Consider Your Trustee Carefully: It Makes a DifferenceHaving a trust is just one important piece of the puzzle when planning for your financial legacy. Another piece: your trustee.
Getty Images By MICHAEL S. FARRELL | SEI Private Wealth Management You’ve made it to a place in your estate planning where it’s been determined that setting up a trust will help accomplish the many goals you have for your family. You’ve done extensive research and worked with your adviser to select the type of trust that best suits your needs. Whether a trust for your grandchildren or a charitable trust, it’s time now to do what some may consider the easier part of the process — choosing your trustee. Who do you “trust” to ensure your financial legacy lives on? Do you choose someone close to you? Someone you know respects your wishes, goals and family? Or do you choose someone without a personal connection to you or your family? Keep in mind that choosing a trustee should be considered more of a business decision and less of a personal one. Although a trust can be perfectly designed for success, the trust’s goals may not be fully carried out when a trustee lacks knowledge, dedication or objectivity. ADVERTISEMENTPersonal Connections and Emotional InvestmentsIt’s critical to understand the trustee's fiduciary responsibilities in order to make a wise choice when selecting someone to perform the duties. Someone who is sensitive to your motivations and your beneficiaries’ well-being doesn’t necessarily possess all the essential qualities. When thinking about a trustee’s responsibilities, you should consider more than her understanding and respect for your financial goals and values. A trustee must also play a keen part in investment management; tax planning and filing; making appropriate distributions to beneficiaries or for their benefit; and protecting the trust’s assets. On a day-to-day basis, the trustee must review beneficiaries' requests for funds and decide when to approve or deny distributions in accordance with the trust’s terms. Making this call can be difficult and stressful for someone with a personal connection to the beneficiary. Imagine a situation where your loved one becomes less capable of handling his financial situation. Perhaps his “friends” are a negative influence. If the trustee is someone close to the beneficiary, she may want to maintain her relationship with him and be unable to tell him “no.” Relationship dynamics may play a bigger role in the individual trustee’s decisions, as opposed to what your intent was in setting up the trust. Multiple Trustees: Too Much Tension or the Perfect Balance?It can be difficult to choose between a personal connection and someone with many years of experience managing trusts. What if you could have both? A corporate trustee, such as a trust company or bank trust department, provides an objective, third-party opinion solely focused on the long-term goals that you set out for your trust. A corporate trustee can serve as either the sole trustee or co-trustee of your trust. Naming a professional trustee along with a trusted friend or family member may be your answer. In the above scenario, in which a beneficiary becomes financially irresponsible, an effective corporate trustee can employ a disciplined and unbiased approach, while also receiving the co-trustee’s direct input and personal opinion. Not only can enlisting a corporate trustee's help potentially diminish unanticipated family tension, but it also enables a sharing of fiduciary responsibilities with the co-trustee. The co-trustees must act in collaborative consultation unless the trust allows one co-trustee to act alone. It also may allow the corporate trustee to make the necessary tough decisions in this situation without doing further harm to the relationship of the personal co-trustee and beneficiary. It is vital that you take all things into consideration when establishing the “trust.” Choosing the right trustee(s) can help ensure that not only your financial legacy and intentions will be carried out, but it will be done so professionally and objectively for your heirs’ benefit. Michael S. Farrell is Managing Director for SEI Private Wealth Management, a business unit of SEI that provides private wealth management solutions, serving high-net-worth individuals and families.
