This issue of The Voice® was written by SNA member Hyman Darling, who is a member of the law firm Bacon Wilson, PC, located in Springfield, Massachusetts. Serving the Springfield area for more than 125 years, the firm provides legal services in a number of areas including special needs, estate planning and long-term care planning.
This issue of the Voice was written by Special Needs Alliance member Edward M. Biggin, Esq. an attorney with the law firm Landsman Law Group located in Rockville, Maryland. Ed practices in the areas of Special Needs Planning, Elder Law, Medicaid Planning, Estate Planning, Guardianship, Probate Administration, and Trust Administration. Ed is a member of the Bar in Maryland and the District of Columbia.
This post was authored by Robert F. Brogan, CELA of Archer Brogan. LLP with five offices in New Jersey. The firm focuses on the legal needs of seniors, those with disabilities, veterans, and their caregivers. He is a member of the SNA Board of Directors and serves as Treasurer of the organization. It’s time to think about [...]
This edition of the Voice was written by SNA member, Robert B. Fleming, CELA. Robert is a partner in the Tucson, Arizona law firm of Fleming & Curti, PLC. He is a long-time member of the Special Needs Alliance and frequently speaks on special needs issues to lawyers and family members all over the country. You can subscribe to his newsletter and podcast at www.elder-law.com.
By James McCarten, Esq. As a 2017 holiday present to taxpayers, Congress passed tax legislation that your representatives, senators and many tax professionals have described as the most significant overhaul of our tax laws since 1986, when President Ronald Reagan's tax bill was passed. What follows is an overview of those provisions of what was [...]
Watch Out for the Details By Andrew H. Hook, CELA Retirement accounts are often among a family’s largest assets, so you may have thought about leaving a portion to your son or daughter with disabilities. But if they will ever need means-tested benefits, your good intentions could disqualify them for important programs such as Medicaid [...]
This issue of the Voice was written by Robert B. Fleming, CELA, a founding member of the Special Needs Alliance and a partner in the Tucson, Arizona, law firm of Fleming & Curti, PLC. Mr. Fleming represents family members who are guardians, conservators or trustees; he also frequently acts as trustee of special needs trusts. He travels and speaks extensively on taxation and trust administration issues. His website is at https://elder-law.com/.
By H. Amos Goodall, Jr., CELA Caring for a loved one with special needs can run into millions of dollars over the course of their lifetime, so the last thing families need is to pay unnecessary taxes. I'd estimate that before beginning to work with a special needs attorney, 30 percent of my clients had [...]
By Bradley J. Frigon, CELA As tax-paying season approaches, there are a number of tax obligations and deduction opportunities that families with special needs should bear in mind. It's important to realize that the investment income generated by funds deposited in a special needs trust (SNT) are taxable, yet the details differ, depending upon the [...]
The Special Needs Alliance asked Jeremy Babener to summarize a presentation on tax issues in personal injury cases that he made at the Society of Settlement Planners Annual Meeting in Las Vegas on May 6. Babener is a tax attorney at Lane Powell PC and regularly advises on tax issues relating to lawsuits, structured settlements [...]
By Richard L. Sayre, Esq., Spokane, WA It's time to begin organizing your tax documents, an exercise that can be particularly confusing when a family member has special needs. Here are some suggestions to bear in mind. Exemptions and Deductions When a loved one has special needs, the cost of health care is usually a [...]
The Voice is the email newsletter of The Special Needs Alliance. This installment was written by Mary Alice Jackson, Esq., a member of the Special Needs Alliance and active participant on its Public Policy Committee. She is a partner at Boyer & Jackson, P.A., with offices in Sarasota, Florida, and Austin, Texas. Her practice includes special needs and long-term care planning, estate planning, probate and end-of-life issues. Mary Alice is also an active member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, a past Chair of the Florida Bar Elder Law Section, and an adjunct professor in the Stetson University College of Law Elder LL.M. program.
The Voice is the email newsletter of The Special Needs Alliance. This installment was written by Special Needs Alliance member Elizabeth L. Gray, Esq., of the Fairfax, Virginia law firm of Cossa, Gray and O'Reilly, PLC, where she focuses her practice on special needs planning, elder law and general estate planning and administration. Elizabeth writes and lectures frequently on issues affecting seniors, individuals with disabilities and their families. She has been recognized as one of the best attorneys in Washingtonian Magazine and Northern Virginia Magazine and has been selected as a Super Lawyer for Washington D.C. and Virginia.
