Dallas Elder Law Attorney

Upstream planning to avoid capital gains taxes on giving of appreciated assets from child to parent is sometimes used, but one must be careful and should be used in limited situations as there are risks.

When a beneficiary inherits an IRA, the rule on the required time of distributions has been finalized.

Matthew Perry's estate planning accomplished many goals (1) privacy (2) charitable tax planning (3) reduction of risk of a contest (4) and probate avoidance for most of his assets among other things.

A trust can be named as a beneficiary of a trust - but should you? Your protection goals and the risks should be discussed to be making a decision.

A recent Texas Supreme Court decision concludes that a Medicaid applicant must pay for and occupy a homestead prior to nursing home admission for it to be excluded as a resource. Purchase of an ownership interest after institutionalized does not accomplish spend-down for the government to help pay for care.

One must be ever diligent from scams and frauds. Recently, there was even an attempt to scam the estate of Lisa Marie Presley using well-known tourist attraction, Graceland as attempted collateral.

Child who was named as agent under a financial and a medical power of attorney was removed as a result of self-dealing and breach of her fiduciary duty to her mom.

Since people are living longer and the cost of care (which is often paid by the state) is great, Texas has a partnership program to give an incentive to obtain long-term care insurance which protects some assets from spend down to get governmental care cost assistance.

Surviving spouses are entitled to certain rights and interests - even if a spouse dies without a Will. However, it is up to a judge or jury to determine if a couple is married if there was no formal marriage - which would make a difference as to inheritance rights.

Research takes another step forward in earlier detection of Alzheimer's. Discovery of any underlying cause will result in more research on the gene and reducing risk or having a higher quality of life for a longer period of time.