Monthly Archive for April, 2008

Senate Dems Trying to Block Medicaid Regs Proposed By Bush Administration

Published on April 27, 2008 in Medicaid. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Sounds like a turf war to me…

The proposed regulations prevent the states from using federal Medicaid funds to help pay for physician training, place new limits on Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals and nursing homes operated by state and local governments and limit coverage of rehabilitation services for individuals with disabilities and mental illnesses. On Wednesday the House voted 349-62 to approve legislation (HR 5613) that would delay the proposed regs from going into effect for one year, or until April 1, 2009. The vote was 75 more than that needed to override the President’s threatened veto. Can anyone say lame duck?

Delaying the implementation of the rules would cost the federal government about $1.7 billion according to this article in the Washington Times.

The Bush administration says the regulations are necessary to stop states from improperly billing Medicaid for services. HHS spokesperson Kevin Schweers said the House vote “is a victory for budget gimmickry at the expense of U.S. taxpayers,” adding, “The legislation invites states to bill federal taxpayers for what are state responsibilities” (Zhang, Wall Street Journal, 4/24). (see also this Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report.)

Thanks to Professor Dayton for pointing this one out to me.

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Stretching the Charitable IRA Rollover

Published on April 26, 2008 in Estate Planning. 0 Comments

On April 17, Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) introduced a bill to extend certain presently applicable tax laws to December 31, 2009.

The bill includes an increase in the AMT exemption for 2008 to $46,200 for individuals and $69,950 for couples, energy credits and tax extenders. The most notable extension is the Charitable IRA Rollover - IRA owners over age 70½ would be able transfer tax-free up to $100,000 directly to qualified charities.

This comes from Greg Herman-Giddens at the North Carolina Estate Planning Blog who comments:

I only had one client inform me that he did the full $100,000 charitable rollover in 2007, but I am certainly in favor of continuing this benefit. Taking the $100,000 as income and then taking a deduction for the same amount, if possible, is generally not as favorable from a tax standpoint.

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Regulating Crematories?

Published on April 26, 2008 in Estate Planning and Powers of Attorney & Health Care Proxies. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Its not often that industries ask for increased regulation but it sounds like thats what the Cremation Association of North America is advocating. From this story at USA Today:

Currently 12 states — Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia — regulate cremation, at a time when more people are choosing the service, said Mike Nicodemus, chairman of the association’s operator certification program. The rate of people choosing cremation had grown to one in three by the end of 2006, according to the group’s most recent figures.

Nicodemus said the majority of operators are honest, but the dishonest ones hurt the industry and tougher regulations are the only way to root them out. “We know that people with regulation in their state are held to a higher standard,” he said. “The girl that cuts my hair has to jump through more hoops than my crematory operator does,” he added.

So Ohio is not on the list. Ohio just got around to allowing directives that allow one to appoint an agent to carry out your final wishes regarding the disposition of one’s remains and my firm and I are doing more every week. The rise in popularity of cremation is an easily observable phenomenon so regulation probably isn’t too far behind. Thanks Professor!

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As If Brittany Doesn’t Have Enough Problems…

Published on April 26, 2008 in Recent Cases worth noting and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Its not really T&E but its tax related…

Looks like paparazzi aren’t the only people chasing after Brittany these days… According to this story at Access Hollywood the California State Tax Board has put a lien (PDF) on Brittany’s company, Britney On Line Inc., for back taxes owed from 2004 of almost $24,000.

Thanks to Roni Deutch for pointing this out to me… And for visiting Access Hollywood online ’cause I surely wouldn’t have gone there on my own! Roni’s site is one I haven’t linked too recently but I should try to more often. She’s got some great stuff and a is fairly regular poster. Thanks Roni.

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Another Buckingham Associate’s Blog

Published on April 23, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , .

This blogging thing is still relatively new for us lawyers as a medium to share information, so its notable when another associate in my firm starts a new blog. Hans Nilges is an associate in our Canton office practicing in labor and employment law and just started HR Legal Source(.com), which will soon be the resource for human resource professionals looking for Ohio labor and employment law answers.

Hans is new to blogging but he took the manly way to it by hosting it himself (on everyone’s favorite hosting provider) and administering himself as well. Its a great looking site. What is additionally cool about it is what it will become: He has a number of static pages that will serve as FAQs for visiting HR professionals for quick answers to the most commonly asked questions. Not all are up yet but this is a good example… I thought this was a great idea.

Well done Hans!

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Ray Charles’ Estate Is A Mess!

Published on April 21, 2008 in Estate Litigation and Recent Cases worth noting. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

This is Joe Adams as seen while being deposed in late 2004:

Watching the video of his deposition Joe really seems as unhappy as he looks in this picture… But, in his defense, its hard work dodging reasonable questions and generally sounding like a jackass.

Joe is the single executive in charge of the Ray Charles Foundation which, according to this article in the LA Times “has fallen under the scrutiny of the of the California attorney general’s office, which at one point objected to its control by a single executive, without an independent board.” A reasonable objection if you ask me. Mr. Adams is also under the scrutiny of Ray Charles’ children – 10 of them from 10 different mothers. <– that’s not a typo. I guess they didn’t want to highlight that little tidbit in the movie. Anyways…

The children tell the following story:

Shortly before Christmas 2002, Ray Charles called a meeting of his 12 children at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport. Ten of them, ranging in age from 16 to 50 — with 10 mothers among them — listened as their father told them he was mortally ill and outlined what they could expect from his fortune.

Most of Charles’ assets would be left to his charitable foundation. But $500,000 had been placed in trusts for each of the children to be paid out over the next five years, according to people at the meeting and a trust document.

