Goodall & Yurchak - Blog
Don't Fall for Deed Scams!
July 1st, 2009 3:17pm
Would you pay $60 for something you could get for as little as $3 and probably don't need at all? A company called National Deed Service is hoping to persuade homeowners to part with the extra cash to purchase a "certified copy" of the deed to their home. Officials in many states are warning homeowners not to fall for the company's deceptive, but apparently legal, pitch. In Centre County, certified copies of deeds are available at the office of Joseph Davidson, Recorder of Deeds (355-6801). Photocopy costs are 50¢ per page, and certification, if needed, is $1.50 per document. Most deeds are 3-4 pages long.
For the last three years, the Northbrook, Illinois-based National Deed Service has been sending direct-mail solicitations to homeowners in different parts of the country alleging that the U.S. Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC) recommends that property owners have an official or certified copy of their deed and offering to deliver such a copy within 30 days for $59.50, or higher depending on where the homeowner lives. The Service's Web site further warns that "It is not an easy process to obtain public records from a governmental agency."
In fact, obtaining their deed is usually quite simple, inexpensive, and probably unnecessary for most people. A deed is a public record and is available from the Register of Deeds at most county courthouses for as little as $1, or even for free in some locales. Some counties also allow homeowners to view and print their deeds from their Web site. Most homeowners receive a copy of their deed at closing, but even if they don't have one, there is little necessity to pay a hefty sum for a "certified copy" when a copy is always available when and if a homeowner needs it.
As for National Deed Service's claim that the government suggests that homeowners keep a certified copy of their deed, the FCIC Web site actually simply suggests that if you have a safe deposit box, it should contain certified or official copies of documents.
"I don't know how the deed companies thought they could stretch our statement that 'if you have your deed, you should keep it someplace safe (like a safe deposit box)' into 'you definitely need to have a copy of your deed in your possession,'" Rebecca Fulcher, a consumer information specialist with the FCIC, told the Southwest Times Record in Fort Smith, Arkansas. According to Fulcher, most homeowners don't need to have a copy of their deed.
The Recorder's Office in Allen County, Indiana, was recently flooded with calls from homeowners asking about a solicitation they'd just received from National Deed Services.
"We've pursued this issue with the Indiana Attorney General on several occasions and the problem turns out to be that there are enough disclaimers in this letter to keep it within the law, but it sure is close and it sure does spook a lot of people who don't read it all the way," said Allen County's Recorder, John McGauly, on WANE TV in Fort Wayne.
For its part, National Deed Service claims it is simply providing a service for those willing to pay for the convenience of not going down to the courthouse themselves. "People can cut their own hair if they want to, but they go to a barber," company owner Barry J. Isaacson told Real Estate News.
Seniors Feel Pinch of Economy via Housing
July 1st, 2009 2:57pm
The economic downturn is not going to affect seniors' needs for help with activities of daily living; people require the same assistance in good times and bad. But it could affect where that help is provided - at home, in assisted living or in a nursing home. And it could affect who provides the care - a family member or someone who is hired.
Here are a few likely trends: Most nursing home care and, increasingly, care at home is covered by Medicaid. This is a joint state-federal health care program for people who are "poor" under its complicated rules. Even before the recession, Medicaid was growing and straining the ability of states to pay the cost. This has caused states to restrict eligibility. These are likely to tighten further.
In Pennsylvania, the Medicaid nursing home benefits program is administered as Medical Assistance. Less expensive to the commonwealth, many seniors recieve in-home assistance under the waiver program of the Department of Aging. If they can, most people would rather remain at home than go to a nursing home, and it is a conundrum that there are different eligibility requirements for these two programs. Due to differing income standards, sometimes folks are almost "forced" into nursing homes.
With fewer people working, more of them will be available to care for family members at home, perhaps delaying or avoiding a senior's move to assisted living or a nursing home. With alternative jobs less plentiful, the supply of qualified care providers should grow.
With money becoming scarcer for just about everyone, families will be less able to pay for nursing home, assisted living or home care. This may result in more beds and services being available and a decrease in costs. In fact, according to the 2008 MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home & Assisted Living Costs, over the past year, the cost of semiprivate rooms in nursing homes increased just 1.1 percent and the cost of private rooms did not change, in contrast to increases that substantially exceeded the inflation rate in most recent years.
