12201 Merit Drive Suite 230 Dallas, TX 75251 | (214) 720-0102 Fax: (214) 754-0936 | www.dallaselderlawyer.com

Personal Message

Welcome to the March issue of the

Texas Elder Law E-letter

Our next free "Estate Planning Essentials" Workshop is scheduled for Thursday, April 13 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Our “Estate Planning Essentials” Workshop for May is scheduled for Saturday, May 20 from 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon. Please note, the April Workshop is full and has a waiting list. To sign up for the May Workshop or any Bonus Workshop (described below), you may call us at (214) 720-0102 or sign up online at www.dallaselderlawyer.com or click here to register online. There has been a waiting list for the last several Workshops. So, if interested (or you know someone interested), it is probably best to sign up sooner rather than later. It is possible that an additional workshop may be added due to the demand.

Our next Bonus Workshop will be April 18 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 and will be presented by Carol Franzen, who will speak on “Community Resources and Assisting with Difficult Transitions in Life”. Carol Franzen is an Elder Care Consultant/Geriatric Care Manager working in the Dallas area for the past 26 years. Alexandra Soukas Sotiropoulos with Home Helpers will be introducing Ms. Franzen and will briefly share information for this Bonus Workshop. Alexandra specializes in in-home and overnight hospital support care.

We also have a Bonus Workshop on May 18 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. which will be presented by Jerry Hast, a financial advisor with Investing Makes Me Sick. Mr. Hast will be speaking on “Alternative Investing Facts and Fiction”. Jerry Hast has been in the investment/pension fund industry for 37 years.

Michael B. Cohen will be speaking on the topic “How to Deal with the Transition Between VA and Medicaid – Don’t Show me the Money?” at the State Bar’s Advanced Elder Law 2017 conference at the Westin Memorial City Hotel in Houston on April 6, 2017.

Please note the new schedule for Michael B. Cohen’s radio show "Know Your Legal Rights". The program is now on Mondays at 2:00 p.m., Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. and on Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. on KAAM 770 AM. Podcasts of the shows are available on our website at www.dallaselderlawyer.com. If you want a question to be addressed on a future show, please mention the same on our website and we'll try to discuss the relevant topics.


TOP TAX DEDUCTIONS IF YOU ARE OVER 50

1. Home Sale. Often those over 50 have lived in their home a long time resulting in a substantial equity increase.

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WILL TAXES ON HOMESTEADS BE REDUCED FOR SENIORS?

A couple of bills and a proposed constitutional amendment has been made in the Texas legislature to give tax relief for certain seniors and their surviving spouses.

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BIOMARKER RESEARCH GROUP AIMS AT EARLY DETECTION OF VASCULAR DEMENTIA

The National Institute on Aging and scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital are working together to detect and track vascular dementia at an early stage by the use of biomarkers in small blood vessels.

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WILL SECOND-TO-DIE POLICIES BECOME FIRST-TO-DIE WITH ESTATE TAX REPEAL?

Although it is unknown what suggested changes will be made to tax laws in light of the recent failure to overhaul the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), President Trump has often asserted that federal estate tax should be eliminated.

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Trump Delays Rule That Retirement Advisers Put Their Client's Interests Ahead of Their Own

President Trump signed an executive order calling for a review of the fiduciary rule that was intended to prevent financial advisers from steering their clients to bad retirement investments.

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Costs of Some New Long-Term Care Insurance Policies Rise in Latest Survey

A couple who are both age 60 and who purchase new long-term care insurance coverage can expect to pay between 6 and 9 percent more compared to a year ago according to the 2017 Long Term Care Insurance Price Index.

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Is It Better to Use Joint Ownership or a Trust to Pass Down a Home?

When leaving a home to your children, you can avoid probate by using either joint ownership or a revocable trust, but which is the better method?

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