The existing office of Mann Legal Group, at 15 E. Nelson Street, Lexington, VA

The Mann Legal Group, PLLC will be merging with Collins & Hepler, PLC.  The new firm will retain the name Collins & Hepler, PLC, with Larry Mann remaining Of Counsel to provide legal services and advice on an ongoing basis as needed. They anticipate the merger to be beneficial for prospective and current clients.
 
Mann and Hepler feel that the merger seemed a natural fit, since both offices focus primarily on estate planning and real estate matters.   Hepler also practices elder law, which is a helpful adjunct to any estate planning practice, and Mann’s office is equipped to handle any type of real estate closing, so the merger complements and enhances the services provided to the clients of both firms. 
 
Hepler states: “Larry and I both take a client-needs focused approach to our practices, and we are similar in our values.  I believe that the merger will be highly beneficial to the clients of both firms, and I am looking forward to working with Larry and his staff.  Legal assistants Julie Crowder and Michelle Webb have worked with Larry for a very long time and have a wealth of knowledge and experience, particularly in the areas of estate administration and real estate closings.  I am very excited about this merger and the opportunity to work closely with them in the service of our clients.” 
 
The newly merged firm will be located in the existing offices of the Mann Legal Group, at 15 E. Nelson Street.   The firm will retain the Mann Group’s phone number, (540) 463-7119 as well as the Collins & Hepler number, (540) 962-6181.  Please reach out to us if you have any questions or need legal assistance. An open house date and time will be announced in the near future. 

With the increased coverage of artificial intelligence (AI) and all of the applications it can have in our everyday lives, some people may wonder whether an AI program can create an estate plan for them. While AI may be able to generate basic estate planning documents, including wills and trusts, there is no guarantee that they will be valid and enforceable. Providing accurate information and executing the documents in compliance with your state's laws is critical. Otherwise, your documents will not work as intended. Most people do not have the legal knowledge necessary to determine what clauses and language should be included in a will or trust to accomplish estate planning goals. They also are not familiar with state laws or how to comply with them. This is why people rely on experienced attorneys to prepare the necessary documents to carry out their wishes.
Some state laws are complex and hard to understand, and you may not know enough specifics to offer the correct information about your situation or verify that AI has properly generated or created your will or trust. Additionally, your final documents may contain wording, formatting, and grammatical errors that make them unenforceable. To review them carefully, you have to know what to look for, which often requires that you possess a certain level of legal education and knowledge. The AI program does not understand your situation and will not help you solve a complex legal issue unless you can provide additional information. Even then, you should be cautious and ask yourself the following questions:

• How well do I understand my options for protecting my money, property, family, or business if I have a medical emergency and after death?
• Do I have a complex financial situation with large amounts of property, income, or debt?
• Is my family structure complicated (family dynamics leading to questions about property or disinheritance)?
• Am I undecided about my wishes (how to divide my money and property or what to include in an advance directive)?

Ease and Convenience versus Legal ExpertiseOnline estate planning programs that use artificial intelligence are designed to streamline or automate the process, making it more accessible and cost-effective for those on a tight budget. While they may provide convenience and accessibility, they provide limited guidance, and they do not offer the same level of customization, legal expertise, and personalization that an experienced estate planning attorney can provide.
You must carefully consider your needs and circumstances before choosing a reputable online estate planning program, such as one of the following:

• Quicken WillMaker & Trust
• Trust & Will
• LegalZoom
• Rocket Lawyer
• U.S. Legal Wills

Each program requires you to answer a series of questions in an attempt to tailor various legal documents, such as wills, trusts, advance directives, powers of attorney, and other estate planning documents, based on the information you provide. You may have trouble providing accurate and specific answers for several reasons:

• Legal knowledge. Crafting precise answers to estate planning questions requires familiarity with legal terms, their context, and how they should be structured in a legal document.
• Clear intentions. Vague or ambiguous answers can lead to inaccurate, incorrect, or inadequate documents for your situation.
• Complex legal requirements. Legal documents must adhere to specific formatting, contain specific language, and comply with legal requirements that vary by state and are not always straightforward.
• Legal consequences. Certain instructions or clauses within a document require predicting and avoiding potential legal issues; being unaware of the risks has adverse legal consequences.
• Omission and oversight. You may overlook critical details or legal considerations necessary to achieve your estate planning goals, resulting in incomplete or ineffective documents.

