The amount you can deduct on your taxes as a result of buying long-term care insurance has been increased by the IRS for 2012. If you itemize your deductions, you can generally deduct part of your premiums if the premiums, together with your other unreimbursed medical expenses, amount to more than 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income. The maximum amount of premiums you can deduct each year depends on your age at the end of

A part of the new federal health care law that would have set up a voluntary, government-run insurance program for long-term care has been scrapped by the Obama Administration. The program, known as the “CLASS Act,” would have allowed people to pay monthly premiums for five years, after which they would be eligible for future benefits to help pay for long-term care services that are not covered by Medicare. But the Administration has concluded that there’s

Many power of attorney and health care proxy documents that were created years ago should be revised now as a result of a federal medical privacy law. The law, known as HIPAA, generally prevents health care providers from disclosing your personal medical information to anyone but you and someone you’ve named as your “personal representative.” Medical privacy is a good thing – but the law can create complications.

Many older people would like to make significant gifts to their grandchildren, in order to help them and in order to reduce the size of their own estate for tax purposes. But they also worry that the grandchildren won’t be able to handle large sums of money. The good news is that you can give each of your grandchildren up to $13,000 a year without incurring any gift tax. If you’re married, your spouse can also

Many movies and television shows include a scene where a family gathers around a big table after a relative has died to listen to the reading of the will. While this makes for great drama, things don’t usually happen this way in the real world. In fact, there is no requirement that a will be read out loud to anyone. So what does happen with the will? Once the will is located, it should be given

Many people use the terms “Alzheimer’s disease” and “dementia” interchangeably, but the two have different meanings, and it can be very important to know the difference. Dementia is a general term for memory loss that is severe enough to interfere with daily life. The signs of dementia may include forgetfulness; difficulty making plans, thinking ahead, or using language; and a change in character traits, among other symptoms. Alzheimer’s disease is a partially hereditary disease that causes

Nearly 10 million adults age 50 and over are now caring for an aging parent, according to a new study published by MetLife. There has been a dramatic rise in the number of men and women providing parental care over the past decade and a half, the study notes. In 1994, only 9 percent of women and 3 percent of men in that age group were providing care to parents. By 2008, the percentage of female

IRAs are popular investment vehicles for retirement. But if you don’t need all the assets in your IRA to support yourself after you retire, they can also be an excellent tool for estate planning. Handled properly, an IRA can provide tax-sheltered growth for your heirs for many years to come. But you need to be careful, because it can be easy to make costly mistakes. An IRA, or Individual Retirement Account, is a personal savings plan