Readers of this article are referred to the January 24, 2012 issue of The Voice, "A Short Primer on Trusts and Taxation" by Special Needs Alliance members Barbara S. Hughes and Tara Anne Pleat, that they may want to review in conjunction with this article.
The Voice is the e-mail newsletter of The Special Needs Alliance. This installment was written by Special Needs Alliance member Ken W. Shulman, Esq., a partner in the Boston, Massachusetts office of Day Pitney LLP. His practice includes estate planning and related issues for families who have children with disabilities, and elder law. He presently serves on the board of the Asperger's Association of New England and on the Combined Jewish Philanthropies Committee on Disabilities. He previously served on the board of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. He is a co-author of Special Needs Trust Administration Manual, A Guide for Trustees, available through DisABILITIESBOOKS.
The Voice is the e-mail newsletter of The Special Needs Alliance. This installment was written by Special Needs Alliance members Edward V. Wilcenski, Esq. and Tara Anne Pleat, Esq..
EDWARD V. WILCENSKI, Esq., is a founding partner of the law firm of Jones Wilcenski & Pleat PLLC in Clifton Park, New York. He practices in the areas of special needs planning, elder law and trust and estate planning and administration. A member and past president of the Special Needs Alliance, Ed writes and lectures frequently on issues affecting individuals with disabilities and their families.
TARA ANNE PLEAT, Esq. is a founding partner of the law firm of Jones Wilcenski & Pleat PLLC in Clifton Park, New York. She focuses her practice in the areas of special needs planning, trust & estate planning and administration, long term care planning and elder law. Tara is a member of the Special Needs Alliance, frequently speaking on estate planning and administration, special needs planning and related disability issues for state and local bar associations and community organizations.
The Voice is the e-mail newsletter of The Special Needs Alliance. This installment was written by H. Amos Goodall, Jr., CELA of the State College, Pennsylvania law firm Goodall & Yurchak, P.C. His practice emphasizes estate planning and implementation for elders, persons with special needs and their families. A member of the Special Needs Alliance and of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Amos is also a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel
.The Voice is the e-mail newsletter of The Special Needs Alliance. This installment was written by Lisa Nachmias Davis, CELA and Shawn L. O'Sullivan, who practice law in New Haven Connecticut as two-thirds of the firm Davis O'Sullivan & Priest LLC. Lisa is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Shawn has handled trust accounting and tax returns for over twenty-five years. Lisa is a member of the Special Needs Alliance, a national organization committed to helping individuals with disabilities, their families, and the professionals who represent them.
The Voice is the e-mail newsletter of The Special Needs Alliance. This installment was written by Nancy Gibson, Esq., a Montana elder law and disability law attorney. Her Missoula-based practice spans the state of Montana. She is a member and past director of The Special Needs Alliance, an invitation-only organization of attorneys specializing in special needs and settlement planning. She is actively involved with the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), an organization dedicated to improving the lives of the elderly and persons with special needs. She currently is serving a second two-year term on the NAELA board of directors. Ms. Gibson limits her practice to elder and disability law, including estate planning and administration, but the majority of her cases involve special needs trusts and/or settlement planning.
The Voice is the e-mail newsletter of The Special Needs Alliance. This issue is devoted to a timely topic: taxes. Alliance member Ron M. Landsman, Esq. of Rockville, Maryland, addresses some common questions about taxation of special needs trusts.
Mr. Landsman is co-author (with fellow Alliance member Robert B. Fleming of Tucson, Arizona) of a short but detailed analysis of the federal income tax provision that classifies some (but not all) special needs trusts as "Qualified Disability Trusts" (or QDisTs). Their article is available on the Special Needs Alliance's website, along with other informative articles by Alliance members. In fact, members of the Special Needs Alliance are frequent contributors to the leading journals and publications on special needs issues; another detailed tax article (this one by Alliance member Dennis Sandoval of Riverside, California) recently appeared in the NAELA News, a quarterly publication of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Mr. Sandoval's article is also available on the Alliance's website.