Former NFL quarterback Steve McNair was shot and killed in what police have deemed a murder-suicide on July 4, 2009, apparently at the hand of his mistress.

He left a wife, Mechelle, and four young children (two from a previous relationship), and no will or estate plan.

McNair’s estate is sizeable. He earned more than $90 million in his playing career, not including marketing and endorsement deals. At last inventory, his widow listed his estate assets at around $19.6 million.

Mechelle McNair hired a probate attorney and was granted the legal authority to administer his estate. However, in the probate petition, she listed only herself and her natural children as heirs saying she didn’t have proof that the other two were McNair’s natural children.

McNair was ordered by Mississippi courts to provide child support for the two children, which seems to indicate that Mechelle really had no reason to doubt their parentage. And while it doesn’t appear that Mechelle plans to challenge their claims to the estate, the two children – both of whom have attorneys representing their interests – have not yet filed as beneficiaries.

And most recently, another Mississippi woman has come forward claiming that McNair fathered her 17 year-old daughter.

And these are just the claims from McNair’s heirs and potential heirs. This says nothing of his outstanding debts, one of which may be unpaid rent for an apartment that may have housed a second mistress.

This sad story of his death is further agitated by the fact that this family’s grief and indiscretions must be played out in public.

Even if you are not a celebrity, or weren’t murdered by your mistress, there is no privacy when your assets go through the probate court – not from the media nor from the nosy neighbors next door. Everything is out there for the world to see, your debts, an itemization of each of your assets, and the names and addresses of your heirs.

A good estate plan can avoid this. Just do it.

James D. Perry

The Wall Street Journal reports that there has been an upswing in the sales of cemetery plots. As peoples’ financial situations worsen, they are turning to their assets for the hereafter to pay their bills for the here-and-now.

There is little likelihood that you’d be able to sell your plot directly back to a private cemetery, but municipal cemeteries and brokerages are more easily able to turn them around for resale. There is also the option of unloading the plots on the secondary market. A number of websites aid the direct sale of cemetery real estate. The crypt above Marilyn Monroe recently got bids as high as $4,602,100 on eBay, for example.

However, if you’re going to be buying or selling on the secondary market, I’d like to highlight the precautionary measures advised by the WSJ article.

Sellers need to be sure their cemetery allows them to sell on the secondary market. It’s also worth checking with the cemetery to see if they will in fact buy back the plot.

Buyers should make sure the seller is the owner on record with the cemetery to ease the transfer of ownership. And, check with both the seller and the cemetery to see if ancillary costs, such as headstones or burial services, are included in the purchase price.

If you are thinking about buying or selling a plot, check out this website http://plotexchange.com/.

James D. Perry

Nearly 70 percent of those 65 and older will need some sort of long-term care before they die, and already Americans are spending an estimated $160 billion on long-term care services, such as nursing home stays and in-home care.

Emerging within the health care debate is a national discussion on the cost of long-term care for the elderly and disabled.

A news story out of Miami this week highlighted the plight of Gillian Lloyd who is struggling to continue caring for her aging parents despite the sizable nest egg they put together prior to their retirement.

Her 84-year old mother suffers from Parkinson’s and her 85-year old father has dementia. Their retirement fund of nearly a half-million dollars is almost gone after paying aides for in-home care, and Lloyd doesn’t know where to turn next.

Medicare doe not cover long-term nursing home stays, and Medicaid is unavailable to all but the poorest. With the increasing costs of long-term care on Medicaid, officials say the spending is unsustainable. And yet, the current proposed health care plan in Washington D.C. doesn’t really address long-term care.

The late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s proposal included provisions for Americans to buy long-term care insurance from the government at a minimal cost, but since his death, none of his colleagues have taken up the cause or proposed alternatives, and the Obama administration remains silent on the issue.

As of now, it remains to be seen how Congress will choose to address the issue of long-term care costs, but this is definitely an area of policy to watch.

James D. Perry

My sisters and I celebrated my Dad’s 94th birthday last week.  Although he has lost a few steps, my Dad is still living with his wife in his own home with a  daytime caregiver. 

Last year he had to give up driving, which meant he could no longer deliver Meals-on-Wheels, take day old bread to the homeless shelter, and other volunteer activities that took him out of the house and into the community.   He is mostly house bound now, but still wants to contribute to causes and charities he believes in. 

Like many of my elderly clients, Dad  has often been sucked into direct mail scams and telephone sales scams.  Thinking he will have a great deal more money to send to his charities, he sends the money or unwittingly gives his authorization to his bank to debit his account in response to mail order sweepstakes offers and other promises of riches or worthy causes. 

