While it can be very unfortunate to wait too long to apply for Medicaid, possibly losing benefits that might have been available, and possibly losing money that did not need to be spent on care costs that could have been paid by Medicaid if an application had been made at the correct time, it
After a divorce is completed, there is usually still a lot of work to be done.
With blended families, the standard provisions for intestate succession (the distribution of money if you do not have a Will) can produce results that are very different than a person might prefer, or even expect.
Under Oregon law, a divorced spouse will be treated as pre-deceased for purposes of inheritance from their former spouse under a Will that existed before the divorce, in most cases.
Many people do not think they have enough money to need a Will.
Others think they will spend everything before they die.
Sometimes people die unexpectedly, of course, and do not get around to spending their money.
Some people (and even some lawyers) question whether a person can make a Will or an Estate and Incapacity Plan providing for their children before they have any children.
It is perfectly possible, and perfectly simple to do this.
In this new environment of the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, some adjustments may need to be made to a whole range of our lives.
One of the areas where changes may be wise may be parenting.
There may be good reasons for some families to depart temporarily from the existing parenting plan for their children during the Coronavirus/COVID 19 pandemic.
Generally, a parent can structure his or her time during visitation with a child (or during primary parenting time, if the parent is the primary residential parent), without much input from the other parent.
There is some confusion as to how the school closures caused by the Coronavirus/COVID 19 pandemic will affect parenting time.
Many people are worried by the Coronavirus/COVID 19 pandemic, and are limiting their social contacts, and abiding by guidelines for social distancing.
The current health crisis is causing some people to think seriously about creating a Will or a Trust. It is causing others who have been thinking of this to stop putting it off, and to start actually working toward finding a lawyer to work with them on estate and incapacity planning.
It is not uncommon for people who have married late in life, or who are living with a significant other to whom they are not married, to want to protect that other person, and make sure that the other person has a place to live as long as they need it, while also ensuring that their own child
It is not uncommon in a divorce for a couple to agree to a settlement where one former spouse gets the lifetime use of a certain home or investment property, with the understanding that the other former spouse’s children will ultimately receive the real estate.
A question sometimes comes up in estate planning situations where a parent wants to be sure that a child gets a home or some other certain piece of real estate, but does not want to transfer the property immediately.
A life estate is created when someone gives the current rights to real estate to a third party (or retains these rights themselves), while giving the rights to that same piece of property to someone else after the holder of the current rights passes on.
Sometimes a Will is not well thought out.
Sometimes things simply have changed since the Will was written.
It is important to transfer assets into your trust, if you have a trust at least in part because you want to avoid probate.
If you become incompetent (technically, in Oregon, this is called financially incapable) and are unable to handle your finances, someone will have to do this for you.
If a child lives in their parent’s house, and provides a certain level of care for the parent, for at least two years, the parent can give the house to the child without creating a period of Medicaid ineligibility.
In Oregon no one can force any other person or entity to accept a power of attorney.
In many cases, banks refuse to accept a power of attorney.
In order to get divorced in Oregon, one or both spouses must have lived in Oregon for at least six months.
It is not uncommon for couples who are committed and have been living together for some time to buy property together.
This can present problems both while the couple stays together (or when one partner dies), and if the couple ever splits up.
If you have no estate plan and are married and have no children, or if you are married and all of your children are also the children of your spouse, your spouse will inherit everything that passes through your probate.
An estate plan, depending on the complexity, can range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars.
Judgments of Dissolution in Oregon are required to recite the terms of ORS 107.159, which states the court shall include in its order a provision requiring that neither parent may move to a residence more than 60 miles further distant from the other parent without giving the other parent reas
When your Judgment of Dissolution (which used to be called a divorce decree) is final, signed by a judge, and entered into the record, people often think that everything is done.
Often this is not the case.
People are often anxious to avoid estate taxes when they pass on.
Federal estate taxes are no longer a problem for most people, since there is no federal estate tax unless the estate is over $11.2 million dollars.
At one time not too long ago, federal estate taxes (death taxes) started at $600,000.
Many people have or had the potential to have to pay estate taxes if they had savings, retirement accounts, and/or a house, when estate tax was due on amounts over $600,000.
It is only a slight exaggeration to say that federal estate taxes are not a worry for most people unless they have (or control, or have given away) well over eleven million dollars ($11,200,000 to be precise).
Affidavits of Heirship can be used to transfer assets of some kinds when the owner is dead, and there is not going to be a probate or a small estate proceeding.
If no probate or small estate affidavit will be filed, sometimes a car owned by someone who has died can be transferred to the heirs at law by an Affidavit of Heirship available at the DMV.
In many situations, there is little benefit in a race to the courthouse. Sometimes, however, it can make quite a difference who becomes the Personal Representative (executor) in a probate.
In many situations, there is little benefit in a race to the courthouse. Sometimes it can make quite a difference what the status quo is when a divorce begins however. Who lives where, and where the children live, and the like can be important factors to freeze in time with court filings in
It is not uncommon for people to falsely claim to be residents of Oregon.
This has nothing to do with one’s legal status in the USA.
In Oregon, after a Medicaid recipient dies, the Medicaid Estate Recovery Unit, also called the Estate Administration Unit seeks to recover amounts paid for care by Medicaid from the estate of the Medicaid recipient who has just died.
Dear Abby recently (April 17, 2017) contained a letter from a woman who was married, but no longer living with her husband, and who was instead living with a roommate, who her three year old son had looked upon as Daddy for the last nine months.
Probate is the process by which a Will is given effect, and the assets of a person who has died are distributed to his or her heirs and beneficiaries.
A probate will take a minimum of four months, and usually will take at least five months.
Often when a couple first splits up there is a tendency to try to placate the other party.
In another article printed on this website there is a discussion of some of the issues that accompany a change in child support, and an example of how much a small change in parenting time can change child support amounts, and total child support paid over the years.