving physical functioning than either form of exercise alone, a new study concludes.
Smart Genes Make Autism More Likely
Researchers have found a surprising connection between intelligence and autism. On May 23, scientists announced the discovery of 40 new genes linked to human intelligence, and found that many people with the genes were also on the autism spectrum. The findings could one day help shed light on the condition’s origins.
Using Right Of Survivorship Deeds to Protect Homes Against Medicaid Estate Recovery and Other Estate Creditors In North Carolina
While putting a home or other real property into a Joint With Right of Survivorship (JTWROS) deed has been effective in protecting homes and other real property from Medicaid Estate Recovery claims following the owner’s death, key members of the North Carolina Elder Law bar believe that JTWROS deeds may protect real property against claims from all other general creditors (including all medical creditors), as well.
How to Keep Your Car Out of Probate in North Carolina
In North Carolina, it’s best to keep car ownership in one name only for liability reasons. Although it may seem natural for couples to own a car jointly, if that vehicle is involved in an accident, the injured person’s attorney can sue both an at-fault driver and all owners of the car. When a couple instead owns their vehicles only in their own names, an at-fault driver does not imperil his spouse’s separate assets.
How To Use A Medicaid-Compliant Annuity To Qualify An Ill Spouse For Medicaid in North Carolina
Medicaid pays for 63% of all long-term care in the United States. Long-term care, particularly memory or other specialized care, may cost in excess of $5,000.00/month. Because many seniors cannot afford such expenses over the long term, Medicaid may need to be utilized to pay the senior’s long-term care bills.
Saving The North Carolina Senior’s Home From Medicaid Estate Recovery and Other Estate Creditors
CATEGORIES: Elder Law, Medicaid Planning, Crisis Planning, Advance Planning, Asset Protection, Nursing Home, Long Term Care, Elder Care Attorney, Medicaid Estate Recovery Almost everyone realizes that medical care at the end of life can be incredibly expensive. Even...
Sweetheart Scams Targeting Seniors On Rise In North Carolina
CATEGORIES: Elder Law, Elder Care Attorney, Senior Safety The Spanish moss swayed almost unperceptively one warm morning above a coastal Carolina cemetery, where a recently widowed grandmother kneeled weeping by her husband's headstone. Unexpectedly, a younger man...
Avoiding senior scams, fraud, and financial abuse in North Carolina
SEMINAR ANNOUNCEMENT THE SHEPHERD'S CENTER - ADVENTURES IN LEARNING SERIES TOPIC: AVOIDING SENIOR SCAMS, FRAUD, AND FINANCIAL ABUSE MODERATOR: VANCE PARKER, JD, MBA October 25--Preventing Scams: The Role of Law Enforcement Sergeant Charles Sayers, Forsyth County...
How to keep your single member LLC out of probate in North Carolina
Categories: Estate planning, elder law, asset protection, creditor protection, business formation, trust, trusts, probate. The LLC has become one of the most popular legal structures for shielding an owner's personal assets from business liability risks. An LLC...
Best and Worst IRA Beneficiaries in North Carolina
When you choose beneficiaries for your IRA account, you insure out-of-probate transfers to those beneficiaries when you die. But picking proper beneficiaries can be tricky. Here's a list of the best and worst IRA beneficiary choices: BEST IRA BENEFICIARIES Your...
Anatomy of A Telephone Identity Theft
Charlie, a 72-year-old retiree, hears the first ring while heating up the spaghetti sauce for dinner. He thought about letting the phone go, but something about the ring telegraphed urgency.
10 Ways to Protect Your Assets Before Marriage in North Carolina
Modern marriage can be a minefield for both estate planners and their clients. In 2016, a majority of marriages end in divorce, second, third, or fourth marriages are common, and blended families represent the norm. Frequently, the estate planner advises families where the husband brings in children from a prior marriage, the wife brings in kids from a prior marriage, and (if industrious enough) the new couple adds new kids of their own to the mix. And, unfortunately, divorce lawyers are more litigious and aggressive than ever.
“529 Able” Accounts Allow North Carolina Caregivers to Save for Special Needs Beneficiaries Without Jeopardizing Their Government Benefits
The federal Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act of 2014 authorized a new type of savings account designed to benefit disabled minors and adults.
Neuroscience Explains Why Seniors Are More Vulnerable To Predators
It’s a fact that crooks and swindlers have known for years: Seniors are often easier targets for financial predators.
