Iowa Estate Plan

Parents, grandparents and others wanting to benefit family members with special needs should act carefully in providing for lifetime gifts or testamentary gifts. The primary options when it comes to planning for gifts with special needs children in Iowa include: Gift to Disabled child. The problem with a gift is the impact it may have on eligibility for public assistance benefits. It may even disqualify the child from getting those benefits until the funds from the gift are completely exhausted, at which time the child will need to reapply for benefits. Disinherit the disabled child . To avoid the issue of disqualification from public assistance, a simple route is to disinherit the special needs child altogether. There is no legal requirement that one must provide for a child under their estate plan. Distribute to a Another Person for Disabled Child's Benefit. Another option is to distribute the funds to someone (a sibling for example) for that person to manage and distribute...

Despite a noticeable absence from this blog, Mr. "Life and Death Lawyer" is back at it. I have a posting on the Iowa Law Blog about a recent Iowa Court of Appeals case dealing with trustee removal and trustee fees.

Looking forward to beautiful weather tomorrow for a 5k run. A local 501(c)(3) charitable organization 5kfor5charities that I have had the pleasure of working with is sponsoring their inaugural 5k charity run at the Blank Park Zoo tomorrow, April 17th.

The North Carolina Estate Planning Blog has a good reminder post that summarizes the state of current affairs about (1) the importance of updating your estate plan, (2) the coming estate tax changes, and (3) the limitations of D-I-Y wills/trusts, as I have previously commented on .

A new survey by the Harris Poll for Lawyers.com recently reported that even fewer Americans have estate plans in place . According to the poll, only 35% of Americans have a will in place. This is down from 45% only 2 years earlier. Apparently, individuals are focusing on their short-term needs as the economy continues to lag and job security continues to be an issue. While keeping food on the table is critical, putting your estate plan matters in place is also important. With young children, second marriages, children from prior marriages and beneficiaries with creditor problems, the lack of an estate plan can create significant emotional and financial hardship on a family. When looking for an attorney to handle your estate planning when cost is an issue, look at attorneys that offer flexible payments or those that allow you to pay by credit card (not that increasing your credit card balance is good, but it does offer some ability to pay over time.) Hint: contact me.

As a result of the struggle a family endured in seeking Social Security benefits for a child conceived through in vitro fertilization two years after her biological father died of leukemia, the current Iowa legislature is looking at a bill to provide some legal rights for children conceived after a parent dies. The current bill is taking into consideration some of the issues raised by the Iowa State Bar Association, such as obtaining necessary consent from the contributing parent as well as a limited time period. Jason Clayworth of the Des Moines Register had a recent article as he continues to follow the story.

The Ohio Supreme Court fined two California-based companies multi-million dollar fines for the unauthorized practice of law. The operation apparently involved telemarketers and salespeople persuading elderly residents of purchasing a living trust in order to avoid exaggerated fees and costs at their death. Apparently, over 3,000 Ohio residents were convinced to purchase the products, which were from non-attorneys, although "approved" by an Ohio attorney, despite not speaking with the client. The Ohio Supreme Court was not thrilled with the performance of legal services by non-attorneys and handed down the hefty fines. Living Trusts (or revocable trusts or inter vivos trusts - all the same) can be an effective estate planning tool . The determination of whether it is an appropriate plan for you should be carefully considered after consultation with an attorney (not a salesman or telemarketer) who is familiar with estate planning. After the trust is established, it is als...

As David Goldman of the Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog recently noted , the IRS has announced that the annual gift tax exemption amount for 2010 will stay at $13,000.00 . This represents the amount that each individual can give to another person without having to either pay any gift tax or file a gift tax return. If you decide to make a gift in excess of the exemption amount, then it is necessary to prepare and file a gift tax return with the IRS. Whether you will have to pay any gift tax on a gift depends on how much you gifted already during your life. For more information on using the valuable estate planning tool of gifts, contact an estate planning attorney.

In a follow-up to a recent post I had on the Iowa Law Blog, Jason Clayworth of the Des Moines Register recently updated the situation concerning a young girl's application for social security benefits as a result of her father's death. A federal judge has overturned the rejection of benefits and thus permits her to receive benefits. The article continues to point out that legislators are examining long overdue updates to the Iowa statute to address these types of situations. The Social Security Administration has until January 11, 2010 to appeal. The complexities that are involved in cases like this are challenging. A recent Probate Section meeting of the Iowa State Bar began to examine some of the issues and an approach to take with this issue. The discussion revealed that there is a split in the probate section as a result of numerous questions and possible approaches. Beyond the basic philosophical question of is this "right", there other other related matt...

A little bit slow on my part in updating my prior post on the Heemstra case , but the Judge in a harshly worded ruling of September 18, 2009 ordered Heemstra to pay $750,000 in punitive damages, another $204,000 in other damages and ordered the sale of land owned by Heemstra and his wife. The judge found that the Heemstras engaged in a "complex shell game" to try and hide and move their assets to prevent Lyon's widow from recovering on her $5.68 million judgment. William Petroski of the Des Moines Register also covered the ruling in an article on the Des Moines Register. The judge found that the family fraudulently transferred their assets (even I called this one) to various family members and entities to produce the perception of a "penniless" defendant in order to avoid payment of the wrongful death judgment. The judgment goes beyond just Rodney Heemstra, and also included certain damages against Heemstra's son, an irrevocable trust, his sister, a limi...