In recent years, lottery crooks and others have added a new weapon in their rip-off arsenal: They send checks — fake, of course — as advance payments on purported winnings to come. Unsuspecting victims are guided to deposit the seemingly real check and then to wire most of the money to scammers as soon as it shows up in their accounts. When the counterfeit check actually bounces some days later, the victim is on the hook for the money — and often bank fees as well.

In my father’s case, and some of my clients, considerable money is lost before the accounts are closed or payments are stopped.

On this subject, I recommend to you a supurb article in the June 17th Wall Street Journal by Karen Blumethal, “A Family’s Fight to Save and Elder from Scammers”.   I urge anyone with an elderl parent or relative to read this article and do what you can to help.

Noted in the article are several strategies to stop the scammers:

  Sign up cell phones and land lines with Do Not Call Registry
 
  Put a short script by the phone for answering telemarketers such as
  “I’m very busy, I can’t talk now, thank you for your call.”

  Change the victim’s phone number. Consider having mail sent to
  a P.O. Box or other address where so that someone looking out
  for the victim can screen for scams

  Help the victim find activites to fill the time spent  talking to scammers
  and opening mail.

All of these are worth a try…but I’m still the son and he the father.  I try keep his checking account balance pretty small, but taking his phone number away and trumping his selection of worthy causes is tougher love than I have been capable of so far.  

James D. Perry

 Young or old, after the financial devastation of the six months, we have more reasons than ever take a fresh look at our financial and estate plans. Most of us planned for increased financial assets in the future. Very few of us has planned for less money

Those who are retired or plan to be in a few years don’t have a lot of time to sit tight and hope for a recovery.  In light of the steep declines in our fortunes, here are some questions to think about:

“How are you doing financially?” Falling stock prices, lower interest rates and reduced dividends at many stalwart companies may also have sliced retirees’ monthly income.  Besides causing sharp cuts in spending, it is wise now to consider new ways to get income out of existing assets.

Elderly parents may need your help revising their budgets, or they may need to rework their investment mix. Others may need to explore ways to tap their home equity. If that isn’t your strong suit, you may want to help them find a good independent financial adviser.  

From an estate planning point of view, if your assets have been substantially reduced, consider making changes to you estate plans.  As an example, one strategy would be to reduce or eliminate specific cash gifts so that the amount set aside in the will for children isn’t eaten up by the once smaller gifts earmarked for distant relatives, charities or grandchildren. 

Others may need to take a closer look at their children’s current and future needs in making changes to the estate plan.  When one child has lost a good job, or had other financial setbacks, the best approach may not be to leave the entire estate to all children in equal shares.

In these days of financial scandal we all need to be aware of people trying to sell financial products.  Among the possibilities: telemarketing scammers promising sweepstakes and lottery winnings in return for initial payments, and slick salesmen selling seniors products or services they don’t need. Senior citizens particularly need to beware of investments that may sound good — offering regular income or guaranteed returns — but that may be inappropriate for retirees.

Many annuities, for instance, come with steep expenses and “surrender” fees, which prevent the holder from withdrawing their money for several years without a huge penalty, making the funds inaccessible in an emergency.

Adult children should ask their parents that question if anybody is trying to sell them something. If the answer is yes, encourage them to talk with adviser before they buy anything.

James D. Perry

Few Orange County or Los Angeles County seniors or their families are aware of financial benefits that are available to U.S. Military Veterans and their spouses, for non-service connected disabilities.

Veteran’s pensions are available to large numbers of seniors, age 65 years or older who are financially eligible. The VA rules rules actually consider all seniors age 65 and above to be “disabled” for purposes of pension eligibility. Additional criteria can raise the veteran’s pension benefit above the basic independent pension if the veteran is “housebound” or in need of “aid and attendance” for certain activities of daily living.

VA pensions can make a huge difference in the ability of a veteran or widow to afford basic costs of living, in-home caregivers in order to be able to stay at home, or to afford to live in an assisted living facility of his or her choice without using Medi-Cal or Medicaid.

Planning for eligibility for VA benefits is somewhat similar to planning for Medi-Cal long-term care benefits, but in some instances less complicated. A worrisome concern is that the simpler rules for VA pension benefit eligibility may entice seniors or their children or agents to purchase annuities, transfer assets, or carry out transactions that will later cause ineligibility for Medi-Cal.

It is crucial not to preclude Medi-Cal eligibility when applying for VA benefits. Veteran Service Organizations exist to provide no cost assistance to Veterans in preparing and filing applications, but they are not qualified to assist veterans or their families with eligibility planning for Medi-Cal.

Such planning required the guidance and assistance of an experienced Orange County elder Law attorney.

For more information on VA benefits and pensions go to http://www.vba.va.gov/VBA/

James D. Perry

It is pouring rain this morning. I’m taking the day off. Outside I can see goldfish swimming at the top of our little pond, waiting for their daily scattering of yummy fish food.

