Many types of property and investments pass outside of probate and allow you to designate who will receive them after your death. It is important that these designations are kept up to date and are consistent with the rest of your estate plan. 

With the SECURE Act making changes to rules about inherited IRAs, instead of leaving your IRA to your children, you may want to consider leaving it to a charitable remainder unitrust, which can still benefit your children. 

Transferring assets to qualify for Medicaid can make you ineligible for benefits for a period of time. Before making any transfers, you need to be aware of the consequences. 

Immediate annuities can be a useful tool to protect the spouse of a nursing home resident who applies for Medicaid.

Social Security survivor’s benefits provide a safety net to widows and widowers. But to get the most out of the benefit, you need to know the right time to claim. 

Many people, especially seniors, see joint ownership as an easy way to avoid probate and plan for incapacity, but there are major drawbacks to joint accounts.

You may be afraid of losing your home if you have to enter a nursing home and apply for Medicaid. While this fear is well-founded, transferring the home to your children is usually not the best way to protect it.

The $2 trillion economic relief package that Congress passed to help Americans deal with the devastating financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic contains some provisions that affect seniors.

The spread of the coronavirus to nursing home residents has caused the federal government to direct nursing homes to restrict visitor access. Families are having to find new ways to stay in touch.  

As part of its response to the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government is broadly expanding coverage of Medicare telehealth services to beneficiaries and relaxing HIPAA enforcement. This will give doctors the ability to provide more services to patients remotely.