ArticlesPage 6

More and more seniors are living together without getting married. According to U.S. Census data, the number of cohabiting seniors nearly doubled between 1989 and 2000. For some seniors, marriage isn't financially worth it? they don't want to lose their former spouses' military, pension, or Social Security benefits. Other seniors don't want to have to Read Full Article

Long-term care can be very expensive, but many long-term care expenses can be deducted from your taxes. Two important recent decisions by the U.S. Tax Court provide guidance on when caregiving services are deductible. In one decision, the court ruled that payments to non-medical caregivers are still deductible as medical expenses; in the other, the Read Full Article

Older Americans are losing $2.9 billion annually to elder financial abuse, a 12 percent increase from the $2.6 billion estimated in 2008, according to “The MetLife Study of Elder Financial Abuse: Crimes of Occasion, Desperation, and Predation Against America’s Elders.” The study, based on a comprehensive review of news articles on elder financial abuse, found Read Full Article

Many movies and television shows have a scene where a family gathers around a big table after a relative has died to listen to the reading of the will. While this is a great dramatic scene, it doesn’t usually happen like that in the real world. There is no requirement that a will be read Read Full Article

Dan Taylor, The Parent Care Conversation: Six Strategies for Transforming the Emotional and Financial Future of Your Aging Parents (Penguin Books, New York, NY, 2006. 262 pages). $14.00 from Amazon (click on book to order) One of the hardest things for aging parents and their adult children to do is sit down and have a Read Full Article

As more and more people marry more than once, prenuptial agreements have become an important estate planning tool. Without a prenuptial agreement, your new spouse may be able to invalidate your existing estate plan. Such agreements are especially helpful if you have children from a previous marriage or important heirlooms that you want to keep Read Full Article

Americans who take time off work to care for their aging parents are losing an estimated $3 trillion dollars in wages, pension and Social Security benefits, according to a new MetLife study. Meanwhile, the percentage of adult children providing basic care for their parents has skyrocketed in recent years. Nearly 10 million adults age 50 Read Full Article

Q: My friends and I were recently discussing our estate plans, and the subject of powers of attorney came up. It seems that we have different understandings as to what they look like and how they can be used. Can you provide me with a short lesson which I can share with my friends? A.  Read Full Article

Having difficulty keeping on top of your bills? Maybe a daily money manager can help. Daily money managers can assist elderly individuals with handling anything from routine bill-paying to more complicated tasks like filing medical insurance claims. A daily money manager — a member of a relatively new profession that now has its own professional Read Full Article

Having power of attorney over a family member is a big responsibility and sometimes it makes sense to share that responsibility with someone else. But when two people are named co-agents under a power of attorney, conflicts can arise. Unfortunately, if the conflict can’t be resolved, it may be necessary to get a court involved. Read Full Article