Q&A Panel with Heather, Laura, and Kim
https://youtu.be/QfFvBczhZD4 Hello clients and friends, Thanks so much for joining the Q&A Panel with Heather, Laura, and Kim. We’ve really enjoyed hosting this series over the past few months. When we initially dreamed it up, we imagined small groups, snacks and coffee. Of course, our plans had to change, but going virtual allowed us to connect with even more folks. Thanks so much for taking the time to join one [...]
End-of-Life Care Decision Making
End-of-Life Care Decision Making End-of-life care decisions all too often fall to family members—spouses, kids or other loved ones who find themselves making critical choices with little information to go on. End-of-life care plans are meant to offer guidance in these situations and avoid expensive, prolonged care. They take much of the pressure off of loved ones, putting wishes regarding treatment, interventions and palliative care in writing. Creating an [...]
Probate with Heather Nadler
https://youtu.be/BNu9lg5EExc Hello clients and friends, Thanks so much for joining Heather Nadler's discussion on probate. We hope the talk and the great Q&A that followed gave you a starting point for your probate planning needs. Thanks for joining us! To view our presentation click here. We’ll be back in January for a Q&A panel with Heather Nadler, Kim Martin, and Laura Akins. Get your questions ready and stay tuned [...]
Individuals with Special Needs Who Are Changing the World
Individuals with Special Needs Who Are Changing the World At Nadler Biernath, we work with some exceptional families. Through them, and through our work with the special needs community here in town, we know how important it is for kids with different abilities to see themselves represented in all fields. The individuals below are standouts in different areas, but all have something in common: They’ve dedicated themselves to making [...]
Special Needs Planning & Provisions with Kim Martin and Laura Akins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo8hBNmPm4w Hello clients and friends, Thanks so much for joining us for Laura and Kim’s discussion of special needs planning and provisions. It was our best-attended Planning for Peace of Mind live webinar to date! We hope the talk and the great Q&A that followed gave you a starting point for your family’s planning needs. Thanks for joining us! To view our presentation click here. We’ll be back next month [...]
Planning Ahead for the New Year
While 2020 has seemed like the never-ending year, it is, in fact, drawing to a close. In the midst of planning for a drastically different looking holiday, many folks will have some year-end tax business, including making charitable donations, contributing to SEP IRAs or putting money into 529 college plans. Others will begin dreaming ahead to New Year’s resolutions—retooling exercise plans that were centered on group classes or promising to [...]
Guardianship with Kim Martin
Hello clients and friends, We enjoyed another great webinar last month, with 75 attendees joining Kim for a discussion of guardianship and conservatorship. We know it’s not an easy topic, but we hope that the webinar helped clarify your understanding of what protections guardianship offers and when it’s necessary. We really enjoyed the Q&A for this session as well, especially since we were joined by Laura Akins. Thanks for joining [...]
Disability Advocates Push to Make Voting Safe and Accessible in 2020
During the early stages of the pandemic, many voters with special needs experienced new problems when attempting to cast their ballots in the spring primaries. Inaccessible polling places, concerns over contracting the virus and issues with receiving or completing mail-in ballots kept some individuals from exercising their right to vote. Disability advocates at the national and local level have long pushed for more reliable protections for voters. But now, with [...]
Financing Long Term Care with Heather Nadler
Hello clients and friends, We had a great turnout for Heather’s live webinar on long-term care financing—more than 50 people joined in for the talk. We hope the presentation and the Q&A that followed got you started on your own planning, or that it encouraged you to discuss planning with your loved ones. Thank you for joining us! To view our presentation click here. In October, we’ll be back with [...]
How to Apply for Benefits as a Grandparent
How to Apply for Benefits as a Grandparent If you’re a grandparent raising a child, it can be challenging to handle the extra expense. Even if you’re still working or are financially comfortable, the costs of education, medical care, food, clothing and college savings can be a lot to absorb. And if you’re on a fixed income, it may seem difficult to continue to meet your own needs and [...]
Estate Planning 101 with Laura Akins
Hello clients and friends, We wanted to thank you for attending Laura’s live webinar on Estate Planning 101 last month. We hope that it helped answer your questions and got you thinking about the next steps you want to take in your own planning. If you were taking notes, don’t worry if you didn’t get every detail written down. We’ll be sending a recorded video to all who attended shortly. [...]
How to Utilize your Special Needs Trust and Maximize Retirement Benefits Under the SECURE Act
You’ve probably heard of the new Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, signed into law late last year. The act created some major changes for anyone with long-term retirement savings, including those who may wish to leave their accounts to beneficiaries with special needs. Until the act became law Jan. 1, 2020, most beneficiaries of retirement accounts could “stretch” the distributions over their lifetimes. This, of course, [...]