If you do not understand which estate planning strategies should be implemented to address your unique situation, how can you ensure that the software is creating the appropriate documents for your needs? Legal professionals have the necessary expertise and training to ensure that your concerns are addressed and can implement an adequate estate plan so that your wishes can be legally carried out.
Situations Requiring More Than a Basic WillWhile a basic online will may be a viable option for some, an experienced attorney is helpful in the following circumstances.
Blended Families
If you have remarried and have children from a previous relationship, you must create a will or trust that ensures that your money and property are distributed in a way that considers both your new spouse and children from the prior relationship. You may have to make some complex decisions, which may be difficult to evaluate without legal advice.
Special Needs Planning
If you are a family with a dependent child or an adult with special needs, you may want to establish a special needs trust to provide for the ongoing care and financial support of your loved one while still maintaining their eligibility for government assistance programs. This requires a custom strategy to consider your options and ensure that your trust is legally compliant in your state to accomplish your goals.
Estate Tax Planning
If you are an individual with a large estate potentially subject to estate taxes, you will want to understand the latest tax-saving strategies, such as gifting, trusts, or other legal tools to minimize estate tax liabilities and preserve a greater legacy for heirs.
Business Succession
If you are a business owner looking to pass your business on to the next generation or sell it upon retirement, you will need a comprehensive plan that effectively addresses the shift in ownership, management, and business property for a smooth and successful transition.
Multistate or International Property and Heirs
If you have real property in different states, heirs may be subject to estate administration processes across multiple jurisdictions, which will require consideration of different state laws and potential tax implications. Having property and heirs in other countries creates even more complexity.
Asset Protection
If you have concerns about potential creditors coming after your hard-earned money while you are alive or creditors or ex-spouses taking the inheritance of your beneficiaries (spouse, children, loved ones, etc.) after your death, you will need an estate plan that has been specifically crafted to protect your life savings from potential creditor claims and legal challenges. This plan will need to contain specialized provisions and must be created in a manner that complies with the law to ensure that it is legally valid and not a fraudulent transfer.
Charitable Planning
If you want to include charitable giving as part of your estate plan, it may require establishing charitable trusts, foundations, or other organizations to support specific philanthropic causes while maximizing tax benefits. Each organization will have rules regarding gifts that you must follow to avoid negative consequences.
An estate planning attorney can address the unique needs and goals of you and your family. They will educate you about your situation and allow you to make informed decisions.
Errors That Make Online Documents UnenforceableEstate planning attorneys help you avoid the following common mistakes in online documents that could make them unenforceable, require a court to interpret them, or lead to fighting among your loved ones:

• Ambiguity in wording. Ambiguity can lead to disputes and legal battles among potential heirs. Example: a will stating "I leave my property to my children" without specifying which children by name
• Improper use of legal terms. Misusing legal terms like property, beneficiary, or per stirpes can lead to confusion or incorrect interpretation of your intent.
• Incorrect names or identities. Misspelling the full name of a beneficiary or heir or using a previous name after a legal name change makes it challenging to identify the intended recipient.
• Inconsistent terminology. Using different terms to refer to the same asset (e.g., house, residence, property) may create confusion about what is being inherited.
• Improper witnessing and notarization. Failing to properly witness or notarize a will and other legal documents according to state laws can render them invalid and unenforceable.
• Lack of clarity in distribution. Vague instructions regarding who will receive your accounts and property or how they will receive them, such as "divide my estate fairly among my children," may cause disputes if there is no clear definition of terms like fairly.
• Failure to address contingencies. Not accounting for contingencies, such as what to do if a beneficiary predeceases you, can leave money and property without designated recipients, subjecting it to your state law.
• Inadequate powers of attorney. Failing to grant adequate powers of attorney, such as financial or medical decision-making authority, creates complications in managing affairs during incapacity and with advance directives at the end of your life. This could require your loved ones to get a court involved, which is what the powers of attorney were meant to avoid.
• Conflicting instructions. Providing contradictory instructions within a single document or across several documents leads to uncertainty about your intentions.

