Recent Blog Posts
Veterans With Disabilities Have Several Legal Protections
Serving one’s country sometimes comes at a heavy price. “In recent years, the percentage of veterans who report having service-connected disabilities, i.e., disabilities that were incurred in, or aggravated during, military service, has risen,” according to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. “About 25 percent of recent veterans report having a service-connected disability, as compared… Read More »
Unmarried Couples Face Estate Planning Hurdles
People who choose to live together rather than get married, whatever their reasons, don’t love each other any less. But the law tends to think they do. “Unmarried couples do not have legal protections enjoyed by married couples, such as automatic inheritance rights and the ability to make decisions should a spouse become incapacitated,”… Read More »
Veterans Administration, Finally, Takes Measure To Cut Red Tape
The reaction was pretty universal: What took so long? The recent announcement from the Department of Veterans Affairs that a bit of burdensome annual paper work would be eliminated was greeted with relief. Eligibility Verification Reports will no longer have to be filled out each year. “VA will implement a new process for confirming… Read More »
Trademarking Could Prevent Some GI Bill Scams
The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, which has come to be known as the GI Bill, was intended to offer a heartfelt thanks to the man and women who fought for freedom in World War II by funding their higher education. All too often, it has been used to dupe the very people it… Read More »
It’s Time To Get Veterans Off The ‘Hamster Wheel’
They say that justice delayed is justice denied. The same holds true for the benefits the men and women who served in the military are owed by this country for the sacrifices they made. The unconscionable backlog for the Department of Veterans Affairs to deal with disability claims and compensation amounts to denying those… Read More »
Visits With Aging Parents May Spur Concerns
When the holidays bring families together, sometimes worry is a byproduct of all that warmth. For the adult children of parents getting up there in years, a seasonal gathering might provide something of an unwelcome wake-up call, but one they need to heed nonethless. “Little things you can’t learn in a phone call can… Read More »
When it Comes to Wills: Details, Details, Details
When it comes to deciding who gets what in a will, no detail is too small. That includes silly little knicknacks and items of kitsch that mom and dad may have accumulated over the years, as families sometimes discover to their lasting dismay when no instructions exist on divying such things up among the… Read More »
Women and Estate Planning: A Natural, Necessary Fit
Women control more than half the wealth in the United States, and yet their role in estate planning has traditionally been small to nonexistent. That’s changing, and for more reasons than simply where a majority of the money rests. “Today’s women are a powerful financial force, accumulating, managing, and distributing more wealth than ever… Read More »
Benefits for Veterans Ought to be Automatic
It practically amounts to denying veterans of the benefits they deserve. “More than half of America’s veterans say they have little or no understanding of the benefits due them, despite efforts over recent years to match returning soldiers with the help and services they need,” according to a recent story by Chris Adams of… Read More »
Help Available Finding the Right Nursing Home
Few decisions are more gut-wrenching than having to find a facility in which to place a beloved elderly relative. Nursing Home (Photo credit: LOLren) Unfortunately, many nursing homes and other eldercare operations sometimes offer misleading information and exaggerated claims, about such things as staff training and the kinds of services available. Fortunately, there are… Read More »