Modern science now tells us why.
Surprisingly, Prince Fails to Plan
Even though Prince, the master showman and electric guitar virtuoso, appreciated the big stage, he probably would not have liked the drama following his death becoming a stadium spectacle.
How To Use A Power Of Attorney To Care For Your Aging Parents in North Carolina
It’s common for aging parents to need some help with their business and legal affairs. Adult children frequently reach this conclusion at the beginning of a new year, after they have spent time with their parents over the holidays.
Springtime swindles: North Carolina seniors should watch out for these con artists
As an attorney who frequently works with seniors in preparing wills and estate plans, I too often hear of cases in which my clients have been swindled in some way.
Separate trusts offer North Carolina married couples more flexibility
Married couples in North Carolina contemplating adding a living trust to their estate plan may have a choice: one joint trust or two separate trusts?
5 Ways To Keep Your Assets Out Of Probate in North Carolina
Probate, the court-associated process where your estate debts are paid, your estate is settled, and your assets are distributed to your heirs or beneficiaries, can be costly and lengthy.
5 Retirement Savings Tips For North Carolina Singles
Singles must plan carefully for retirement, because they do not typically have another income-earner in the family who can help out. Here Are 5 Retirement Savings Tips For Singles.
Bad Idea! Don’t Bet Your Life Savings On A Cheap Online Form
Consumers who purchase wills, trusts, and other estate documents online in an attempt to save money frequently risk their life savings to inferior products.
New Free Online Tool Helps Consumers Maximize Their Retirement Benefits
A new online calculator developed by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau helps consumers determine the best time to start receiving retirement benefits, and what those benefits will be.
How to Legally Avoid Taxes in North Carolina When Selling Your Home or Passing Down Your Home in a Will Bequest
When your home is sold, the capital gain on the sale is calculated as the difference between the sale price and the home’s basis. If you have been in the home for many years the capital gain could be large, and subject to a large capital gains tax.
Private Foundations: A Popular Option for North Carolina Charity-Minded Clients
Higher net worth individuals and families are increasingly looking to family private foundations to both advance their charitable goals, and to avoid estate taxes.
Mediation: An Important Tool in Settling North Carolina Elder Law Disputes
Often, elder law disputes involve close family members and can involve emotions such as jealousy and greed. When such emotions are present, long and costly litigation can also permanently destroy family relationships.
Estate Planning For LGBTQ Couples In North Carolina
As North Carolina LGBT adults are aware, on October 10, 2014, the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina issued an order that struck down the ban on same sex marriage in North Carolina. The ruling allows LGBT couples to seek the rights and privileges of marriage in North Carolina.
Estate Planning To Protect Client Digital Assets In North Carolina
In the Internet age, it can be difficult to separate certain assets such as financial accounts from the computers, websites, and software used to operate, manage, manipulate, and convey information about those accounts. Without proper estate planning incorporating the client’s digital assets, a deceased client’s executor or trustees may not have the tools they need to perform their obligations.
The Perils Of Dying Without A Will in North Carolina
NFL Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair, age 36, was unexpectedly found murdered in a Nashville, TN hotel room on July 4, 2009. McNair had earned about $90 million during his NFL career, yet he died without a will, or intestate. Because he had done no estate planning, his family lost millions of dollars to taxes and legal fees.
Giving During Life Or Giving After Death in North Carolina: Understanding Federal Gift Taxes, Estate Taxes, And The Unlimited Marital Deduction
The differences between federal gift taxes and federal estate taxes confuse many. Taking a step-by-step approach helps to clarify these concepts.
Creating Financial Transparency in Private Estates to Protect North Carolina Elders from Financial Abuse
Katsu and Charles Bradley of Tacoma, Washington, owned their own home and enjoyed ample savings for their retirement. Later, when they could no longer live on their own because of advanced dementia, the family hired Norma Cheesman to be a live-in caregiver. Learn what happened next.
Top Ten Reasons Why You Need An Estate Plan in North Carolina
Estate Planning is not just for wealthy people with lots of assets. Individualized, professional estate planning can provide benefits to anyone.
Remembering Terry Schiavo
Terri Schiavo collapsed in her St. Petersburg, Florida home after a massive heart attack on February 25, 1990. Legal issues following her death still have impact today.