There are many considerations and potential scenarios that should be included in your estate plan. Online legal programs cannot adequately address unique situations or additional estate planning details, exposing you to unnecessary risks.

Experienced estate planning attorneys play a vital role in designing and reviewing state-specific forms that address your family's needs as well as ensuring that your wishes are met while preventing disputes in the estate administration process.

If you wish to use artificial intelligence estate planning programs, they can be used as an outline to begin the process. Take this information to an estate planning attorney, such as Ms. Hepler, to review and address the many situations you may not have considered regarding your unique family dynamics and financial circumstances. If you are ready to create a legally enforceable, customized estate plan, please give our office a call to schedule an appointment with Ms. Hepler at (540) 962-6181.

Will the nursing home take away my home?  Will the state take my money?
​
These are common questions people have when seeking advice on elder care issues. These questions result from misconceptions about paying for nursing home care. The “government” or “the state” never takes your assets to pay for your nursing home care costs. Nor will a “nursing home” seize your assets to pay for its bills.
 
What actually happens is that Medicaid, the governmental program that pays for nursing home care, will not pay for your care unless you complete any necessary “spend downs,” which may include selling your home and using those proceeds and other assets to pay for your care before you can qualify for Medicaid assistance. 
 
Even though your assets will not just be taken away, the high cost of nursing homes is still concerning.  According to Genworth Financial’s 2021 Cost of Care survey (the most recent data available), the median monthly cost of skilled nursing in a private room at a nursing home will set you back $108,405 per year. The cost of this care is understandably a worry for many seniors.
 
How do you pay for this astronomical cost to reside in a nursing home?  Normally the cost is paid in one of three ways:
 
1)    If you qualify for Medicaid, payment of a portion or all of the nursing home costs will come from government funds.  
2)    If your asset level does not allow you to qualify for Medicaid, the cost is paid by your own resources.
3)    If you have long term care insurance, that insurance will pay for a portion or all of the cost for the term of the policy.
 
No one “takes” assets from you; the nursing home simply requires payment for its services if you intend to reside in the nursing home.  The notion of assets being seized by the state or a nursing home is only one of several misconceptions about paying for long-term care (LTC). 
 
Everyone’s situation is different; determining the best way to pay for the cost of LTC can include a complex analysis and result in multiple options.  Certainly, the solution is not to allow the fear caused by misconceptions about paying for LTC to prevent you from becoming fully informed.  It is better to act now if you wish to take full advantage of the options available to plan for the risk of LTC.
 
At Collins & Hepler, PLC, we assist clients at all stages of the process of planning for and dealing with long-term care and other end-of-life issues.  Proper planning has saved some of our clients thousands, and in some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Clients who wait to seek assistance at the point when nursing home care is required have, in many instances, already lost some of the options that would have been available had they sought advice earlier, although it is never too late to try to save assets, even if you or your loved one is already residing in a nursing home.  To learn more, contact our office at (540) 962-6181 and schedule an appointment with Jeanne Hepler, who was named one of Virginia's "Go To" Lawyers for Elder Law by the Virginia Lawyers Weekly.

News from the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA):  Enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans has grown substantially in the past few decades, enticing more than half of all eligible people, primarily those 65 or older, with low premium costs and perks like dental and vision insurance. However, as the private plans’ share of the Medicare patient pie has ballooned to 30.8 million people, so too have concerns about the insurers’ aggressive sales tactics and misleading coverage claims.
 
Enrollees who sign on when they are healthy can find themselves trapped as they grow older and sicker. “It’s one of those things that people might like them on the front end because of their low to zero premiums and if they are getting a couple of these extra benefits — the vision, dental, that kind of thing,” said Christine Huberty, a lead benefit specialist supervising attorney for the Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources. “But it’s when they actually need to use it for these bigger issues,” Huberty said, “that’s when people realize, ‘Oh no, this isn’t going to help me at all.’”
 
Medicare pays private insurers a fixed amount per Medicare Advantage enrollee and, in many cases, also pays out bonuses, which the insurers can use to provide supplemental benefits. Huberty said those extra benefits work as an incentive to “get people to join the plan” but that the plans then “restrict the access to so many services and coverage for the bigger stuff.”
 