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Nova ScotiaA family's quest to find the right home for dad's 8,000 country music recordsAmanda Jackson is selling the collection it took her dad 6 decades to amass — but she won't break it upEmma Smith · CBC News · Posted: Oct 12, 2019 6:00 AM AT | Last Updated: October 12, 2019
The collection of approximately 8,000 records spans music from the '40s right up until the 2000s. (Submitted by Amanda Jackson) 4 comments Amanda Jackson's dad might have gotten carried away. What began as a Nova Scotia teenager's modest library of 20 or so country music records grew over the next six decades to roughly 8,000. The family of the late Murray Deal was left with one question: what to do with their dad's impressive collection? "It was his life. It was his passion," Jackson told CBC's Mainstreet. "What our goal is, is just to find somebody that maybe doesn't have an equal passion for it like he did, but would certainly appreciate the collection and use it and listen to it." It wasn't easy to decide to sell the eclectic collection, which contains music from as early as the '40s right up to the 2000s, Jackson said, noting her dad's favourite artist was Hank Williams. The collection also includes artists such as Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash. Amanda Jackson is selling the collection whole. (Emma Smith/CBC)Jackson is asking for $5,000 for the entire collection and isn't willing to see it torn apart. Deal, who grew up in Fairview, N.S., started playing music when he was a kid. By the time Jackson was born, her dad could most often be found in his music room, where he jammed with friends or recorded songs and interviews on cassette. He hardly ever missed a chance to sing folk and gospel songs at church on Sunday. "He taught himself how to play the guitar at a young age, and his love for the music carried right through his entire life, and basically every facet of what he did his entire life," Jackson said. Deal died in the summer of 2018. Jackson, who used to sing in one of her dad's bands, wouldn't call herself a musician — or even a country music fan, for that matter. Jackson says her dad could most often be found in his music room. (Submitted by Amanda Jackson )"I think I rebelled a little bit away from the country music, but I love all music, so I think that comes from my dad," she said. Deal's love affair with country music couldn't be contained. Back when he was a teen buying up records, his mom, who grew up in the Depression, advised him that he probably had enough. Jackson is glad her dad didn't listen. "To us, it's priceless, really," she said. "The most important thing is that it goes to somebody that will love it and appreciate it." At Va. facility where virus killed 40, doctor blames society’s willingness to ‘warehouse’ elders
Dr. James Wright, medical director at Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center, speaks at a news conference on Friday in Richmond. (Steve Helber/AP) By Laura Vozzella April 11, 2020 at 7:00 a.m. EDTRICHMOND — The doctor in charge of a Richmond-area nursing home with one of the nation's highest numbers of coronavirus deaths says society is partly to blame because of its willingness to "warehouse" the elderly in underfunded public facilities. James Wright, medical director at Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center, was asked at a news briefing Friday what he might have done to better stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has infected 148 residents and staff, killing 40. “If I were to do something different, I would have a nursing home that had enough staff around-the-clock, around all the time,” he said. “I would have a nursing home where everyone had private rooms. I would have a nursing home where there was greater access to the outdoors. In other words, I would have a nursing home funded by a society that puts more emphasis on treating our elders the way they should be treated.” AD ADVERTISINGWright acknowledged the need to look back and consider how he and the Henrico County facility responded to the outbreak that began about a month ago. But he said the examination can’t stop there. “It’s also important to see what we, as a society, could do differently, because this will not be the last untreatable virus to decimate our elders,” he said. “When we, as a society, see that it’s appropriate to warehouse our elders, and to put them in small spaces, to underpay their staff so that there are chronic staffing shortages — I think if we see that as an adequate treatment of our elders, then we’re going to have a bad time. We are going to see this over and over again. We all opted for this type of environment for our elders. And as a result, this virus spread through a publicly funded nursing home . . . like wildfire.” Without improvements, he warned, “a publicly funded nursing home is a virus’s dream.” ADWright called it “ridiculous” and “stupid” that the Washington state nursing home with the nation’s first major outbreak of the novel coronavirus faces a potential $611,000 fine for deficiencies that contributed to the spread. Forty-three