Blog and Upcoming Events

ANNOUNCING: The EASE Plan Emergency Advocacy Support & Education  We all know what an awful experience it is to be sick or injured and need to go to a hospital emergency room, especially when we have no one there with us to make sure we get the attention and care we need.   Our own experiences …

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has revised its Program Operations Manual System (POMS) to allow first-party trusts to pay for travel expenses incurred by non-beneficiaries in limited cases. In addition, the revised POMS clarifies the rule that payment of some administrative expenses upon early termination of the trust or otherwise, including trustee fees, will not …

There are so many programs and services available for people with disabilities that it can make your head spin. Fortunately, the federal government has created a Web site that collects information about a wide variety of state and federal resources in one place. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Disability.gov site is a one-stop source of …

As proud and dedicated members of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), we are helping to recognize and celebrate May as National Elder Law Month.  Along with hundreds of elder law attorneys across the country, our entire firm focuses our practice on the issues of older individuals and individuals with special needs in …

A recent story in the Los Gatos Patch illustrates that elder abuse can occur anywhere, even here in our beautiful little town of Los Gatos in the heart of the highly educated Silicon Valley.  It is a growing problem everywhere.  Certainly, we don’t know why the abuse happened in the particular case that was reported …

Today is National Health Care Decisions Day. All adults can benefit from thinking about what their healthcare choices would be if they are unable to speak for themselves.  These decisions can be written down in an advance directive so that others know what they are. In California we refer to this as an Advance Health …

Medi-Cal is California’s version of the federal Medicaid program that pays for medical and long-term care for patients who meet the eligibility criteria.  In order to get the federal Medicaid funds, a state must set up and operate the program and contribute about half of the funds for it.   Because it is operated by the …

I recently attended and spoke at the 7th Annual Academy of Special Needs Planners in Austin, Texas. Each year that I attend, I come back with more ideas to improve the trusts that I write and to solve problems faced by our trustees and beneficiaries. I have been serving on the Model Trust Drafting Committee …

There is a new telephone scam that is targeting seniors who have Medicare. According to complaints filed with Better Business Bureau offices throughout the country, scammers are calling Medicare recipients and encouraging them to provide  bank account information to receive direct deposits from Medicare. The scammers claim to be working for the government. They say …

While there are lots of advertisements and websites that claim to offer you a free credit report, the only truly free credit report available is from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC recommends that consumers check their credit report at least annually. A Federal Trade Commission study of the U.S. credit reporting industry found …