David Meyers, assistant professor of health services, policy, and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health, analyzed a decade of Medicare Advantage enrollment and found that about 50 percent of the beneficiaries — rural and urban — left their contract by the end of five years. Most of those enrollees switched to another Medicare Advantage plan rather than traditional Medicare. In the study, Meyers and his co-authors muse that switching plans could be a positive sign of a free marketplace but that it could also signal “unmeasured discontent” with Medicare Advantage.

 

SOURCE/MORE: Click This Link 

 

     The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), signed into law by President Biden on August 16, 2023, is already providing cost savings for Medicare beneficiaries in 2023, including a monthly cap of $35 for covered insulin and free vaccines for certain conditions.  In January 2024, even more beneficial changes are starting.  As noted on the www.medicare.gov website:
​

• If you have drug costs high enough to reach the catastrophic coverage phase in your Medicare drug coverage, you won’t have to pay a copayment or coinsurance, starting in 2024.  (Note that according to KFF, this provision will effectively cap out-of-pocket costs at approximately $3,250 in 2024)
• Extra Help affording prescription drug coverage (the Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) program) will expand to cover more drug costs for people with limited resources who earn less than 150% of the federal poverty level, starting in 2024. People who qualify for Extra Help generally will pay no more than $4.50 for each generic drug and $11.20 for each brand-name drug.

     In addition, the drug price negotiation program created by the IRA allows Medicare to use its bargaining power to negotiate the prices of prescription drugs for the first time.  

     The pattern of lowered cost continues in 2025, when the annual Part D out-of-pocket cap will be decreased to $2,000.  Individuals will also have the option to pay out-of-pocket costs in monthly amounts over the plan year, instead of when they happen.
 

SOURCE/MORE: CENTER FOR MEDICARE ADVOCACY>>

The Administration for Community Living (ACL)’s Eldercare Locator and Disability Information & Access Line (DIAL) are trusted resources that help connect older adults and people with disabilities with resources in their community. In recent days, Eldercare Locator has noted a significant increase in people reporting they have been targeted by scam phone calls. This includes reports of callers claiming to be from “Eldercare,” “Eldercare Locator,” “Social Security,” or “Medicare”; callers asking for personal information such as someone's Social Security number, banking information, or Medicare number; and callers demanding payment, threatening jail time, or fines.
 
Here are some important reminders:

1. The government will never call out of the blue and ask for a Social Security number.
2. The government will never ask for payment by gift card or wire transfer.
3. Social Security numbers cannot be suspended.

These general tips can also help everyone protect themselves:

• If you are ever suspicious about a call, hang up immediately. Find the organization’s contact information on your own (don’t use caller ID), and call or email them directly to discuss the situation.
• Never give out your Social Security number, banking information, or Medicare number to anyone who contacts you through unsolicited calls, texts, or emails.
• Never pay someone you do not know well via gift card or wire transfer.
• Never click on an email link or attachment, unless you fully trust the sender.
• Sign up for the National Do Not Call Registry.

 
Older adults who are targeted by scams and fraud can call the Department of Justice’s National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). In addition, scams and fraud targeting people of any age can be reported to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or visiting reportfraud.ftc.gov.

 

SOURCE/MORE: ADMINISTRATION FOR COMMUNITY LIVING>>

Most attorneys will recommend separate trusts for couples in separate-property states such as Virginia (as opposed to community property states such as California), although there are a few reasons why couples may want to consider joint trusts.
 
 
Reasons to Choose a Joint Trust Over a Separate Trusts in a Separate Property State
 
 
Joint trusts are consistent with clients’ view of marital assets
 
Many spouses see a joint trust as more consistent with their views of marital property. Instead of treating each asset as “his” or “hers,” all assets are viewed as “ours” by virtue of their inclusion in a single joint trust. This allows clients to avoid the sometimes-contentious process of deciding how marital assets should be divided to fund separate trusts.
 