deaths have been associated with that Seattle-area home, Life Care Center of Kirkland. Sign up for our Coronavirus Updates newsletter to track the outbreak. All stories linked in the newsletter are free to access. Washington state nursing home faces $611,000 fine over lapses during fatal coronavirus outbreak Wright said federal health officials should “mentor” facilities with problems and supply additional staff, not fine them. “We need to do something different than just punish,” he said. Canterbury temporarily lost much of its staff — to illness, fear and economic necessity — at the start of the outbreak. Many low-paid health care workers hold down jobs at multiple nursing homes. Some had to quit Canterbury because their other employers stopped accepting anyone who was pulling shifts at Canterbury. ADWright declined to specify just how much his staff shrank but said he wound up on the front lines. “I was changing patients, cleaning beds,” he said. His wife, a palliative care doctor at an area hospital, took a week and a half of leave to volunteer at Canterbury. “My wife was in there, much to her delight at times and much to her chagrin,” he said. “Glad I married her.” Wright indicated that Canterbury may be turning a corner in the crisis, despite stubborn shortages in protective gear. He said about 85 infected patients were recovering well enough that they could soon resume some group activities, such as eating meals together. They will remain separated from the rest of Canterbury’s population. Thirty-five residents have tested negative. At care facility linked to three coronavirus deaths, official says staff need more protective equipment to halt spread Some of the 25 staff members who tested positive for the virus are back on the job. Some were ill but have recovered. Others tested positive but never showed signs of illness; those employees are working exclusively with residents with covid-19, so there is no chance of infecting those who are negative. ADCanterbury is exploring whether it can use those workers, who are “theoretically immune” because of their prior exposure to the virus, to specialize in caring for covid-19 patients, Wright said. The facility is working with a lab to see if testing can be developed to demonstrate immunity. “We feel like we’re the experts in treating covid-positive patients now,” he said. “It’s not a great niche to be in, but it’s the niche we’re in.” Many people have concerns about their personal health and what would happen if they were to catch a serious disease, particularly COVID-19. You should review your documents to make sure your power of attorney, advance directive, Last Will and Testament, and trust(s) are updated. Although many may feel the need to update their documents, I caution people about using online forms and programs. There are very specific requirements for each document as it pertains to capacity, contents, and execution. Most document preparation services or form providers often have a disclaimer that states they (i) do not review documents or provide advice regarding the sufficiency of such documents, (ii) are not a law firm and do not perform services performed by an attorney, and (iii) that their services are not intended to be a substitute for the advice and services of an attorney. Most also state that they cannot guarantee the information and content of their documents. The takeaway – an estate plan is more than just a set of documents, it is a financial and legal plan that utilizes documents as a tool. There is enough chaos in the world right now; your estate plan should not add to it. My virtual office is OPEN and I am meeting with clients in person (if absolutely necessary), by telephone, or by video to discuss your estate, long-term care, and financial planning needs. Report: Cities are 'ground zero' for seniors, but lack accommodations
AUTHOR Jason Plautz@Jason_Plautz PUBLISHED Oct. 29, 2019
More like this in your inbox daily!We'll keep you up-to-speed with the latest smart cities news and trends in our free daily newsletter. Subscribe NowDive Insight:The report says that many American cities aren’t doing enough to prepare for the needs of an aging population, including a failure to acknowledge "the interconnection between their aging communities and their cities’ economic health and sustainability." That, said report co-author and Center for the Future of Aging Associate Director Caroline Servat, leaves governments at risk for older Americans falling behind and neglecting policies that can help all residents. "From local workforce policies that enable flexible work arrangements, to home sharing models that offer creative solutions to the affordability crunch in housing markets across the country, Age-Forward solutions hinge on a multigenerational approach to inform how cities grow, build, and care in the future," Servat said in an email. An Age-Forward perspective, she added, "fosters intergenerational engagement and opportunities." There is some progress being made. Several cities have passed age-friendly strategic plans, or enacted policies aimed at housing affordability (by age 65, approximately 