The story below broke my heart.  I’m saddened by the passage of Amendment One in North Carolina.  We should be seeking to protect all family units in our state, not further restrict the rights of some of our citizens.

No one should have to go through what this man went through when his partner passed away.  Unfortunately, since the law does not offer the same protections to unmarried couples, this is the reality for those couples who haven’t prepared a basic estate plan.

As our small way of helping, Wiggen Law Group is offering free estate planning for same-sex couples who call in the month of May.  We only ask that participants make a donation in the amount of their choosing to Equality NC or other similar organization.

Call (919) 680-0000 to schedule an appointment.

NBC News recently aired a news segment about the Veterans Aid and Attendance Benefit.  This benefit can provide up to $2,019 of tax-free income a month to veterans or their surviving spouses to help pay for home health care, assisted living care, or nursing home care

Dori Wiggen is accredited with the Veterans Administration to assist veterans or their spouses with a claim for Aid and Attendance.  If you would like to know if you or your loved one qualify for this benefit, call our office at (919) 680-0000.

Triangle CLE’s next Do-It-Yourself Divorce Clinic is February 22nd at 6pm at Wiggen Law Group. The clinics are led by experienced family law attorneys who will guide the attendees through the paperwork needed to file for divorce in North Carolina. The clinics offer an affordable option to persons who do not have complex divorce issues and plan to handle their own divorce. The cost of the clinic is $60 per attendee. Call (919) 680-0000    to register. Space is limited.

Prenuptial agreements are often misrepresented as negatives.  There is a perception that spouses use these “unfair” agreements in a bitter divorce, to the detriment of one spouse.As a result, many people strongly object to any discussion related to a prenuptial agreement. However, prenuptial agreements can be a prudent planning device for any marriage.

Some of the most common objections to a prenuptial agreement include the following:

You may have heard that special needs trusts are required to reimburse the government for Medicaid expenses incurred by the trust’s beneficiary when she passes away, and, in some cases, this is true. But not all special needs trusts are required to contain this type of “payback” provision, so if you are worried that the trust funds will go to pay back the government, you may not have anything to fear.

If a parent, grandparent, family friend or any other interested person wants to set up a special needs trust for a person with special needs, they will typically create a “third-party” special needs trust. The trust is called a “third-party” trust because it is funded with assets that do not belong to the person with special needs. These trusts are commonly used by family members to set aside inheritances for, or to simply provide additional assistance to, a family member with special needs. If properly created and funded, the assets in a “third-party” trust will not count as the beneficiary’s funds if or when she applies for benefits like Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Medicaid. Most importantly, a properly designed “third-party” special needs trust does not have to include a payback provision, meaning that the government has no right to the funds when the beneficiary dies.

On the other hand, if a person with special needs needs to place her own funds into trust, she has two main options – transfer the funds into a trust established for her benefit by a parent, grandparent or court called a”first-party” special needs trust (because the assets come from the person with special needs herself) or transfer the funds into a pooled disability trust that is run by a non-profit organization. In almost every case, these types of trusts must contain payback provisions in order for the beneficiary to avoid a loss of government benefits due to excess assets.

In many cases, a family member looking to fund special needs trust for a person with special needs will utilize a “third-party” special needs trust that doesn’t contain payback provisions and that provides enormous benefits to the person with special needs. Even if the trust does contain a payback provision, in some cases where the beneficiary exhausts all of the trust’s assets, there may still not be a government payback at all. In either case, your special needs planner can help you to determine which type of trust is right for your family.

If you’re a veteran or a surviving spouse of a veteran and are receiving pension payments from the VA, you will soon be receiving an Expense Verification Report (EVR) to complete. Every January the VA mails the EVR to the veteran or surviving spouse receiving pension benefits.  This report shows all the medical expenses and income for the past year and any medical expenses or income the veteran or surviving spouse expect to have in the coming year.

In order to ensure that there are no delays in receiving pension payments, the EVR must be filled out completely and returned to the VA by March 1st.  The EVR should be sent to the VA by certified mail with a return receipt requested so that there is documentation of delivery.

After receiving no cost-of-living increase (COLA) for two years running, the nation’s Social Security recipients, including Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries, will get a 3.6 percent increase in payments in 2012.

Starting in January 2012, the average monthly Social Security payment for a worker with disabilities will rise from $1,072 to $1,111 a month. The federal SSI payment standard will increase to $698 a month for an individual and $1,048 a month for a couple. The SSI student exclusion limit (the amount of earned income that an SSI beneficiary who regularly attends school may exclude from her SSI benefit calculation) will remain the same at $1,700 a month, with a yearly cap of $6,840.

Although the SSI resource allowance also remains the same at $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple, the amount of money that a person can earn without engaging in Substantial Gainful Activity (which triggers a process that can result in the loss of SSDI or SSI benefits) is going to increase to $1,010 a month for a person who is not blind and $1,690 for a person who is blind. The Trial Work Period limit of $720 a month stays the same.

For a complete list of the 2012 Social Security changes, go to:http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/factsheets/colafacts2012.htm

The Senate recently passed bill S. 864: Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2011, effective December 1, 2011, for benefits payable in January of 2012.

The Act provides for a 3.6% COLA increase in compensation for veterans with service connected disabilities and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for the survivors of certain disabled veterans.

You can read the text of this bill here.

This month’s newsletter focuses on our furry friends.  Do you know what happens to your pets after your death under state law?  If you are out of town and your pet needs emergency vet care, does your pet sitter have the authority to authorize treatment?  Who gets custody of Man (and Woman’s) Best Friend in the event of divorce?

Find out in this month’s issue of The Family Advisor.  Click here to read more.

The North Carolina General Assembly enacted more than 50 new laws during 2011, which became effective October 1, 2011.  You can view summaries of these laws in the Legislative Bulletin provided by the North Carolina Bar Association Office of Governmental Affairs.  Click here to view the bulletin.