Family law solutions for elder law problems that plague some senior couples are becoming very important in Indiana and Illinois. Elder law attorneys are adapting prenuptial agreements, divorces, and legal separation proceedings to protect some nursing home residents’ spouses from financial ruin. This article describes special problems challenging some married folks, and explains how family law tactics can help solve those problems...

A free power of attorney is very much like free firearms, free explosives, and free hazardous chemicals. Each item may be useful when someone uses it properly, but it would be irresponsible to deliver such things to people randomly. This article explains why it is dangerous for people to sign “off-the-shelf” powers of attorney distributed by non-lawyers. ...

A lawyer asked us recently to explain how Indiana Medicaid treats prenuptial agreements. The lawyer’s question referred to our blog comments on the subject in the April 2017 article titled: “Getting married? Get a prenuptial Agreement First!” We figured that our explanation of the matter may be good information for the blog, so we are circling back to the topic. ...

A lawyer asked us recently to explain how Indiana Medicaid treats prenuptial agreements. The lawyer’s question referred to our blog comments on the subject in the April 2017 article titled: “Getting married? Get a prenuptial Agreement First!” We figured that our explanation of the matter may be good information for the blog, so we are circling back to the topic. ...

Hoosier health care advance directive options may improve in 2019. If the Indiana General Assembly passes 2019 House Bill 1516 (HB 1516), the law will upgrade how Hoosiers plan for future health care decisions. This article describes current health care advance directive laws and how the new law may help Indiana health care patients...

People loved personal information record-keeping tips that we shared in a recent seminar. Few people manage their personal business records properly, so this article gives record-keeping tips. Why is Records Organization Important? Many people more rely on memory than on written records, but what good is their memory after they die or suffer a disabling injury or illness? How will family members or friends know where to look for information if you don’t keep and organize important personal business records? In our experience, poor planning often delays big decisions and causes expensive problems.. ...

We attended the recent funeral of the beautiful matriarch of a family that we have known and loved for many years. Our dear friends expressed mixed feelings of loss from the death of their beloved mother and grandmother, and joy because her death released her from a long health decline. Those conversations inspired us reflect on insights from our decades of helping grief-stricken estate, trust, and elder law clients endure painful losses and find healthy normalcy afterward...

Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and other health crises send thousands of people to nursing homes each year. People often want to protect assets from expensive healthcare costs when they discover that the average annual cost of Indiana nursing home care exceeds $71,000. Legitimate asset protection strategies exist, but people face stiff criminal penalties when they try to protect assets illegally...

One of farming's "Holy Grails" is to assemble tracts of farmland that join together as one big block so that the farmer can move from one field to another without having to transport equipment down roads or highways. Such a farmland assemblage saves incredible time, fuel, and equipment maintenance expense, and it allows a farmer to focus all farming activities on crop production and harvest efficiently. ...

Do all families fight about money when their members die? We have all heard stories of feuding families, but in more than two decades of estate and trust practice, the attorneys at Hawkins Law PC have only seen a few families fight openly. Most families experience grief and share inheritance with grace and dignity. We believe that the relatively few fighting families could have avoided many of their problems with simple preventative measures...

The State of Indiana has published that Indiana nursing home care costs an average of more than $71,000 per year. Fortunately, federal law protects most spouses of nursing home residents from impoverishment. Here are some Indiana's spousal impoverishment rule features:...

Did you ever pick up a button that fell off a shirt or a screw that fell out of a piece of furniture, store it in a place that you are sure you would never forget, and later forget the location of that fool-proof storage? Imagine what your family members might experience when they need to find important things when you die or if you require long-term care before your death. ...

We have written articles about estate planning and long-term care for more than a decade to debunk myths and misconceptions that may lead people into unnecessary problems. This article addresses some of those myths and misconceptions about Indiana Medicaid for the elderly...

Celebrity comedian Jeff Foxworthy has developed a series of jokes that begin with the phrase: "You might be a redneck if . . ." If Mr. Foxworthy was a lawyer, perhaps he might adapt that concept to identify some of the circumstances when an attorney's advice and representation might save a person from headache and heartache with a list like this:...

Most people are familiar with corporations. Some people may have encountered a business entity that has existed in Indiana since 1993 called a limited liability company (an "LLC"). Business people have used these entities in Indiana to solve a wide variety of problems, including protection of personal assets from business liability, controlling tax consequences of various business activities, and other purposes...

A report published by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2009, showed that more than 60% of Americans had been married at least once by age 30 and at least 10% of Americans had been divorced by age 30 (https://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/p70-125.pdf). If a "traditional" household includes a husband, his wife, and the children conceived by them and born during their marriage, the census data tells us that many households are not traditional. ...

The US Department of Veterans Affairs (also known as the "VA") expresses some of our nation's respect and gratitude to US military veterans by providing various benefits to veterans, their surviving spouses, and dependent children. Unfortunately, many veterans follow bad advice to pursue the VA's Aid and Attendance benefit to pay home healthcare and assisted-living costs, and unwittingly disqualify themselves for more important benefits in the future...

Young adults have blind spots about life because they were oblivious during their childhood of many decisions that their parents made for them. They never had to worry during childhood about filing income tax returns or whether to have x-rays or stitches because such decisions are "above the pay grade" of children. However, grown-ups must make their own decisions if possible. But what happens when it is not possible?...

All of our ancestors conducted business by paying with cash. When we were younger, our parents told us that it was irresponsible to live without carrying substantial amounts of cash. Those beliefs may have been valid in the past, but doing business without keeping a paper trail creates costly problems. ...

Congress changes federal tax law almost every year. Some changes are very dramatic, and other changes are so subtle that tax lawyers must scour them to find the nuances. Federal tax law changes for the 2015 tax year (affecting income tax returns filed in 2016) fall in the modest category, but it helps taxpayers to know what to expect...