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Veterans Aid & Attendance
An Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust ("IDGT") is an irrevocable trust created so that the assets of the trust are attributable to the grantor for federal income tax purposes, but not for gift, estate, or generation skipping transfer tax. The "defect" is that the grantor reports all of the income, deductions, and credits associated to the trust property on his or her personal income tax return. The IDGT does not file an income tax return - IRS Form 1041.
Likewise, when the IDGT ...
The first cost-of-living adjustment since 2008 has recently been made, bringing a 3.7% increase in benefits. The cost-of-living adjustments are based on increases in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers ("CPI-W"). A cost-of-living adjustment effective for December of the current year is equal to the percentage increase (if any) in the average CPI-W for the third quarter of the current year over the average for the third quarter of the last year in which a c ...
If your client has a tax-deferred annuity that is causing problems with Medicaid or VA eligibility, it can be easily cashed out. To do so, the client will need to contact the insurance company that issued the annuity and request a complete liquidation. The insurance company will return the annuity's present value, less any applicable surrender charge. The surrender charge is a penalty that applies when an annuity is terminated before its maturity date. The surrender cha ...
The Medicaid and Veterans benefits planning industries are constantly changing. New planning techniques are discovered, old ones become obsolete, new products are introduced, and planning figures are updated annually.
Staying up-to-date on what's happening has never been easier.
According to recent statistics, the majority of long-term care provided in the family home is provided by the children of the homeowner. The care is typically provided without a formal agreement, and is gratuitous in nature. As a result of the care occurring at different times during the week, the child is typically unable to work and is left without any formal compensation. The child's financial future can be placed in grave jeopardy if the care is provided over many years.
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Does an annuity utilized in VA planning have to follow the same guidelines as that of an annuity utilized in Medicaid planning (i.e. irrevocable, non-assignable, zero cash value, etc.)? I hear this question quite often, which is completely understandable - the VA does not provide for specific annuity requirements, unlike Medicaid.
Notwithstanding the above, the VA program does not require that an immediate annuity contract be compliant with the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 in order to ...
Balloon-style immediate annuities are becoming more and more popular in VA planning. The purpose in using a balloon-style immediate annuity in lieu of a level-pay immediate annuity is to convert excess net worth into a very minimal monthly cash flow. Whether the excess net worth consists of cash, checking and savings accounts, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, cash value life insurance, or an IRA, it can be converted into a balloon-style immediate annuity.
A balloon-style immediate ann ...
When a client qualifies for VA and/or Medicaid benefits, an annuity typically becomes part of the planning strategy. So what is an annuity?
Annuities generally come in two forms, either a tax-deferred annuity ("TDA") or a single premium immediate annuity ("SPIA"). A TDA is purchased from an insurance company through an insurance agent, and is designed to pay a guaranteed rate of interest for a set number of years. The TDA remains as a pile of cash, and continues to grow tax ...
When a veteran secures an Aid & Attendance ("A&A") benefit as a result of having long-term care costs, the monthly A&A benefit is dictated by a simple formula - the extent that the claimant's monthly income exceeds the claimant's unreimbursed monthly medical expenses ("URME"). If the individual's monthly income is less than his or her URMEs, the individual's monthly A&A benefit would be $1,644. In the alternative, if the claimant's monthly income exceeds his or her ...
The annuity planning that Krause Financial Services provides in VA scenarios is not to be confused with the planning provided by many self-dubbed "VA Planning Specialists" that have recently created quite the reputation. I always advise that an applicant seek the counsel of an accredited elder law attorney prior to proceeding with any type of plan. Furthermore, I do not advise that the applicant and/or the applicant's family utilize annuity products with inappropriate features - no ...
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