When choosing a beneficiary for a retirement plan, it is important to understand how your spouse will be treated under the plan. Surviving spouses are treated differently under 401(k)s and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). While a 401(k) provides protections for a surviving spouse, an IRA does not. Because the 401(k) is an employee-based retirement system, [...]
Congress has passed and President Obama has signed into law the deal extending the Bush tax cuts that he struck with Congressional Republicans. The legislation restores the estate tax for two years at a 35 percent tax rate, with estates of $5 million or less exempt from paying any tax. If Congress does not change [...]
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has introduced legislation implementing the tax-cut deal that President Obama struck with Congressional Republicans. As expected the legislation restores the estate tax for two years with an exemption of $5 million and a 35 percent tax rates for estates over that amount, but the bill also contains several unexpected [...]
The knowledge that we will eventually die is one of the things that seems to distinguish humans from other living beings. At the same time, no one likes to dwell on the prospect of his or her own death. But if you postpone planning for your demise until it is too late, you run the [...]
Many people incorrectly believe that once someone enters a nursing home, their freedom is over. In fact, nursing home residents have many rights, and it is important to know those rights and to be able to enforce them. Massachusetts nursing home residents’ rights are protected under federal law. In broad terms, nursing homes are required [...]
One of the major concerns for Massachusetts parents or grandparents of children with disabilities is how to provide for their financial future. Here are some legal tips: 1. Buy enough life insurance. A parent is irreplaceable, but someone will have to fill in. In all likelihood, that person or family will have to pay for at [...]
