Illinois Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

If you are caring for your mother or father, you may be able to claim your parent as a dependent on your income taxes. This would allow you to get an exemption for her or him.

There are five tests to determine if you can claim a parent as a dependent:

1) The person you are claiming as a dependent must be related to you. This should not be a problem if you are claiming a parent (in-laws are also allowed). Keep in mind that foster parents do not count at a relative. To claim a foster parent, he must live with you for a year as a member of your household.

2) Your parent must be a citizen or resident of the United States or a resident of Canada or Mexico.

3) Your parent must not file a joint return. If your parent is married, he must file separately. There is an exception if your parent is filing jointly, but has no tax liability. If your parent files a joint tax return solely to get a refund, you can claim him as a dependent.

4) Your parent must not have a gross income exceeding the allowable exemption amount for that year. Gross income does not include Social Security payments or other tax-exempt income.

5) You must provide more than half of the support for your parent during the year. Support includes amounts spent to provide food, lodging, clothing, education, medical and dental care, recreation, transportation and similar necessities. Even if you do not pay more than half of your parent’s support for the year, you may be able to claim your parent as a dependent if you pay more than 10 percent of your parent’s support for the year, and, with others, collectively contribute to more than half of your parent’s support. To receive the exemption, all those supporting your parent must agree on and sign the applicable Multiple Support Declaration (Form 2021).

If you cannot claim your parent as a dependent because he filed a joint tax return or has a gross income above the limit for that year but you have been paying for your parent’s medical expenses, you may still be able to deduct those expenses from your own taxes.

Continue reading "Chicago Estate Planning and Claiming a Parent as a Dependent" »

A recent analysis reveals that the largest for-profit facilities maintain staffing levels nearly one-third lower than non-profit and government-owned nursing homes, resulting in a significantly lower quality of care.

The study, led by the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), looked at the relationship between staffing and quality of care at the ten largest for-profit nursing home chains.

“Poor quality of care is endemic in many nursing homes, but we found that the most serious problems occur in the largest for-profit chains”, said lead author Charlene Harrington, RN, PhD, professor emeritus of sociology and nursing at the UCSF School of Nursing. “The Top ten chains have a strategy of keeping labor costs low to increase profits. They are not making quality a priority”.

Although the top chains had the sickest residents, their total nursing hours were 30 percent lower than non-profit and government nursing homes, the UCSF study found. Moreover, the major chains were well below the national average for registered nurse and total nurse staffing, and below the minimum nurse staffing recommended by experts.

According to the study, the ten largest for-profit chains were cited for 36 percent more deficiencies and 41 percent more serious deficiencies than the best facilities. Deficiencies include failure to prevent pressure sores, resident weight loss, falls, infections, resident mistreatment, poor sanitary conditions and other problems that could seriously harm residents.

Continue reading "Chicago Area Nursing Home Quality" »

More and more seniors are living together without getting married. According to U.S. Census data, the number of cohabitating seniors nearly doubled between 1989 and 2000. For some seniors, marriage is not financially worth it or they do not want to lose their former spouses’ military pension or Social Security benefits. Other seniors do not want to have to pay their partner’s medical expenses or deal with the objections of children worried about their inheritance.

If you and your partner plan to live together without getting married, you can take a number of steps to ensure that you are protected and your wishes are followed.

Sign a cohabitation agreement. The agreement can state your intentions not to marry or to make any claims against each other. It can also specify the division of household expenses and what will happen to your house in the care of death or breakup.

Provide access to health care decision making. If you are not married, you have no right to participate in your partner’s health care decisions or even, in some circumstances, to visit your partner at the hospital. To avoid this situation, you need several documents. You can sign a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) medical release to allow each other access to the other’s medical information. In addition, a Power of Attorney for Health Care allowing your partner to make health care decisions will give the partner those health care decision making rights.

Sign a durable power of attorney. A Durable Power of Attorney for Property allows your partner, or whomever you appoint, to make financial decisions for you if you become incapacitated. Without a Durable Power of Attorney for Property, the court will have to appoint a guardian to make those decisions. Annual filings with the court regarding your estate’s assets will be required along with other filings with the court.