40% of middle-class people fall into poverty or near-poverty, according to the report). Washington, DC, for example, has permitted accessory dwelling units to allow older people to stay in small homes on family’s property and has constructed below-market-rate housing for older residents. The Gensler Research Institute has proposed a “BoomTown” model that would convert entire neighborhoods to age-friendly communities as an alternative to retirement communities. And trends like new urbanism, complete streets and Vision Zero programs are also strategies that will help seniors, the report finds. One area that could require more attention, Servat said, is technology, as cities integrate more connected infrastructure and digital tools. Even though such strategies can help older Americans, Servat noted that it is "critical for cities to cultivate cross-sector programs to bridge the digital literacy gap for lower-income older adults and invest in the development of open data tools to help older adults navigate tech-based challenges." Recommended Reading:
Lawyer who can't find testators for over 500 wills can't toss documents, ethics opinion says BY DEBRA CASSENS WEISS JANUARY 27, 2020, 1:33 PM CST A New York lawyer who possesses more than 500 wills, many of them obtained by acquiring others’ law practices, can’t dispose of the documents after a fruitless search for the testators—people who have made wills—according to an ethics opinion by the New York State Bar Association. The Jan. 23 ethics opinion says the wills are property that must be safeguarded, Bloomberg Law reports. Some of the wills were prepared more than 70 years ago. Some were obtained from acquired law practices that had themselves obtained the wills from acquired practices. The lawyer has been unable to find the testators, executors or beneficiaries through a search of office records, the internet and the county surrogate’s court. The lawyer must retain the wills indefinitely “or act as the law may allow,” the opinion says. The opinion notes that lawyers can always seek court permission to dispose of property in a way that accords with the law. The opinion also refers to advice from a state bar committee that says lawyers can file wills with the appropriate surrogate’s court. Some county bar associations also maintain will registries where the wills could be filed. The clients should be notified of the filings in writing at their last known address, the bar committee said. The ethics opinion sums up its advice this way: “A lawyer may not dispose of wills, whose testators’ locations and/or circumstances are unknown. The wills constitute property, and the lawyer must safeguard the wills indefinitely unless the law affords the lawyer an avenue to file or otherwise dispose of the wills.”
Lawyer who can't find testators for over 500 wills can't toss documents, ethics opinion saysBY DEBRA CASSENS WEISS JANUARY 27, 2020, 1:33 PM CST Image from Shutterstock.com. A New York lawyer who possesses more than 500 wills, many of them obtained by acquiring others’ law practices, can’t dispose of the documents after a fruitless search for the testators—people who have made wills—according to an ethics opinion by the New York State Bar Association. The Jan. 23 ethics opinion says the wills are property that must be safeguarded, Bloomberg Law reports. Some of the wills were prepared more than 70 years ago. Some were obtained from acquired law practices that had themselves obtained the wills from acquired practices. The lawyer has been unable to find the testators, executors or beneficiaries through a search of office records, the internet and the county surrogate’s court. The lawyer must retain the wills indefinitely “or act as the law may allow,” the opinion says. The opinion notes that lawyers can always seek court permission to dispose of property in a way that accords with the law. The opinion also refers to advice from a state bar committee that says lawyers can file wills with the appropriate surrogate’s court. Some county bar associations also maintain will registries where the wills could be filed. The clients should be notified of the filings in writing at their last known address, the bar committee said. The ethics opinion sums up its advice this way: “A lawyer may not dispose of wills, whose testators’ locations and/or circumstances are unknown. The wills constitute property, and the lawyer must safeguard the wills indefinitely unless the law affords the lawyer an avenue to file or otherwise dispose of the wills.” ELDER LAW Why elder law is a growing, 'anything-can-happen practice' BY AMANDA ROBERT JANUARY 30, 2020, 2:53 PM CST As an elder law attorney, Kerry Peck frequently files cases involving older adults who are victims of financial abuse. In one of those cases, a retired professional whose wife had recently died found himself sitting next to a woman who was at least 20 years younger at church. Within weeks, she took him to his accountant and stockbroker to try to access his money and moved into his home. Peck requested an exam by a physician, who determined the man was cognitively impaired and filed for an