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Elder Law

Negative Effect of Florida’s Refusal to Expand Medicaid Health Insurance

By Elder Law, Medicaid Planning

Question: Is Florida losing out because the state government won’t expand Medicaid health insurance under the Affordable Care Act?

Answer: Without getting too political on this hot button topic, the statistics speak for themselves. 1,000,000 Florida residents would benefit from Medicaid expansion in the state. And the inability of low income employees to get private health insurance will cost Florida employers between $145.7 million and $218.6 million in penalties. These penalties on employers would be avoided if these employees were eligible for Medicaid, which they would have been if Florida had expanded Medicaid. This is according to the Orlando Business Journal: http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/print-edition/2013/05/17/how-to-expand-medicaid-save-florida.html?page=all

November 11, 2014
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Babette B. Bach, Esq. to Speak on End of Life Issues at Plymouth Harbor

By Elder Law, Firm News

Babette B. Bach, Esq., will present a program on end of life planning issues to residents of Plymouth Harbor on October 22, 2014.  The program will cover the legal issues that seniors should consider and the documents that are necessary to provide for a person’s wishes with regard to health care.

Bach & Jacobs, P.A. takes a personalized approach to holistically analyze a family’s situation and a client’s wishes.  Contact Bach & Jacobs, P.A. at (941) 906-1231 for an initial consultation.

October 16, 2014
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Alternative funeral/burial options: ‘Green’ Burials

By Elder Law, Estate Planning

Barbara Peters Smith, an excellent journalist in Sarasota, recently wrote a front-page article for the Sarasota Herald Tribune about the growing popularity of ‘green’ burials.  Such burials are an environmentally-friendly alternative to embalming and cremation.  Some land trusts in Florida have established ‘conservation cemeteries’ which provide families the opportunity to have an earth-friendly burial while supporting the conservation of environmentally sensitive land.  Bach & Jacobs, PA often include funeral preferences in the estate planning documents prepared for clients.  If you are interested in including the concept of green burials in your estate plan, contact Bach & Jacobs, PA to speak with attorneys Fred Jacobs and Sean Byrne, who have a background representing land conservation organizations and can provide you information about this option.  You can read Barbara Peters Smith’s article here: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20140906/article/140909768

October 7, 2014
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Beware of paying fees for information you can download for free from Florida County websites

By Elder Law, Tax Law

Question:  A few weeks after having a deed to my residence recorded in the public records, I received a “Recorded Deed Notice” from “Record Transfer Services” in California offering me a copy of my deed and a profile of my property for $83.  Do I need to pay this?  Is this a scam?

Answer:  The short answer is: No, you do not have to pay for these documents and it may be a scam.  In fact, in Sarasota and Manatee counties in Florida, you can obtain the very same information for free by downloading it from the county government websites.   The “notice” you received likely came from a private company.  Such correspondence may be from a private company trying to get you to pay for free public records.  These companies are required to have a disclosure admitting they are not a government agency.  The County Clerks of both Sarasota and Manatee provide electronic copies of deeds recorded in the last 20 years for free download. 

You can search the Sarasota County Clerk’s records here: https://clerkpublicrecords.scgov.net/RealEstate/SearchEntry.aspx and the Manatee County’s Clerk’s records here: http://www.manateeclerk.com/Chips/OfficialRecords/search.aspx

The County Property Appraiser and the County Tax Collector in each of those counties also provides a summary page of information about your property, including the assessed value, tax owed, and legal description—all for free on the agencies’ respective websites. For Sarasota County, the site is: http://www.sc-pa.com/testsearch and Manatee County, it is: http://www.manateepao.com/ManateeFL/search/commonsearch.aspx?mode=parid

October 1, 2014
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Ever Wonder What Happens to a Deceased Person’s Online Accounts After They Pass Away?

By Estate Planning, Probate

Ever wonder what happens to a deceased person’s online accounts after they pass away?

With so many people going ‘paperless’ and communicating online, the Personal Representative of a probate estate may have trouble identifying online accounts and obtaining the digital content in those accounts.  The state of Delaware recently passed a law that gives estate attorneys, executors and other fiduciaries more access to those online accounts after a person passes.  The Wall Street Journal says the Delaware law “could set a national trend” as policy makers “wrestle with how to handle the digital remains people leave behind.”  Florida may become one of the next states with similar legislation—a committee of the Florida Bar has been formed to propose such legislation.

