Name a Beneficiary to Your Vehicle with a Motor Vehicle TOD Form You can now designate a beneficiary to receive your motor vehicle in Minnesota when you die. The Minnesota Legislature established a Transfer-On-Death (TOD) form so vehicle owners can pass their vehicles onto their loved ones immediately upon death, avoiding probate. The beneficiary can be an…
Medical Assistance: Penalty Period for Gifts During the 5-Year Lookback Period When a person applies for Medical Assistance (Medicaid) in Minnesota, the state looks to any uncompensated transfers (e.g. gifts to family members) during the past 5 years. This is called the “5-year lookback period.” Depending on the amount of the uncompensated transfer, the state…
Minnesota Estate Planning Case: In re Estate of Klie, 2017 WL 541469 (OH Ct. App. 2017) Case Summary: Billing statements are not hearsay under the business records exception In re Estate of Klie, 2017 WL 541469 (OH Ct. App. 2017). The parties were fighting over attorney fees. One of the issues was whether the billing…
Minnesota Estate Planning Case : Estate of Braasch, 140 A.D.3d 1341 (NY Sup. Ct App. 2016) Case Summary: Surcharge denied for making lump sum distribution Estate of Braasch, 140 A.D.3d 1341 (NY Sup. Ct App. 2016). The trustee-executor was surcharged on other matters. But the surcharge for income taxes resulting from a lump sum distribution…
Minnesota Estate Planning Case : Brock v. Premier Trust, Inc., 133 Nev. 8 (NV 2017) Case Summary: Settlor and trust beneficiary can amend an irrevocable trust without consent of all beneficiaries Brock v. Premier Trust, Inc., 133 Nev. 8 (NV 2017). Trust was created to benefit children of both spouses (2nd marriage). After once spouse…
Minnesota Estate Planning Case: In the Matter of the Taylor Trust, 381 P.3d 428 (CO Ct.App. 2016) Case Summary: Beneficiaries could sue for the mother after death for breach of duty In the Matter of the Taylor Trust, 381 P.3d 428 (CO Ct.App. 2016). A second marriage case. Husband and wife created a joint trust…
Minnesota Estate Planning Case : Stehlik v. Rakosnik, 24 Neb.App. 34 (2016). Case Summary: Nephews gifts by POA to himself and relatives with POA was self-dealing and constructive fraud. Stehlik v. Rakosnik, 24 Neb.App. 34 (2016). Shortly after gaining POA the nephew transferred the farm and various cash assets to the POA and the POA’s…
Minnesota Estate Planning Case : In re Guardianship of Spinnie, 2016 Ill.Dec. 319 (IL Ct.App. 2016) Case Summary : Presumption of fraud for gifts to attorney-in-fact can be pushed back. In re Guardianship of Spinnie, 2016 Ill.Dec. 319 (IL Ct.App. 2016). The attorney-infact was named as such in the ward’s poa, but the ward made…
Minnesota Estate Planning Case : In the Matter of the Massie Trust, 2017 WL 218284 (WI Ct.App. 2017) Case Summary : UTC 1004- Trustee-beneficiary acting in bad faith can have fees charged against trustee-beneficiary’s share. In the Matter of the Massie Trust, 2017 WL 218284 (WI Ct.App. 2017). The American Rule on attorney fees applies in…
Summary: State where trust is created is the applicable law for dispositive provisions of a trust. Law of administration is the state where trust is administered. Minnesota Estate Planning Case : Alexander v. UMB Bank, N.A., 497 S.W.3d 323 (MO Ct.App. 2016) Case Summary : Section 107; State where trust is created is the applicable law for…
Minnesota Estate Planning Case : Waterworth v. Ekman, 2016 WL 1175099 Filed March 28, 2016 (Minn.Ct.App. 2016) Case Summary : Real estate option purchase agreement interpreted against the drafter of agreement. Waterworth v. Ekman, 2016 WL 1175099 Filed March 28, 2016 (Minn.Ct.App. 2016). Plaintiff was renting 106 acres from Defendant who was later put under conservatorship. Defendant…
Minnesota Estate Planning Case: Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson v. Gene Rechtzigel (and as PR for Estate of Frank Rechtzigel and as Trustee et al) Filed August 22, 2016, A15-1886. Case Summary : Civil Contempt Order Resulting in Jail Time Was Proper for Party Who Refused Post-Judgment Discovery Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson v. Gene Rechtzigel (and as PR…
Minnesota Estate Planning Case: In re the Estate of Clara Mae Murphy, Deceased, A16-0661 (Minn.Ct.App. January 9, 2017) Case Summary: Constructive Trust Did Not Apply To Cohabitating Partners In re the Estate of Clara Mae Murphy, Deceased, A16-0661 (Minn.Ct.App. January 9, 2017). The decedent and appellant began dating in 1992. They bought a home in joint…
Minnesota Estate Planning Case: In re Estate of: Alice I. Engman, Decedent, A16-0805 Filed January 30, 2017 Case Summary: Undue Influence Need Not Be Proved By All Factors Under The Precedent Of In Re Wilson’s Estate. In re Estate of: Alice I. Engman, Decedent, A16-0805 Filed January 30, 2017. Mother had 3 children. One son died and left…
How other health insurance may affect eligibility for Medical Assistance or MinnesotaCare When applying for health care programs, you must tell us if you have other health insurance or can get health insurance through: A current or former employer Military service Medicare, including Medicare supplement plans Private insurance that you buy, including long-term care and…
This bulletin contains an updated sample notice and current Ombudsman directory for use with the 30 day discharge/transfer notice given a resident prior to involuntary discharge or transfer. (This information supercedes Information Bulletin 92-4.) The sample notice has been revised to identify the Minnesota Disability Law Center as the agency responsible for protection and advocacy…
Question: If a Medicare beneficiary requests hospice care, is the SNF obligated to provide this service? Response: No. The beneficiary has freedom of choice, but it is not an unqualified freedom. A hospice must enter into a written agreement (a contract) with any individual or entity for the services that are to be provided under arrangement….