emergency guardianship to freeze his assets. “People are getting more sophisticated in the way they exploit older adults,” says Peck, the managing partner of Chicago law firm Peck Ritchey. “I call these cases ‘sex for signature’ cases. That’s all this is, and it’s an epidemic.” Law and Aging logo As baby boomers age, a growing percentage of Americans are going to be facing the challenges that come along with aging. Are the American courts—and American legal professionals—ready for those challenges? Law & Aging is a new ABA Journal series examining these issues. Additional Resources • Commission on Law and Aging • Senior Lawyers Division Financial exploitation is just one component of elder law. It’s a growing area of practice that includes not only advance medical directives, estate planning, guardianship, probate and will contests, but also real estate, tax, employment, special needs, discrimination, domestic violence and Medicaid issues. The number of clients in need of these services is also skyrocketing, due in large part to the aging of baby boomers, the generation born from 1946 to 1964. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently about 73 million baby boomers. The oldest members of the group turn 74 this year, and by 2030, all of them will be at least 65. The Administration for Community Living’s latest report on older Americans also shows that the population of people who are 65 and older increased from 37.8 million in 2007 to 50.9 million in 2017. It estimates that total will reach 94.7 million in 2060. “Unlike most practices, elder law really focuses on the age of the people who we serve rather than the particular subject areas,” says Shirley Berger Whitenack, a partner at Schenck, Price, Smith & King in Florham Park, New Jersey, and a past president of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Whitenack, who started her practice in 1985, adds that unique issues facing baby boomers also make elder law different today. One of those issues arises from people of that generation living in a different financial reality than that of their parents, most of whom received pensions and Social Security retirement benefits. Many baby boomers will receive fewer benefits, she says, which could lead to problems with financing their long-term care at home, in assisted living facilities or in nursing homes. If they are not veterans or do not have long-term care insurance, they may have to rely on Medicaid once they run out of money. “Medicaid planning is a minefield, and it’s fraught with all kinds of traps for the unwary,” Whitenack says. “It really does call for counseling by good elder law attorneys.” Karen Buck is the executive director of SeniorLAW Center, a legal aid organization in Philadelphia that focuses on protecting the rights of the elderly. Many of her clients are living on $500 to $1,000 a month and face various challenges with mobility, transportation, language access, mental health and disability. “If you are facing any of those and you are on a fixed income, life is that much harder,” Buck says. “If you are about to lose your home, or someone scams you, or some other major legal issue has happened to you, it really can devastate your life. “That can be true of any low-income person, but especially of a lower-income elder person.” In addition to common challenges, Buck has seen a significant increase in clients raising their grandchildren, an issue she says is exacerbated by the opioid crisis in Pennsylvania. They often need help navigating complex family law matters, as well as related housing and health care issues. Camilla McRory, an elder law attorney with her own firm in Rockville, Maryland, agrees that “virtually every elder law case is like a bar exam question.” In a recent matter, she helped an elderly woman order a medical evaluation of her husband to determine whether he should be moved into a skilled nursing facility. He had been diagnosed with Pick’s disease, a type of age-related dementia that affects the frontal lobes of the brain, and became violent. elder law Image from Shutterstock.com. Once that was decided, McRory had to help the woman convince her husband to move as well as assist her in selling their house and purchasing a condo with less upkeep. While elder law has always been an “anything-can-happen practice,” McRory says the recent developments she has seen are with attorneys. They have grown more skilled, not only in the different practice areas that impact elderly clients, but also in their medical issues. “People think they are talking to a medical person sometimes because we have to learn so much of this stuff just to be able to serve our clients,” she says. “It’s important to convey how interdisciplinary and holistic this is.” Peck adds that attorneys who don’t practice elder law also need to understand cognitive impairment and how it can affect their clients and their matters. “You need to know your ethical obligations to determine if someone is mentally competent,” he says. “These issues are not limited exclusively to people who do estate planning or elder law, because people get old and people get sick.”
