by Sanford Okura | Jul 30, 2009 | Medicaid and Nursing Home Costs
On February 8, 2006, President Bush signed the Deficit Reduction Act. This federal law made big changes to Medicaid for nursing home costs. Important parts of the new law were supposed to be effective from February 8, 2006. However, the Hawaii Department of Human...
by Sanford Okura | Jul 9, 2009 | Estate Planning
The following is a copy of the Notice of Public Hearing on the proposed changes to Hawaii’s Medicaid rules found in Hawaii Administrative Rules. The public hearing is scheduled for July 28, 2009. Many of the proposed changes are required by the...
by Sanford Okura | Jun 12, 2009 | Trusts and Wills
THE SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST Suppose you have a child with a disability. Perhaps the child was born with a mental disability. Perhaps he or she was born with a physical disability. In some cases, the child may have been normal at birth, but later in life acquired a...
by Sanford Okura | May 29, 2009 | Medicaid and Nursing Home Costs
MEDICAID PLANNING I am thinking about a meeting I had recently. The daughter of a client came to discuss her mother’s situation. Mother is elderly. She suffers from...
by Sanford Okura | Apr 29, 2009 | Estate Taxes and Gift Taxes
PROPOSED NEW LAWS There are some proposed new rules and laws which would affect estate planning. First, let’s review the current estate tax law. The estate tax is a federal tax. At this time there is no Hawaii estate tax or inheritance...