Tag: Malama Kupuna

  • Who Should Think About Medicaid?

    An unpleasant fact of life is the prospect of needing long-term care someday. Statistics tell us that 70 percent of Americans will need long-term care for some period of time before death. So it is not just possible, but very likely that you or someone close to you will need long-term care. In Hawai‘i, the…

  • First Things First

    You may have heard the old joke, “where there’s a will… I want to be in it.” That may be true, but effective estate planning covers much more than just “who gets my stuff.” When you sift through your own reasons for doing estate planning, you may find that naming who gets your stuff takes…

  • Be Giving While You’re Living

    Kingdom Advisors founder Ron Blue takes an interesting approach to estate planning. He advocates lifetime giving as a way to assure that the objects of your bounty are worthy recipients of your wealth. This could play out a couple of different ways. As Blue points out, there are three places your “stuff” can go after…

  • ‘Tis The Season: Think Charitable Giving

    The giving season is upon us as 2014 comes to a close. Charitable donations are an important way of giving back to our community. If you are eager to give back or help out, just how do you decide how much to give and through whom? For those wishing to exercise wise stewardship, these issues…

  • Clarke v. Rameker and Your IRA

    In Clark v. Rameker, decided on June 12, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court boldly went where it has seldom gone before. It waded into the estate planning world and decided that the creditor protection rules that generally apply to IRAs do not apply to inherited IRAs. The Federal law that governs retirement plans, known as…

  • Qualifying for Medicaid is Unpatriotic?

    Some people question whether Medicaid planning might be unpatriotic. After all, Medicaid is a “welfare” benefit funded by our tax dollars. Is it “wrong” to put yourself in the position to have the taxpayers pay for your long-term care? Let us begin by considering what it means to be a taxpayer. Everyone knows that it…

  • Hazardous Internet Documents

    You have seen the commercials. You have heard the radio ads. But before you go to a website to have your estate plan constructed by a computer program, be sure to ask yourself this: You may not have as large an estate as Mr. Fancyshmancylawyer or Mr. Radiobucks, but everything you own is everything you…

  • Legal: Do You Have Four-Legged Children?

    While I was growing up, we almost always had a dog (or two) in the house, and they always became treasured family members. You may have had the same experience, and you would not be alone if you have pets today that you consider to be your “children.” I know people who claim to prefer…

  • Secret Money for Senior Veterans

    Many Veterans believe that they have to have suffered an in-service disability to qualify for monetary benefits from the Veterans Administration. This is a common misconception. Depending on health, income and assets, many senior Veterans (and their dependent or surviving spouses) can qualify for not only basic “Improved Pensions” based on low income, but also…

  • They Are Out to Get You!

    There are several scams targeting our kupuna that you need to know about. Scam 1: The first is a nationwide scheme where new real estate owners and individuals who have recently transferred their homes into their revocable living trusts receive letters from a company calling itself “Property Transfer Services.” The letters warn the recipients of…