Update your will. Your will should be clear about what happens to your possessions when you die, including your house and its contents. It is particularly important to specify what will happen to your house if it is owned by only one partner.

Address the tax consequences of gifts. Married couples can leave each other as much as they way without paying estate taxes while unmarried couples cannot.

Continue reading "Cohabiting Seniors: Protect Your Rights" »

Elder care managers evaluate the needs of an older individual. Often care issues have been over looked. For example, 12 million Americans live with chronic pulmonary disease, 1.5 million have Parkinson’s disease and researchers estimate that by 2050, 13.2 million Americans will have Alzheimer’s disease.

Care managers meet with individuals at their homes and get a feel for the personal and medical considerations which should be taken into account. If the individual has special health care funding requirements now or in the future, care managers have first hand knowledge and are in a position to accurately project future cash needs.

Because many children live far from their elderly parents, elder care managers provide independent evaluations and send their findings in a report to the children. This gives the children peace of mind knowing that an independent evaluator with no ties to local siblings, institutions or medical providers is generating the report.

ElderCareSolutions, Inc. provides care managers and serves the Chicago area. It is based in Naperville, Illinois.

Continue reading "Elder Care Managers in Illinois" »

After an individual dies, his estate is responsible for paying any debts. If the estate does not have enough money, the debts will go unpaid. Debt collectors are not permitted to collect payment from relatives unless the relative was a co-signer or guarantor of the indebtedness. Children are not responsible for the debts of their deceased parents.

Some assets are exempt from debt collection.

If a debt collector contacts you, it is best to give the collector the contact information for the executor or the administrator of the estate. The executor or administrator will in turn refer the matter to the lawyer assisting him with the estate.

Individuals who give valuable assets like jewelry to children before their death need to be mindful of the fact that these gifts could be viewed by a court as fraudulent conveyances designed to defraud the creditor. A court may order the individuals to turn over the gift to the creditor. Also, if the executor or administrator gives the assets of the estate to beneficiaries before creditors are satisfied, the executor or administrator becomes personally responsible for payment of the creditor claims.

Continue reading "Legal Responsibility for a Relative's Debts in Illinois" »

In a recent Chicago Tribune article, Daily Money Management Services Keep Seniors Independent, the availability of a personal service to handle paying bills, balancing the checkbook, filing insurance claims and other money management matters is reported on.

Amie Hyman, owner of Heartfelt Solutions for Seniors, Inc. in Willow Springs, addresses the issue and explains how times have changed from when senior citizens were able to rely on relatives who lived close by and senior citizens had uncomplicated money management issues. “This service is very much in demand, as the younger generation does not always live in the same area as their parents”, states Ms. Hyman. “It becomes overwhelming when the junk mail, doctor bills and Medicare statements start to pile up. They can forget to pay a bill or they are late and incur fees”.

Some of the services provided to seniors include setting up automatic withdrawals from bank accounts to pay bills, writing checks, managing bank deposits, transferring funds among accounts, negotiating with creditors and dealing with medical insurance providers

Continue reading "Chicago Money Management Services for Seniors" »

Andrea Donovan of Senior Living Advisors in Riverside, Illinois was recently quoted in a Chicago Tribune article about retirement communities in the Chicago area. In the article, Ms. Donovan points out that there are four kinds of contracts available at Continuing Care Retirement Communities, that is, a community which has independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing all in one area. This is an attractive feature because individuals not need to move to a different community in the event of a change in health status.

The first kind of community is a Full Life Care community. The resident is charged an entrance fee and a monthly fee. Residents receive unlimited access to all levels of care with only a small change in monthly fees to adjust for inflation and increased costs.

The second is Modified Life Care. The contract limits the number of days in assisted living or skilled nursing for the resident. Once those days have been used, the resident is often offered a discounted rate for continued care. This option is attractive for residents who believe their assets will be sufficient to pay for future health care needs.