Is a Guardian Legally Responsible for the Acts of a Ward?
Is a Guardian Legally Responsible for the Acts of a Ward? When parents or other loved ones decide to seek guardianship and conservatorship, they do so because their family member cannot make critical decisions alone. Guardianship and conservatorship, which may both be held by the same person, allow the loved one to manage the ward’s health and safety and the ward’s finances, respectively. But guardianship is also about facilitating [...]
Does Georgia Have Assisted Decision-Making?
Does Georgia Have Assisted Decision-Making? We often hear from clients who are curious about assisted decision-making, sometimes also called supported decision-making. In fact, one of our most frequently asked questions is whether Georgia has a supported decision-making policy on the books. Families want to learn more about this newer development in special needs law, find out what sets it apart from guardianship and determine if it could be a [...]
What To Expect In Our Consultations
What To Expect In Our Consultations For most folks, the idea of estate planning can be a little uncomfortable. But, the truth is, the hardest part is often working up the will (pun intended!) to make the first call. At Nadler Biernath, we do our best to make the process painless, taking care of our clients and helping solve their problems. We’re here to give you peace of mind. [...]
Advanced Directive for Health Care
Advanced Directive for Health Care What is an advance directive? For many people, the COVID-19 pandemic has made distant end-of-life scenarios suddenly feel less remote. Being faced with a known, widespread illness—one that often leaves people hospitalized apart from loved ones—makes expressing one’s wishes in writing feel more urgent than ever. Advance directives are one legal tool used to express those wishes now, taking the pressure off of family [...]
Guardianship: Get the Petition Ready with Heather Nadler
Guardianship: Get the Petition Ready with Heather Nadler Watch as Partner, Heather Nadler, discusses Guardianship in a webinar hosted by FOCUS. The purpose of this workshop is to help families prepare a petition to file for the Appointment of a Guardian of an Adult.
How You Can Help Nursing and Assisted Living Homes During COVID-19
How You Can Help Nursing and Assisted Living Homes During COVID-19 With COVID-19 seriously affecting the country’s nursing home population, many facilities are locked down to visitors, leaving residents without in-person connections to family members and friends. Many residences have also had to cut their schedule of in-house social events—think bridge groups or movie nights—and move meals to room service only. Residents who may be feeling worried, lonely or [...]
Thank You to Budd Terrace’s Healthcare Heroes
Thank You to Budd Terrace’s Healthcare Heroes Here at Nadler Biernath, we’re saddened by the toll COVID-19 has taken on our seniors. We know that many elders, especially those living in nursing centers, are bearing the brunt of this disease. But we’re also grateful for the skilled staff, including the doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, techs, cooks and environmental services professionals, who are caring for our older loved ones—often putting [...]
Supporting Special Needs Parents
Supporting Special Needs Parents As a parent, you’re used to prioritizing your child’s wellbeing. As a special needs parent, you might often be throwing yourself into finding treatments, therapies and educational accommodations that fit your child’s needs. But in our current circumstances, now is the time to center on your own wellbeing as much as your child’s. Your energy keeps the household running. Your calmness helps your child face [...]
Dealing With Not Being Able to Visit Elderly Family Members
Dealing With Not Being Able to Visit Elderly Family Members Because older adults are at higher risk for severe complications from COVID-19, many people are being forced to temporarily postpone visits with elderly family members. This is hard for everyone, of course, but right now it’s one of the best ways to keep your loved ones safe. And, if they live in an assisted living facility or nursing home, [...]
Get Your Estate Planning in Order
Get Your Estate Planning in Order With stay-at-home orders, dire predictions and story after story covering the unsettling present, this is an undeniably stressful time—one that can easily send thoughts off on a “what if” trajectory of worst case scenarios. But it’s also a time to reassess what’s most important to us. To simplify what we can and protect those we most care about. To that end, many people [...]
Helping Special Needs Kids Deal With Schedule and Routine Changes
Helping Special Needs Kids Deal With Schedule and Routine Changes As the parent of a special needs child, you have probably put a lot of time and effort into creating a routine that works for your family. You’ve ideally figured out the right lineup of activities and social time, the right mix of therapies and appointments, and, if your child is grade school age, an individualized education plan (IEP) [...]
The CARES Act: What You and Your Family Need to Know
The CARES Act: What You and Your Family Need to Know We are in largely uncharted waters with regard to the benefits and tax-related consequences that these payments will have on recipients. Information changes daily in some cases. For the most up-to-date information on these issues, we recommend that you check Social Security & Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), where the SSA will post updates as they arise. With the Coronavirus [...]