 
Joint trusts involve the creation of only one trust instrument, which may save attorneys’ fees
 
Clients often view joint trusts as a cheaper alternative to a two-trust estate plan. Whether this will be true depends on the estate planning attorney’s fee structure. Drafting a joint trust can—in some circumstances—be a more time-intensive undertaking than drafting two separate trusts, and many attorneys charge accordingly. Regardless of whether the attorney actually charges less for a joint trust, many clients believe that the fees should be less because the attorney is only preparing one document instead of two.
 
 
Ease of administration during lifetime
 
If both spouses are bringing relatively the same amount of assets into the marriage and don’t have significant issues with creditors to worry about, a joint revocable living trust would be the easiest solution during their lifetimes.  Creating a joint trust may save time and costs to set up and fund as they are typically more straightforward than setting up separate trusts. You may also save extra steps when it’s tax time each year by not having to have an individual tax return for your spouse’s trust and yours.
 
 
Reasons to Choose a Separate Trust Over a Joint Trusts in a Separate Property State
 
 
 
In separate-property states, separate trusts will often be the better choice for married couples with a sweetheart estate plan (at the death of the first spouse, all is left to the surviving spouse, then to the children at the death of the surviving spouse). The benefits of enhanced asset protection, ease of administration, and greater flexibility usually outweigh the psychological benefit of a joint trust.
 
 
 
Enhanced asset protection
 
As a general rule, assets held in a revocable trust are subject to creditor claims of the trust maker(s). Although this is true for both separate trusts and joint trusts, joint trusts have a disadvantage in that they keep all assets in the same trust. If a creditor obtains a judgment over either spouse, all assets in the joint trust are at risk for attachment by the creditor.
 
With separate trusts, each spouse’s assets are segregated into a trust for that spouse. If only one spouse becomes subject to a judgment, only the assets held by that spouse are at risk. The assets of the innocent spouse—which are held in a separate trust—are generally out of reach of the creditors of the spouse being sued. This means that separate trusts provide greater asset protection benefits over joint trusts in situations where only one spouse is liable to a creditor.
 
In addition to asset protection during the grantor’s life, assets in a separate trust are even more protected after the grantor of the separate trust dies. At that time, the trust becomes irrevocable, making it even more difficult for other beneficiaries or the surviving spouse’s creditors to reach the property held in the now-irrevocable trust.
 
Asset protection may be of special interest to doctors and other professionals at high risk of being sued for professional malpractice, who may benefit from the added asset protection afforded by separate trusts. 
 
 
 
Ease of administration at death
 
One of the main problems with joint trusts is the inability to trace assets after one spouse’s death. As assets in a joint trust are bought and sold over time, it can become difficult to identify which assets are treated as belonging to which spouse. In community-property states, it can also become difficult to determine which assets are joint or community property and which are separate property.
 
This process frequently requires careful valuation of the property in the trust as well as executing new deeds for real property, retitling stock certificates, or establishing separate investment accounts to hold the deceased spouse’s separate property.
 
Tracing is especially difficult when joint trusts divide into separate trusts after the first spouse’s death. This requires the surviving spouse to itemize and value the assets that belong in each component after the first spouse’s death. Experience has shown that many surviving spouses simply do not go through this process, resulting in a commingling of assets that is impossible to unwind later.
 
Tracing can be important for both tax and non-tax purposes. For tax purposes, it is important to understand which assets are treated as belonging to the deceased spouse. This can have implications for both basis step-up and federal estate tax purposes. Similarly, if the spouses have different planning objectives, a commingling of assets or failure to separate the estate into separate trusts at death can alter the client’s non-tax estate plan.
 
Many of these issues can be avoided with separate trusts. With separate trusts, each spouse is treated as the owner of the assets titled in that spouse’s trust. Any changes in value or sales or purchases of assets are clearly delineated, regardless of whether they occur before or after the spouse’s death. This makes it much easier to identify the original ownership of the assets and the tax consequences that occur both before and after each spouse’s death.  Trust administration after the death of the first spouse can be very simple and straightforward. The only tasks may be notifying the financial institutions of the grantor’s death and providing them with the trust’s new tax identification number in order to properly report tax issues going forward.
 