The average rate for a private room is $77,380 a year, or $212 a day, an increase of $1 from last year. The cost of a semiprivate room in a nursing home, which increased 1.1 percent to $191 a day, that is $69,715 a year. The highest rates for a private nursing home room in 2008 were found in Alaska, where the cost is $577 a day on average. The lowest rates were found in the nonmetropolitan and nonsuburban areas of Louisiana, at $127 a day. The cost of assisted living was the highest in southern Maine at $4,708 per month and the lowest in North Dakota at $1,980 per month.
In Pennsylvania, according to the Department of Public Welfare, the cost of a private room is just more than $238 per day or almost $86,830 per year. Meanwhile, assisted living costs increased 2.1 percent from an average of $2,969 monthly or $35,628 annually in 2007 to $3,031 monthly or $36,372 annually in 2008.
We are likely to see bankruptcies of nursing homes and assisted living facilities if they cannot fill their beds as anticipated and if Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates are insufficient to cover their expenses. Facility shutdowns will be very disruptive to residents as well as to their families. In testimony before Congress when it was considering the Deficit Reduction Act, representatives of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys predicted this result.
Planning ahead is even more important, whether purchasing long-term care insurance, protecting assets to qualify for Medicaid or simply making one's wishes known ahead of time.
Even before to the onset of the recession, many more alternatives to nursing home care were being developed, including assisted living, new home care models, community partnership programs and increased Medicaid coverage of care provided in the community. Anyone providing care for a senior needs to do much more research about the alternatives available.
These changes are not all bad. Fewer Americans working quite as hard as most adults have in recent years should allow more time for us to care for our loved ones and to find the right soultions among the increasing number of care choices available.
Major Life Changes Require an Update to Will, Beneficiary
July 1st, 2009 2:57pm
Periodically updating your will or other estate plans is important, but don’t forget to update who will receive your retirement plans – such as Independent Retirement Accounts, 401 (k)s and life insurance policies upon your death.
Every year you should review your entire estate plan and the review should include beneficiary designations to make sure they aren’t outdated.
Under Pennsylvania life insurance guidelines, taxes are not immediately affected by the beneficiary designation. For creditor prosecution purposes and family succession, it is important to identify who will receive your life insurance.
It is important to name a beneficiary. Do not assume your retirement plan will be distributed according to your will. If you don’t name a beneficiary, the distribution of benefits will go according to law or your particular retirement plan.
While some may leave it to the retirement plan holders estate, this could have negative tax consequences, both for income and inheritance taxes. The only way to control where the money goes is to name a beneficiary, as a properly written beneficiary designation for these accounts trumps your will and the law of intestate succession.
You may want to designate a trust as your beneficiary. If your estate is more than the current estate tax exclusion ($2 million for 2007 and 2008) and a large portion of it consists of retirement plans, it may make some sense to mandate that the plans be payable to a trust rather than to the surviving spouse. The trust must be properly drafted to avoid income tax consequences.
If you want your money to go into a trust for your children, be sure to designate the trust as a beneficiary. If you simply name your children, the money will go directly to them. In Pennsylvania, this may mean an expensive court proceeding (such as a formal guardianship for your children), and it also may mean that your children have access to the funds when they turn 18, a result many parents wish to regulate.
There are specific IRS guidelines for trusts, and it is important to have the professional assistance of a local lawyer.
In this regard, be suspicious of out-of-town trust seminar salespeople, whether organized by lawyers or other financial advisers. A local lawyer could be your first stop in estate planning. Your own family lawyer is the best source of information, because that person knows you and your wishes best. Even if this person does not specialize in estate planning, he or she can refer you to a lawyer who is experienced.
Remember, the best financial consultant or tax adviser may not have experience in planning or declining competency and may not have specialized knowledge of Pennsylvania tax laws.
Wills sometimes stipulate that any inheritance taxes due on direct transfers such as retirement accounts (and, for that matter, joint and “transfer on death” accounts) are to be paid by the estate.
This is perfectly acceptable, if that is your wish. However, if you are planning to provide for one heir through direct transfer assets and others through your will, it may not be fair to have the will recipients pay the tax in retirement recipients’ gifts.
If you have major life changes, be sure to keep your retirement plan updated. If you get married or have children, you may want to change your beneficiary. Even if you don’t have big changes, you should review your beneficiary designation periodically.