Caring for Aging Parents During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Caring for Aging Parents During the Coronavirus Pandemic At Nadler Biernath, many of our clients are in the “sandwich generation.” Folks are caring for aging parents and young children. As we all work to process the ever-changing news and deluge of information about COVID-19, one thing is clear: Older adults are at higher risk for severe illness. For those with aging parents, this can be unsettling. Below, you’ll find [...]
An update regarding COVID-19
A Message from Nadler Biernath on the Coronavirus/COVID-19 Dear clients and friends, During this challenging time, we’d like to take a moment to update you all on our office and the work we’re continuing to do. We have closed down our office to keep you and our staff safe. Moving forward, all March and April meetings will be virtual. Also, we are delaying signings—which are required to take place [...]
What Can Go in a Trust?
For the parents of a special needs child, ensuring lifetime comfort and care can seem like a bit of a financial catch-22. In order to qualify for government benefits, including Medicaid, the special needs individual can have only limited income and assets. But the government benefits alone don’t provide enough to live on comfortably. That’s where a special needs trust comes in, helping cover not only medical expenses and caregiving [...]
Super Lawyers 2020 Recognize Laura Akins and Heather Nadler!
The attorneys at Nadler Biernath are pleased to announce that Associate Attorney Laura Akins has been recognized as 2020 Rising Star on the Georgia Super Lawyers list. Partner Heather Nadler has also been recognized as a Super Lawyer—a designation she’s earned since 2015. Both Laura and Heather were recognized in the field of Elder Law. Each year, Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters company, evaluates attorneys from across the United States [...]
Do I Need Guardianship?
Deciding whether to seek guardianship is one of the most challenging legal questions the parents of a child with special needs may face. While parents cannot begin the process of seeking guardianship until six months before their child turns 18, it’s helpful to give it careful thought long before then, with input from care providers and educators, if appropriate. Guardianship is meant to protect the child, or ward, into and [...]
Estate Planning For Families With A Special Needs Child Business Radio X
Estate Planning For Families With A Special Needs Child Business Radio X Nadler Biernath attorney Kim Martin had the privilege of appearing on Gaslowitz Frankel’s Wealth Matters radio show, discussing how to estate plan when you have a special needs child. It was a great conversation, and if you weren’t able to listen live, you can watch the show on YouTube, or listen through Business Radio X’s website. Click to [...]
The Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014
The Achieving a Better Life Experience Act (the ABLE Act) was recently signed into law and a number of questions have been raised regarding what the ABLE Accounts can do, and when can they be used. Keep in mind, the law was recently enacted. The accounts will not be available for several months. Like any new law, there will be a great deal of information that will be developed [...]
Spread The Word To End The Word
Community Leaders from Best Buddies and the Special Olympics have combined to create a campaign to end the use of the word “retard”. March 7, 2012 marked the day to stop using the r-word in any form of speech including medical terminology. The website, www.r-word.org, describes how the terms “medical retardation” and “mental retardation” began as medical terminology with specific clinical connotation but those words have shifted into every day [...]
Misappropriating Trust Funds
There are serious consequences if a trustee misappropriates trust funds. An example of this recently occurred in Port St. Lucie, Florida. John Morgan was arrested on a grand theft charge for reportedly stealing more than $40,000 from his adult daughter’s special needs trust fund. His daughter, Sandra Morgan, who suffers from cerebral palsy and lives in a group home, was awarded $65,000 from a settlement due to a wheel [...]
Stem Cell Fraud
The use of the World Wide Web has allowed families with special needs individuals to discover new therapy techniques, medical breakthroughs, doctors, and lawyers to ensure that the individual lives the best life possible. While there is a wealth of beneficial information on the internet there are also scam artists that target families with special needs individuals. One form of these scam artists is described in the video below. An [...]
How A Special Needs Trust Benefits
Special Needs Planning Special needs planning is the concept of leaving assets for your child with special needs in such a way that does not render them ineligible for benefits. As you may know, Medicaid and Social Security Income have resource limits. If the individual has more than $2000 in “countable resources” then he or she is not eligible on the financial side to receive Medicaid or SSI. Special [...]
Do I Have An Estate Plan?
Did you know that every single person has an estate plan! The State creates an Estate plan for you. Below is outlined what the State creates for every one: If you are married and have one child, 1/2 to your spouse and 1/2 to your child. If you have more than one child, 1/3 to your spouse, and 2/3 to your children equally. If you are not married but [...]