 
 
Flexibility and protection after death
 
Many joint trusts become irrevocable upon the death of the first spouse. Many clients are concerned that the spouse could remarry or favor one child over another. The purpose of irrevocability is to provide the first spouse with assurance that his or her estate planning objectives are ultimately achieved.
 
This assurance comes at the cost of lack of flexibility. If there are changes in the law, finances, or family dynamics after the first spouse’s death, joint trusts that have become irrevocable do not allow the surviving spouse to adjust the estate plan to accommodate these changes. Separate trusts, on the other hand, preserve the ability of the surviving spouse to alter, amend, or revoke the assets held in the surviving spouse’s trust.
 
At the death of a spouse, separate trusts are generally set up to allow the trust assets to be used as needed to support the surviving spouse under the “HEMS” standard (Health, Education, Maintenance and Support), but do not allow the surviving spouse to withdraw trust assets beyond the HEMS standard or redirect the assets of the trust.  However, the surviving spouse still has full control over the assets in their own separate trust. 
 
By comparison, a joint trust may be set up in one of three ways:
 

1. After the death of one spouse, the surviving spouse has complete control over the trust assets, and may amend or revoke the trust at any time; OR
2. After the death of one spouse, the surviving spouse has limited control over the trust assets, including the separate assets of the surviving spouse within the trust, with no ability to amend or revoke the trust (in other words, the surviving spouse cannot access any of the trust assets other than for their needs); OR
3. If a Joint Pour-Over Trust is used, then after the death of one spouse, the separate assets of the trust and one-half the joint or community assets are poured into separate Revocable Living Trusts which were previously drafted for each spouse.  This plan requires the drafting of three trusts, but allows the ease of use of a joint trust while both spouses are alive but the control of assets after death that separate trusts allow. 

 
If separate trusts are used, rather than a joint trust, it is possible protect the deceased spouse’s trust assets from being redirected to a new spouse or new children should the surviving spouse remarry, and thus prevents the surviving spouse from disrupting the deceased spouse’s estate plan with regard to the deceased spouse’s assets, without limiting the surviving spouse’s control over their own separate assets in their own trust. 
 
 
 
Remarriage and Blended Family Benefits
 
Couples who have been married before or who have children from another relationship may also benefit from using separate trusts. This is particularly true when each spouse has property or inheritance that they would like to keep separate for certain reasons.
 
For example, perhaps a newly married spouse has inherited their parents’ home and the couple would like to live there, but the new spouse wants to make sure the family home stays in their own family and passes only to their own children at their death.
 
In addition to a prenuptial agreement, keeping the house in a separate trust would allow this spouse to specify exactly how that home should be used and passed on when they die. Using a joint trust to achieve the same result requires much more careful drafting and introduces a much greater potential for confusion and mistakes in administering the trust after the death of the spouse who owns the house.
 

 
Cutting-edge research shows that a basic finger-prick blood test may help detect and diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. The findings were recently presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2023 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Like simple finger-prick testing commonly used for diabetes, this new advancement may soon be the most accurate way to identify Alzheimer’s disease.  It would be a medical game-changer should these new blood tests be able to accurately diagnose Alzheimer’s disease.
 
Alzheimer’s disease, as defined by the Alzheimer’s Association, is a type of brain disease caused by damage to nerve cells (neurons) in the brain.  The brain’s neurons are essential to thinking, walking, talking, and all human activity.  About 6.5 million people in the United States (age 65 and older) live with Alzheimer’s disease, according to Mayo Clinic statistics. Since this disease worsens over time, early detection is crucial.
 
These findings are timely and important with the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration approvals of Alzheimer’s treatments targeting amyloid-beta where confirmation of amyloid buildup and biomarker monitoring are required to receive treatment,” said Maria C. Carrillo, Ph.D., Alzheimer’s Association chief science officer. “Blood tests — once verified and approved — would offer a quick, noninvasive, and cost-effective option.”
 
Before this new possibility of detection through a finger prick blood test, there’s been no single test to determine if a person is living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia. Presently, says the Alzheimer’s Association, medical experts rely on various diagnostic tools combined with medical history and other information. 
 
These blood tests could be available for both at-home use and in office use at a medical facility.



SOURCE/MORE: AMERIDISABILITY>>