Yet Charles’ description left so much to the imagination that some of the children came away with the impression that he meant to leave them $1 million each. Charles also hinted that there would be more for them “down the line,” which some interpreted to mean they would inherit the right to license his name and likeness for profit.

What is most incredible is that “Trust documents and the only known copy of Charles’ will are silent on the rights to his image[.]” That, is incredible.

Check out the story to read the rest of the sordid details.

Thanks again Professor for brining this one to my attention.

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Recent Medicaid News Roundup… Not Looking Good

Published on April 20, 2008 in SSI/SSDI/Medicare. 0 Comments Tags: .

3 stories from 3 of the best T&E bloggers out there recently caught my eye:

First from Michael J. Keenan and The Connecticut Elder Law Blog comes, Big Problems for Medicare in 11 Years.

It appears that the Medicare program will become unable to pay full benefits starting in 2019, and the same problem will arise for Social Security in 2041 [...], according to the trustees of those programs.

He links to this article in the LA Times about the presidential candidates being silent on the impending Medicaid crisis which means that the likelihood of imminent reformation is rather slim.

Next comes Professor Berry from the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog and his post about the Trustee’s same report. He quotes the following from the Trustee’s press release issued March 26, 2008:

In their annual report, the Medicare Trustees today announced that both the Medicare Hospital Trust Fund and the Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund expenditures are growing faster than the rest of the economy. The Trustees report expenditures were $432 billion in 2007, or 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and are projected to increase to nearly 11 percent of GDP in 75 years.

The Trustees report that Medicare’s Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund will become insolvent earlier in 2019 than reported last year. HI expenditure growth is estimated to average 7.4 percent each year over the next 10 years, a higher rate than either Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or Consumer Price Index (CPI) growth. This year the HI Trust Fund will spend more than its income, and from 2009 through 2017, about $342 billion will need to be transferred from the Federal treasury to cover beneficiaries’ hospital insurance costs.***

Yikes

Finally, David Goldman writes in his Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog about Medicaid Cuts Threaten Nursing Homes in Florida.

This week both the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee and the House Healthcare Council introduced their 2008-09 budgets. The Senate reduced nursing home funding $163 million and the House reduced funding $278 million.

Florida legislators approved landmark elder-care facility reform legislation in 2001 that mandated increased minimum staffing requirements, tougher regulation and quality improvement, and risk management programs. Since then, nursing home quality has steadily improved. Now, Medicaid funding cuts threaten this progress and the vulnerable elderly who have nowhere else to go.

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Faking Your Death

Published on April 19, 2008 in Estate Planning. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Professor Berry has a great (and odd) post about why people fake their own death.

Sometimes people fake their own deaths to escape marriage or criminal prosecution or to collect life insurance. In a recent case, John Darwin escaped financial difficulties and was believed lost at sea. His wife collected on two insurance policies. But five years later, Darwin returned “smelling dreadful” and ultimately was discovered and arrested.***

That “smelling awful” line is great… I don’t know what it means but its just great.

Former congressional candidate Gary Dodds was recently convicted of faking his own death in New Hampshire, with the possible motive of gaining a sympathy vote.***

This stuff is awesome. I love practicing in this area. You can’t make this stuff up!

Thanks Professor.

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“Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” …

Published on April 19, 2008 in Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Trust Administration and Trust Litigation. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

… is the title of this great article in yesterday’s NYT. Dissatisfaction with trustees — particularly corporate trustees rather than individuals — has been growing over the last five years[...].

Most complaints center on investment performance, mostly because beneficiaries have become more financially sophisticated and more types of investments are now available.

So what to do about Trustees and beneficiaries that can’t get along with each other? The article discusses different options from multiple perspectives:

Newer trusts often spell out procedures for firing a trustee. A growing trend is to designate a so-called trust protector — typically, an accountant, a lawyer or a relative — [at BDB we call this a Trust Advisor] with the power to fire a trustee or change the investment manager. But Melvyn H. Bergstein, a partner at the law firm Walder, Hayden & Brogan in Roseland, N.J., said that even if there were provisions for firing, “friction or hostility between a beneficiary and the trustee alone is not enough to warrant removal. It takes essentially misconduct.”

Experts disagree on how difficult it is to win a trustee-dumping case. Mr. Dardaman said that evidence like a log showing a long spate of unreturned phone calls or proof of poor investment returns could convince a judge. But Mr. Kahn said such complaints were not enough. “You have to do something egregious before the court will fire you as a trustee,” he said, like putting trust assets into an investment where the trustee has a personal interest. “The court may simply say you owe some money back to the trust.”

The situation gets very sticky if the beneficiaries disagree among themselves. Trust documents usually require majority or unanimous consent among the beneficiaries to fire a trustee.

Poor service — including high turnover among trust officials and phone calls that are not returned — is another common complaint. “The longer a trust lasts, the more you’re going to have a change in trustee personnel,” said Richard Kahn, a partner in the law firm Day Pitney in Florham Park, N.J., who specializes in trusts and estate planning.

Read the rest of the article here.

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Presidential Candidate’s Ideas On Estate Tax Reform

Published on April 19, 2008 in Estate Planning. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Senator McCain

  • on record as supporting an increase of the estate tax exemption to $5 million,
  • lowering the tax rate to 15% (which is huge),
  • and indexing the exemption amount for inflation.

Senators Clinton & Obama

  • both have proposed essentially freezing the exemption amount ($3.5 million) and tax rate (45%) at their 2009 levels.
  • Neither supports indexing for inflation.

This according to Sara Hansard of Investment News who recently published this piece on the slim remaining chances of the estate tax actually being repealed.

Thanks to Mark Jakubik of The Pennsylvania Estate Planning Blog for originally posting on this.

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