What Heirs Should Know About Reverse Mortgages
Reverse mortgages are a good way for cash-strapped homeowners over 62 to use the equity in their homes to get a loan. The loan does not need to be repaid until the home is sold or the borrower dies. For heirs, however, reverse mortgages can pose problems they may not [...]
Ways to Keep Your Life Insurance Policy From Being Taxed After Your Death
Your life insurance policy may be taxed after you die, unless you take steps now to keep that from happening. Policies that name a spouse as the beneficiary are safe from being taxed. The policies that can be taxed are those that name someone other than the spouse as the [...]
Assisted Living Costs as a Tax Deduction
Individuals that live in assisted living facilities may able to deduct some of their expenses from their taxes. Costs for medical expenses, including some long-term care expenses, that make up more than 10 percent of your adjusted gross income (or 7.5 percent--through 2016--for taxpayers over 65) are tax deductible. Who [...]
VA’s Aid and Attendance (A&A) and Housebound Benefit
Veterans and survivors who need assistance performing daily living activities or are housebound may qualify for two benefits offered by the VA: the Aid and Attendance (A&A) benefit and the Housebound benefit. Both benefits are paid in addition to a monthly pension, but you cannot receive both at the same [...]
VA Independent Living Services
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) offers assistance to Veterans are unable to return to the workforce because of service-related disabilities that require intensive rehabilitation. The VA's Independent Living Services provides Veterans access to services that will help them live independently and recover enough to eventually return to work. [...]
Why You Should Always Honor Your Nursing Home Agreement
A woman in Connecticut recently found out the hard way why you it is important to honor a signed nursing home agreement. When the woman admitted her mother to a nursing home, she signed an agreement as a “responsible relative” on her mother's behalf. Under the agreement, she promised that [...]
Why a Nursing Home or Assisted Living Facility?”
In a past column I touched on the fact that no one wakes up and says to him or herself, “I want to go live in a nursing home or assisted living facility today.” I’ve also written about how often the adult children of the elderly feel guilty about making [...]
Why Guilt is Often Part of the Nursing Home Scene
Let me start off this time with an obvious statement: nobody woke up this morning and said to him or herself, “I’d love to go live in a nursing home.” If you have an elderly parent or grandparent still living at home, or your spouse is still at your residence, [...]