Reuters reports that throughout most of California, the costs of long term care are rising faster than inflation, with the median annual cost for a private nursing home room here in San Diego coming to $86,688 (or about $237.50 a day). Judging by these numbers, your savings can quickly run out and your assets can soon be depleted when paying for long term care and medical expenses. You can act to help prevent these possible consequences with Medi-cal planning. Among other things, the Medi-cal program, with its joint federal and state funding, provides need-based help to persons who are age 65 or older, blind, or disabled, through payment for long term medical care in a skilled nursing home. Proper planning seeks to qualify applicants for government Medi-cal benefits by adjusting to meet eligibility requirements, while also protecting income and assets as permitted under California law. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Current Events’ Category
How Medi-Cal Planning Can Help You Cope With the Escalating Costs of Long Term Care
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
Threatening Disinheritance for Challenging a Will or Living Trust: The New California Law on “Will Contests”
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009Threats of disinheritance to prevent challenges to a will or living trust are nothing new, but the enforceability of these threats will be affected by new California law. At the start of the new year in 2010, the rules will be changed for challenges brought against wills and trusts if the “testator” (the person who made the will) has included a “no contest clause” in the document. A no contest clause generally says that if you challenge the will and lose the contest, you’ll be completely disinherited under the will, or take a significantly reduced share. For public policy reasons, no contest provisions are not blindly followed by the courts. That’s why even when there is a no contest clause, if the legitimacy of the will or trust (or parts of the document) come into question, it’s sometimes possible to bring a valid challenge in order for the probate court to determine if the deceased’s true wishes are reflected in the will. (more…)
San Diego Union Tribune Reports Jury Deliberating in the Trial of Socialite Brooke Astor’s Son: Was There Fraud in Changing His Mother’s Will?
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009After nearly six months, the trial of Anthony Marshall is winding down and jury deliberations have begun, as recently reported by the Associated Press in the San Diego Union Tribune. Marshall, a Broadway producer, is the only son of Brooke Astor, one of New York’s most well known philanthropists and socialites, who died at the age of 105 in 2007, leaving behind an estate estimated to be worth $198 million. The 85-year old defendant stands accused of grand larceny, forgery, and of allegedly defrauding his mother of her estate by making changes to her will when she no longer had the mental capacity to do so, says the Los Angeles Times. (more…)