The Minnesota Department of Health, Health Regulation Division, has experienced a significant increase in requests to lock up all or parts of nursing homes. This increase is in response to providers’ desires to create a more secure area for residents who wander. A locked unit is considered a form of restraint. The facility must request a…
Safety Without Restraints: A New Practice Standard for Safe Care One Daughter’s Story My mother is 88 years old and has dementia. After a severe injury, she moved to a nursing home with a good reputation, one where I felt I could trust the staff to keep Mom safe. The staff did an excellent job…
Nursing facility services under Medical Assistance (MA) are a package of room and board and nursing services. Acute care services such as hospitalization are paid for separately under MA; this is also usually the case for therapy and other ancillary services. In order to be eligible for nursing facility care, an MA enrollee must: be screened…
Forbes puts out a list of the Top 10 Earning Deceased Celebrities each year. These people are earnings millions…or rather their estates are…long after their death. While we don’t all have lucrative music or film contracts that provide for residual income, we can all learn something from these celebrities. With careful estate planning, and smart…
Estate planning attorneys want to assist clients. For this reason, some people may be skeptical when legal professionals advise against the utilization of do-it-yourself estate planning documents. The reason why experienced estate planning attorneys, who have knowledge about the subject, don’t recommend going it alone is because they understand some of the hazards. The above…
It can come as a shock when you find out that Medicare will not pay for an extended stay in a nursing home or a long-term care community. What would you do if you were faced with long-term care expenses during the latter portion of your life? Most senior citizens who are receiving long-term care…
Someone who is mentally impaired, whether from age or infirmity, may start to show signs of needing assistance in their personal affairs. If, for example, your parent or loved one starts leaving food cooking on the stove, getting lost when away from home, forgetting to eat or take their medication, it is probably time to…
When the time comes for you to decide whether someone you love needs someone else to take control of their personal affairs, it helps to understand what a guardianship and conservatorship in Minnesota mean. A guardianship or conservatorship is established through a legal proceeding when the court appoints a person (a conservator or guardian) to…
When you are positioning yourself financially for the future, you are naturally going to have questions about government programs that you have heard about. These would typically include Medicaid and Medicare. Because the names are similar, understanding what each respective program accomplishes can be confusing. With this in mind let’s look at the differences. Medicare…
Ground-Breaking Study Good news, dog owners. Science has confirmed what we have known all along. Dogs are able to understand individual words and intonations much like us. Until this ground-breaking study, scientists thought that humans were the only species capable of separating what was said from how it was said. But after sticking six border collies,…
This is an important question in estate planning because many instruments become active when the person who executed it becomes incapacitated. The reverse is also true. There are many instruments that cannot be created if the person trying to execute the instrument is incapacitated. Determining an individual’s capacity or incapacity can be a very difficult…
David Bowie died on January 10, 2016, just two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar. The last song on the album, “I Can’t Give Everything Away,” seems prophetic both in its title and its initial verse. “I know something is very wrong.” News stories estimate Bowie’s estate at $100 million. His legal…
Imagine that a trust is established with insurance proceeds for the benefit of a minor child Billy after his parents are killed in an accident, with Uncle Theodore as Trustee. Theodore cannot use the insurance proceeds to buy a new boat or to pay of Theodore’s student loan debt. If Theodore violates that rule, what…