Why elder law is a growing, 'anything-can-happen practice'BY AMANDA ROBERT JANUARY 30, 2020, 2:53 PM CST Image from Shutterstock.com. As an elder law attorney, Kerry Peck frequently files cases involving older adults who are victims of financial abuse. In one of those cases, a retired professional whose wife had recently died found himself sitting next to a woman who was at least 20 years younger at church. Within weeks, she took him to his accountant and stockbroker to try to access his money and moved into his home. Peck requested an exam by a physician, who determined the man was cognitively impaired and filed for an emergency guardianship to freeze his assets. “People are getting more sophisticated in the way they exploit older adults,” says Peck, the managing partner of Chicago law firm Peck Ritchey. “I call these cases ‘sex for signature’ cases. That’s all this is, and it’s an epidemic.” As baby boomers age, a growing percentage of Americans are going to be facing the challenges that come along with aging. Are the American courts—and American legal professionals—ready for those challenges? Law & Aging is a new ABA Journal series examining these issues. Additional Resources • Commission on Law and Aging • Senior Lawyers Division Financial exploitation is just one component of elder law. It’s a growing area of practice that includes not only advance medical directives, estate planning, guardianship, probate and will contests, but also real estate, tax, employment, special needs, discrimination, domestic violence and Medicaid issues. The number of clients in need of these services is also skyrocketing, due in large part to the aging of baby boomers, the generation born from 1946 to 1964. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently about 73 million baby boomers. The oldest members of the group turn 74 this year, and by 2030, all of them will be at least 65. The Administration for Community Living’s latest report on older Americans also shows that the population of people who are 65 and older increased from 37.8 million in 2007 to 50.9 million in 2017. It estimates that total will reach 94.7 million in 2060. “Unlike most practices, elder law really focuses on the age of the people who we serve rather than the particular subject areas,” says Shirley Berger Whitenack, a partner at Schenck, Price, Smith & King in Florham Park, New Jersey, and a past president of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Whitenack, who started her practice in 1985, adds that unique issues facing baby boomers also make elder law different today. One of those issues arises from people of that generation living in a different financial reality than that of their parents, most of whom received pensions and Social Security retirement benefits. Many baby boomers will receive fewer benefits, she says, which could lead to problems with financing their long-term care at home, in assisted living facilities or in nursing homes. If they are not veterans or do not have long-term care insurance, they may have to rely on Medicaid once they run out of money. “Medicaid planning is a minefield, and it’s fraught with all kinds of traps for the unwary,” Whitenack says. “It really does call for counseling by good elder law attorneys.” Karen Buck is the executive director of SeniorLAW Center, a legal aid organization in Philadelphia that focuses on protecting the rights of the elderly. Many of her clients are living on $500 to $1,000 a month and face various challenges with mobility, transportation, language access, mental health and disability. “If you are facing any of those and you are on a fixed income, life is that much harder,” Buck says. “If you are about to lose your home, or someone scams you, or some other major legal issue has happened to you, it really can devastate your life. “That can be true of any low-income person, but especially of a lower-income elder person.” In addition to common challenges, Buck has seen a significant increase in clients raising their grandchildren, an issue she says is exacerbated by the opioid crisis in Pennsylvania. They often need help navigating complex family law matters, as well as related housing and health care issues. Camilla McRory, an elder law attorney with her own firm in Rockville, Maryland, agrees that “virtually every elder law case is like a bar exam question.” In a recent matter, she helped an elderly woman order a medical evaluation of her husband to determine whether he should be moved into a skilled nursing facility. He had been diagnosed with Pick’s disease, a type of age-related dementia that affects the frontal lobes of the brain, and became violent. Image from Shutterstock.com. Once that was decided, McRory had to help the woman convince her husband to move as well as assist her in selling their house and purchasing a condo with less upkeep. While elder law has always been an “anything-can-happen practice,” McRory says the recent developments she has seen are with attorneys. They have grown more skilled, not only in the different practice areas that impact elderly clients, but also in their medical issues. “People think they are talking to a medical person sometimes because we have to learn so much of this stuff just to be able to serve our clients,” she says. “It’s important to convey how interdisciplinary and holistic this is.” Peck adds that attorneys who don’t practice elder law also need to understand cognitive impairment and how it can affect their clients and their matters. “You need to know your ethical obligations to determine if someone is mentally competent,” he says. “These issues are not limited exclusively to people who do estate planning or elder law, because people get old and people get sick.” Warning Issued About New Social Security ScamIan Smith January 13, 2020 Current Events Comments (26)