The attorneys at Bach & Jacobs, P.A. make efforts to stay on the cutting edge of new technologies that assist our clients, including the Personal Representatives that we represent.  We recommend all trust and durable power of attorney documents specifically authorize access to this information.   We can also help you identify your digital assets and ensure that they are fully accounted for in your estate planning documents.

You can read the Wall Street Journal article here: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2014/08/20/new-law-expands-access-to-google-facebook-accounts-of-deceased/

August 29, 2014
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What To Do When Your Child Turns 26 While On Your Health Insurance Plan

By Medicare

Q.  My adult daughter and I are covered through my husband’s employer. Our daughter turns 26 this summer, but I thought we couldn’t sign up under the Obamacare Health Insurance Marketplace until open enrollment later this year. What is she supposed to do between her summer birthday and the Obamacare open enrollment in November?

A.   Now that your daughter is turning 26, she will eventually need to get her own plan.  The Affordable Care Act allows her to stay on her parents’ plan only until she is 26.   Here are a few things to do and/or consider:

1. Check with your husband’s employer to find out exactly when your daughter will lose her coverage.  It may be on her birthday this summer or it may be at the end of the plan year.

2. If your daughter wants to stay on your husband’s plan as long as possible, she may be able to extend it for up to 18 months under the federal law known as COBRA. Just know that she would be responsible for paying the entire cost of her premium, which could be expensive.

3  If her own job does not provide health insurance coverage, your daughter can apply for an individual plan using the federal health insurance marketplace.  Because Florida refused to enact its own state insurance marketplace, citizens of Florida have to use the federal site at healthcare.gov.  It doesn’t matter that she’s applying prior to the November “open enrollment period”.  Because she’s losing her coverage under your plan, she’ll be eligible for a special enrollment period.   Note that she may be eligible for premium tax credits to make coverage more affordable if her income is between 100 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level (as of July 2014 the range is $11,490 and $45,960 for a single individual).

If you are an employer or a family looking to apply for health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act and have questions about the tax incentives available, call Bach & Jacobs and make an appointment with Board Certified Tax Lawyer Fred Jacobs by calling (941) 906-1231.

July 29, 2014
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How Does Your State Rank Regarding Long Term Care?

By Long-Term Care

A:  A new study from AARP indicates long term care varies dramatically in cost and quality depending on where a person lives in the United State.  You can find the ‘scorecard’ that ranks all the states based on 26 different variables here: http://www.longtermscorecard.org/ Unfortunately, Florida ranks in the bottom 25% based on the study’s criteria.

All the more reason to have a Board Certified Elder Lawyer advise you about your options.  You can listen to a recent NPR story about the study here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/06/19/323356217/how-your-state-rates-in-terms-of-long-term-care.

To make an appointment with Board Certified Elder Lawyer Babette B. Bach, contact Bach & Jacobs today.

July 25, 2014
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What Happens If An Employer Discontinues Retiree’s Health Insurance Plan?

By Elder Law, Health, Medicare

Kaiser Health News recently answered readers’ questions about the Affordable Care Act and the federal Marketplace exchange, which has caused a lot of confusion for folks.  Here’s an excerpt From: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2014/May/20/Andrews-IYH.aspx?p=1
Q:   I will be retiring this year from my company, before age 65. My company is dropping retiree health care in January, stating that retirees younger than 65 can elect coverage through the exchanges. Will the company be required to offer COBRA starting in January? I fear that coverage will be expensive through the exchanges since we will not be eligible for any subsidies due to my husband’s $200,000 income. He’s self-employed and covered under my company’s health plan.
A:  In general, if an employer discontinues its retiree plan, it’s not required to offer retirees the opportunity to extend their coverage for up to 18 months under the federal law known as COBRA, according to a Treasury Department official. The cancellation of your retiree plan will create a special enrollment opportunity for you to sign up for a plan on the health insurance exchanges. You won’t need the special sign-up period; however, since January is midway through the annual open enrollment period that runs from Nov. 15 through Feb. 15 when people can change plans anyway.
As you note, you won’t be eligible for subsidized coverage on the exchange because your husband’s income exceeds 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($62,920 for a couple next year). But it’s worth checking out plans on the marketplace anyway, says Laurel Lucia, a policy analyst at the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Depending on your health needs, a marketplace plan might be a better fit. “The typical job-based plan resembles a gold or platinum marketplace plan, but on the marketplace they’d have the option of buying silver and bronze level plans as well,” she says. Many individuals find the costs of Marketplace plans are much more affordable than COBRA plan rates.

July 23, 2014
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