Fish probably don’t notice when it’s raining. I do notice. I think about how wet I will get feeding them. I weigh the pros and cons of action. I get wet. My fish are happy again, and soon enough I am dry again.

After breakfast I am back in my recliner, basking in the freedom of the President’s day holiday. A little more time to read the paper, do some chores around the house.

I read the NY Times business section. Paul Krugman points out that by now everyone knows the sad tale of Bernard Madoff’s duped investors. They looked at their statements and thought they were rich. Then, one day, they discoved to their horror that their supposed wealth was a figment of someone else’s imagination.

The idea that anyone can pick stocks and beat the market seems suddenly kind of silly. Bernie Madoff was able to deliver steady returns, but we know now how he did it.

It’s a little like my fish in the rain, they think nothing has changed, but their next meal depends on my willingness to dodge raindrops they seemingly don’t see.

A letter to the editor proposes a quick solution to our current crisis, “Why not give every taxpaying citizen 100 grand and tell them to spend it anyway they like?”

I can get behind that. But how about one more little earmark - give an extra grand to anyone who is willing to spend it on legal services. Hey - I have fish that need to be fed.

Happy President’s Day!

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the daughter of a DuPont Company worker is out of luck in her effort to collect his retirement benefits.

The justices, in a unanimous decision, said Kari Kennedy can collect nothing from DuPont because companies are bound by what a worker puts down on forms designating who is to receive retirement and other benefits after his death.

In this case, William Kennedy divorced his wife of 22 years and she waived her rights to the retirement money in their divorce decree. Kari Kennedy said her father wanted her to have the money after his death. But Kennedy never changed his beneficiary on the retirement account, after the divorce was final and the Court ruled that DuPont was right to pay $402,000 to Liv Kennedy, his ex-wife.

Divorce and Estate Planning lawyers are trained to advise their clients to check beneficiaries designations after a divorce, and to contact their retirement plan and annuity administrators to request change of beneficiary forms. Unfortunately many like Mr. Kennedy never get around to following the advice.

This is the time of year when most of us are pulling together our income records to take to the tax preparer. As you fumble through those retirement account statements, and search for records relating to taxes and investments - take an extra moment to think about who you might have named as your beneficiaries on retirement accounts, life insurance and annuities. If need be, call your agent or custodian and ask for a copy of the beneficiary designation.

If there has been a major change in the composition of your family due to birth, death, marriage, divorce or just a change of heart, consider making changes to your estate plan documents and beneficiary designations. Don’t just say your going to do it, do it.

James D. Perry

Wow, the banks have been getting hit hard again in the stock market. It’s hard to believe that you can buy a share of Citigroup and a share of Bank of America for a less than 10 bucks.  I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t give me a lot of comfort with our banking system. Putting what’s left under the mattress is starting to look like a reasonable alternative.

In the short term, the financial bailout plan signed into law in October benefits persons who have trusts, because bank accounts owned by Living Trusts can get more FDIC insurance than accounts owned by individuals. Living Trust accounts get the maximum FDIC insurance for every qualified beneficiary.

Until December 31, 2009, when the financial bail-out package expires, the FDIC now insures “qualifying beneficiaries” for $250,000 each. A qualifying beneficiary is a spouse, child, grandchild, parent, or sibling of the account owner. The account must be owned creators or grantors of the living trust.

Here is how it works:

A single parent in Orange County sets up a living trust naming her two children as the beneficiaries after he or she dies, the bank account owned by the trust is insured up to $500,000: 2 beneficiaries at $250,000 each.

If you and your spouse and I set up a living trust and all three of your children are the beneficiaries after you both die, the trust account is ensured for up to $1,500,000.  $250,000 for each (child) beneficiary and for each owner. (3 beneficiaries x $250,000 x 2 owners = 1,500,000).

These FDIC limits are per bank not per bank account at the same bank.  If a California living trust owner has more than one account at the same bank, these limits apply to all their accounts there.

Be sure and confirm this with your banker in writing and avoid relying on any other informal sources. You can get some help with this handy calculator on the FDIC website.

In an article in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times, Delia Fernandez, a Certified Financial Planner outlined the long term care strategies available to an elderly couple in a decling real estate market.   Ann Marsh, the writer for the LA Times called me for information on the Medi-Cal Rules.  Check out the article if you get a chance.

 A large number of the elderly and disabled persons who receive long term care in nursing homes are eligible to financial assistance in paying the nursing home throught the Medi-Cal program.  As an elder law attorney I assist clients with eligibity for Medi-Cal Long Term Care.  

 Eligible single persons are limited to $2000 in countable assets.  Married couples are allowed to have considerably more assets so the a spouse at home is not impoverished before the ill spouse can qualify for Medi-Cal assitance.  Certain assets are exempt including the family home house, household goods and most personal property, and a car.

James D. Perry