The Social Security Inspector General (IG) recently sounded the alarm about a new scam in which thieves are emailing fake documents purporting to come from the Social Security Administration in an effort to get the victims to comply with their demands. The Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has received reports of victims who received emails with attached letters and reports that appeared to be from Social Security or Social Security OIG. The letters may use official letterhead and government “jargon” to convince victims they are legitimate, however, they may also contain misspellings and grammar mistakes which can be a tip off that they are fake. The IG says that this is the latest variation on what is a widespread and long-running scam involving Social Security. Scammers make phone calls that are either live calls or robocalls in which the caller claims to be a federal employee who says there is identity theft or another problem with one’s Social Security number, account, or benefits. The fake calls may threaten arrest or other legal action, or may offer to increase benefits, protect assets, or resolve identity theft. They often demand payment via retail gift card, cash, wire transfer, internet currency such as Bitcoin, or pre-paid debit card. Tips for Staying Vigilant to ScamsThe Social Security Administration is reminding everyone that the agency will never do any of the following:
You should never pay a government fee or fine using retail gift cards, cash, internet currency, wire transfers, or pre-paid debit cards. Scammers ask for payment this way because it is very difficult to trace and recover. What Should You Do?If you receive a call or email that you believe to be suspicious that claims to be about a problem with your Social Security number or account, hang up or do not respond. You should also report Social Security scams using SSA’s dedicated online form. Additional information about how to stay protected from scams and the latest warnings from SSA about recent scams is available at https://oig.ssa.gov/scam. Deceased Public Safety Officer’s Failure to Name Surviving Fiancée as Beneficiary of Life Insurance Policy Led to Denial of Death Benefits Claim
San Diego County Sheriff's Deputy Kenneth Collier died while on patrol. Collier was survived by his fiancée, Karen Li. Although Collier had told Li and their friends, including through video footage, that he had made arrangements for Li to be "taken care of," the beneficiary designation form for Collier's life insurance designated his mother, who predeceased Collier, as primary beneficiary and his ex-girlfriend as contingent beneficiary. The ex-girlfriend and Li ultimately arrived at a settlement, which the insurance company honored. Thereafter, Li applied for death benefits under 34 U.S.C. §10281(a) (The Public Safety Officers' Benefits Act, PSOB), which directs the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to pay a death benefit to an appropriate claimant when an officer is killed in the line of duty. The BJA denied the claim on the grounds that Li had failed to show she was a designated beneficiary of a "legal and valid" life insurance policy; a required element to support a PSOB benefits claim. Li appealed, arguing that the BJA did not properly consider the totality of the circumstances, including the video footage, Collier's statements, and the prior settlement. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the denial of benefits. The court held, in part, that Congress intended a decedent's most recent life insurance policy to be determinative of the proper beneficiary for PSOB benefits. Because section 10281(a)(4)(B) and California state insurance law requires strict compliance, the court said Li's totality-of-the-circumstances test lacked merit, and the BJA's findings were not arbitrary, capricious, or unsupported by the evidence. |
AuthorJeff Sodoma, MPA, Esq. is a lawyer based in Virginia Beach, Virginia Blog!Hello, there! Welcome to my blog. I will use this blog as a platform for my writing. I will write about topics in the legal world, certainly, as well as everything else under the sun, because I have many interests (and viewpoints). All views expressed in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are mine alone. One of my interests is music--my wife believes that I should go on "Beat Shazam" because I know so many songs--and I will be, from time to time, analyzing song lyrics and how they relate to the legal world.
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