The third is Fee for Services Care. The entrance fee and monthly fees are substantially lower than the Full Life Care and the Modified Life Care options. The monthly fee covers living expenses. Residents have access to all levels of health care and pay the entire cost.

The fourth is Rental. This option requires a monthly rental payment, similar to renting an apartment.

Continue reading "Illinois Options for Continuing Care Retirement Communities" »

What do wills, trusts and ping pong have in common? All three will come together for the Second Annual LaGrange Area Table Tennis Tournament on Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 10 am sponsored by the Law Offices of Wilson & Wilson.

The tournament will take place at Park Junior High School, 325 Park Road in LaGrange Park. Anyone 16 or older may enter by just showing up at 10 am at the school. Trophies and cash prizes ranging from $1000 to the 1st Place Champion to $100 to the 6th Place Winner will be awarded.

The Wall Street Journal had a piece this week about the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act of 1999. This is the first time I have read a detailed explanation of why GLB was not a contributing cause of the current financial crisis.

GLB repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act (from Great Depression times) and allowed banks, securities companies and insurance companies to affiliate under a financial services holding company.

The WSJ article points out:
1) If GLB were the problem, the crisis would have originated in Europe where they never had Glass-Steagall;
2) The financial firms that failed, like Lehman, were the least diversified while those that survived, like JP Morgan, were the most diversified; and
3) GLB did not deregulate anything but established the Federal Reserve as a super-regulator overseeing all Financial Services Holding Companies. All activities of financial institutions continue to be regulated on a functional basis by the regulators that had regulated those activities prior to GLB.

I recently came upon this quote by Jonathan Adler, an interior designer, “There is only one game to play at Thanksgiving, and that’s Ping-Pong. It’s perfection – my favorite way to work off that pumpkin pie.”

These are my sentiments exactly.

This clip from You Tube features players who are about as good as I’ve ever seen. I hope they happen to be neighbors of my brother who lives in Kentucky and who is hosting my family’s Thanksgiving Dinner this year. I’d love to have a game or two with them.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Have you ever thought about whom you would invite if you could invite any group of six people to your house for dinner on Saturday? I don’t mean people you know. I mean if you could invite absolutely anyone.

I know my sons, who are teenagers, would invite professional athletes. Somewhere at the table would be sitting Jacoby Ellsbury or Jonathan Papelbon.

In my mom’s case, it would be a Who’s Who of daytime television show hosts. Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters are likely choices.

In my case, I can tell you exactly who it would be: Jerry Seinfeld, Kim Strassel, Steffi Graf, Larry Kudlow, Reese Witherspoon and Sue Murrey. Can you imagine the great information you could get from Kim and Larry? Then you turn to Reese and find out what’s on the mind of someone who is incredibly talented, hardworking and has her priorities in order. Then you have the chance to hear from Steffi, the greatest woman tennis player ever. And in between all this, you have Jerry making hilarious comments that have you falling off your chair. I can’t imagine a better time.

You may ask, who is Sue Murrey and why is she there? The answer is I’ve known her since seventh grade, and I have to have someone there I can relive the evening with every time we play golf.

The Cubs just clinched a play-off spot. The Red Sox are one win away from clinching. As I see it, all is right with the world.

I grew up in a Chicago suburb in the 60's and 70's. I have three older brothers, but when my dad caught a foul ball (bare handed) at a Cubs game in 1971, I was the one he turned to and handed the ball. I was the fan. He knew that.

For the last 20 years, I lived an hour from Boston. It didn't take long before I became a part of Red Sox Nation. Following a team which hadn't won a World Series for decades and decades was a natural for me. I also learned that a true Red Sox fan detests the Yankees to a degree surpassed only by his devotion to the Sox.

I recently moved back to Chicago. I've been to two games at The Cell when the Red Sox were playing, and I was given tickets to a Cubs game in July, eighth row, behind the visitor's dug out -- the usher asked me who I knew.

I hope October lasts forever. I hope it's the Cubs vs. the Red Sox in the World Series. And, don't tell my sons or my friends back East, but I hope this is the year that Cubs fans find out what it's like to sit back and watch as your team wins it all.