Effective January 1, 2024, the Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance (MMMNA) is $3,854 per month. This is the maximum amount the well spouse (the “community spouse”) can keep of the income of the spouse in a nursing home. However, this amount can be raised by a judge if the community spouse can prove they need a higher amount to keep them in their accustomed standard of living. For more details, go the Staker|Johnson webpage on Medi-Cal planning for skilled nursing in California found at https://stakerjohnson.com/medi-cal-planning/ Link to California Department of Health Care Services Al ..read more

Estate Tax, Gift Tax and Generation Skipping Transfer Tax Exemptions Raised to $13,610,000 in 2024. The IRS has announced in Revenue Procedure 2023-34 that in 2024 the exemptions for the Estate Tax, Gift Tax and Generation Skipping Transfer Tax will be raised to $13,610,000. These exemptions are raised for inflation from $10,000,000 since 2010. The exemption had been $5,000,000 indexed for inflation since 2010. However, the 2017 Tax Act doubled the exemption to $10,000,000 indexed for inflation. The exact number is found in Section 3.41 of the Revenue Procedure. The text states: .41 Unified Cr ..read more

The word on the street from those smarter than I to do the calculations is the number for the 2024 Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Tax exemptions is $13,610,000. The IRS should be coming out with the official figure soon. Kevin Staker ..read more

StakerLaw Property Tax Alert: California voters recently passed Proposition 19. Hidden is a provision that dramatically restricts a parent from passing along their low Proposition 13 property tax base to their children. After February 15, 2021, the low property tax base can only be passed along for the “family home” and only if the child makes it his or her primary residence and only up to $1,000,000 beyond the present assessed value. Thereafter, the child will not be able to rent out the home without triggering a property tax reassessment. In the past and until February 15, 2021, a parent can ..read more

Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Exemptions in 2020   The IRS has announced the transfer tax exemptions for 2020 have increased to $11,580,000 in 2020.  See Internal Revenue Service Revenue Procedure 2019-44, https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-19-44.pdf. By Kevin Staker ..read more

2019 Statewide Average Private Pay Rate for Nursing Facility Services On February 15, 2019, the California Department of Health Care Services announced the 2019 Statewide Average Private Pay Rate for Nursing Facility Services, also commonly known as the APPR, is now $9,337.  This is the amount used to calculate the period of ineligibility if a recipient of long term care assistance under Medi-Cal is disqualified from receiving benefits arising out of gifts of non-exempt assets. This All County Welfare Directors Letter 19-07 is found at https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/medi-cal/eligibility/…/20 ..read more