Roberta Butterfield’s estate brought suit against her nursing home, Chautauqua Guest Home, Inc., after her death in 2019. Butterfield’s estate alleged various omissions on the part of the nursing home throughout her residency. Chautauqua timely answered and a discovery plan was subsequently agreed to. Plaintiffs then failed to serve a certificate of merit affidavit and […]
In our previous newsletter, we examined the Medicaid application process. As a brief refresher, in order to qualify for Medicaid, an individual must meet certain level of care requirements in addition to passing both an income test and a resource test. In this newsletter, we will examine Iowa’s estate recovery law as well as some […]
As COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the State of Iowa, our office has received an increasing number of calls from concerned clients wanting to either have estate planning documents prepared or to update their existing documents. As such, we thought a brief summary of some of the basic estate planning documents might be useful. Powers […]
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, which became effective earlier this year, has made many changes to longstanding retirement rules. As a result, many clients have contacted our office recently with questions regarding how the Act affects their estate planning, if at all. Below is a brief summary of the changes […]
Top row: Maryan De Haan, Rochelle De Bruin, and Christy Witzenburg Bottom row: Jonathan De Reus, Craig Shannon, and Heather Timmins Grefe & Sidney, PLC has two divisions – a trial division and a transactional division. The photograph above is of the attorneys and staff who work in our transactional division. Most of you […]
Winter is not far off and the end of the tax year is quickly approaching. For this reason, charitably-inclined taxpayers having not already done so should begin reviewing the charitable donations they have already made this year in order to determine which charities they would like to continue supporting and how much financial support they […]
Many people view estate planning as essential to ensuring a seamless transition of assets after their death while also seeking to eliminate any added stress or conflict that might arise among remaining family members. One area of planning often overlooked, however, includes designating the person responsible for someone’s final disposition (i.e., the person responsible for […]
When one spouse stays hands-off on the finances, it’s easy to get caught off-guard by a death or illness. Here’s how to get up to speed. By Anne Tergesen Gary Altman, an estate-planning attorney in Rockville, Md., recently had a client turn to her brother-in-law to cover bills after her husband died. The client had […]
Investors may be excited to learn that annual contribution limits to IRAs increased this year for the first time since 2013. Last fall, the IRS announced that beginning in 2019, the annual contribution limit to IRAs would increase to the lesser of one’s earned income for the year or $6,000 ($7,000 for individuals age 50 […]
One of the many changes that went into effect with the tax overhaul earlier this year was the deductibility of interest accruing from home-equity debt. Previously, homeowners could deduct the interest from up to $100,000 of home-equity debt borrowed for any purpose. For example, if you borrowed $20,000 against your home to pay for a […]
