Jun 18, 2021
*Our firm specializes in the specific types of legal planning mentioned below and is a valuable service we offer our clients. For more information on Medicaid planning and asset protection, give us a call at (940) 696-5015 or email us at danna@cdancampbell.com. “Lessons of Caregiving” by Clare Ansberry, The Wall Street Journal – June 15,…
Jun 7, 2021
Ladybird Deeds and Transfer on Death Deeds are used to avoid probate (which is the legal process whereby the court determines if a will is valid and assets are distributed according to the will). These types of deeds are particularly useful to avoid Medicaid Estate Recovery. If one receives Medicaid benefits, the government has a right to…
May 13, 2021
Joint bank accounts can be helpful in several ways, but such accounts can also be a trap for the unwary. A couple of the major benefits are as follows: Trusted joint account owner can pay your bills. Probably the most common reason for opening such accounts, your joint account owner (typically a spouse or a…
May 4, 2021
Usually the most valuable non-countable resource for a long-term care Medicaid recipient (whereby the government helps pay for care costs at a long-term care facility plus medications if the applicant/recipient has less than $2,000 of countable resources) is the homestead. Although there is no equity limit of a homestead if the Medicaid applicant is married…
Apr 19, 2021
Although not all online (Legal-Zoom) or store-bought (Office-Depot) Wills create legal problems, the following factual situation is an example of the potentially perilous path that an unwitting individual may traverse when doing their own Will. FACTS: Wife has only a few months to live and is going through a divorce from her husband, who lives…
Apr 15, 2021
There are many documents (i.e., trusts, powers of attorney, deeds, etc.) that simply need to be notarized to be valid. Although banks or financial institutions are an “essential business” and they will generally notarize documents other than Wills, many still do not want to have to go to a financial institution for this to be done.…
Apr 7, 2021
Public benefits can range from payment of expensive drugs (no matter what age) to long-term care costs such as skilled nursing care. There are 40-50 Medicaid programs in Texas in addition to strictly federal public benefits programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Income (SSDI), Veterans benefits, and housing benefits. Many of…
Mar 30, 2021
Although Wills are often not difficult to probate in Texas, many want to avoid the potential hassle, cost and delay of following the state laws required under the probate process. Beneficiary designations supersede probate. So, for example, if you simply go to the bank and name a beneficiary to your account (called a Payable on…
Mar 21, 2021
A statutory durable financial power of attorney (“POA”) is generally an essential part of any estate plan. In fact, it may be the most important document since it is often the most powerful as it often gives the agent the authority to deal with all of your financial affairs, assets (most people grant general powers…
Mar 16, 2021
Via “Esquire” Magazine Netflix investigative docuseries Dirty Money, which examines financial misdeeds, is back for a second season. And one of the show’s most shocking new episodes, “Guardians, Inc.,” tackles abuses in the world of elder guardianship, a system that controls the lives of an estimated 1.5 million adults with estates worth more than $250 billion—and that…
