Elder Law Commons^™

Covid-19 And Its Impact On America's Retirement System, David M. English

Faculty Publications

There is a long-standing debate over whether America's retirement system is in crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has resolved the debate. Perhaps the system was merely challenged prior to March 2020, but it is certainly in crisis now. The pandemic has negatively impacted all four of the principal pillars of retirement: Social Security, employer-sponsored retirement programs, earnings from part-time work, and the worker's own savings. This short article will discuss the impact of the pandemic on the retirement system and discuss possible ways to restore the system to health or at least ameliorate the damage.

The Perils Of Self-Directed Iras, Kathryn Kennedy

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Individual retirement accounts were created in 1974 as tax-sheltered retirement savings for employees whose employer did not offer an employer-provided retirement vehicle. Since then, they have been used primarily as rollover vehicles, such that amounts accumulated under employer-provided retirement plans can be rolled over into an individual retirement account. This Article examines the perils involved with a rollover IRA owner decides to invest his IRA assets in non-traditional assets.

America Is Selling Its Seniors Short, Constantine N. Katsoris

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Behavioral Economic Case For Paternalistic Workplace Retirement Plans, Paul M. Secunda

Indiana Law Journal

Dependence on 401(k) retirement accounts continues to cause a massive retirement crisis in the United States by leaving most workers unprepared for retirement. The voluntary, inaccessible, employer-centered, expensive, and consumer-driven natures of these plans have combined to make retirement a type of corporate-inspired elder abuse in America.

Behavioral economics considers the utility of permitting individual choice in decision-making settings. Many, however, have been misled to believe that greater choice is always better. Yet, according to one prominent commentator, this consumer-driven paradigm will lead to 48% of current workers between the ages of fifty and sixty-four being poor when they reach …

Getting The Most Out Of Your 401(K), Emily G. Brown Jd, Jeanne Medeiros Jd

Pension Action Center Publications

Planning for your retirement is an active and ongoing endeavor. It requires a certain amount of diligence and knowledge to ensure you have an adequate amount of financial stability at retirement. In order to safeguard your economic security, it is important to know if you are getting the most out of your 401(k) retirement savings account. This factsheet provides basic information about enrolling in a 401(k) retirement savings account and important items to keep in mind once you are enrolled.

Understanding The Differences Between Defined Benefit Pension And Defined Contribution, Emily G. Brown Jd, Jeanne Medeiros Jd

Pension Action Center Publications

In recent years, more and more employers are offering employees defined contribution plans instead of defined benefit plans. Although, there has been a shift away from the defined benefit pension plan, it is important for employees to understand the difference and value of both pension plans.

Each type of pension plan has both advantages and disadvantages. What may appear as an advantage to one person might seem to be a disadvantage to another person. For example, a person who spends all or most of her career with a single employer will have very different concerns from someone who changes jobs …

Understanding The Specialized Language Of Retirement Plans, Emily G. Brown Jd, Jeanne Medeiros Jd

Pension Action Center Publications

Whether you are a participant in a defined benefit plan or a defined contribution plan, the realm of pension benefits can be tricky and confusing to navigate. Some of the terminology used might be unfamiliar to the average person. This glossary of common terms associated with retirement plans is meant to serve as a helpful resource for plan participants.

Financial Security Scorecard: A State-By-State Analysis Of Economic Pressures Facing Future Retirees, Christian Weller, Nari Rhee, Carolyn Arcand

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

As Americans increasingly worry about their retirement prospects, states play an important and growing role in retirement security policy. States already manage long-term care programs for the elderly through Medicaid. Concerned about the impact of future elder poverty on state and local budgets and their local economies, a number of states are exploring the creation of low-cost and low-risk retirement savings plans for private sector workers who lack access to pensions or 401(k)s on the job. Some states have developed programs to help older workers find work.

This report presents the Financial Security Scorecard, designed to inform state-level stakeholders and …

The Shifting Focus Of Federal Intervention In Retiree Health Benefits, Susan E. Cancelosi

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Case For Reforming The Program's Spouse Benefits While "Saving Social Security", Peter W. Martin

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

The Social Security Act currently provides secondary benefits to the wives or widows of covered workers who retire, become disabled, or die. To qualify, a woman must have been married to the worker for a short period and must be old (sixty-two, dropping to sixty in the case of a widow, fifty in the case of a disabled widow) or caring for children under sixteen. If a wife’s or widow’s primary retired-worker or disability benefits equal or exceed her secondary benefit entitlement, she receives only the primary benefits. However, if her secondary benefit amount is greater she receives both her …

Naming A Trust As The Beneficiary Of A Qualified Retirement Plan Or Ira, Barbara Freedman Wand

Marquette Elder's Advisor

In this column Wand explores the advantages and disadvantages of naming a trust as a retirement plan beneficiary. Reasons such as investment management, spendthrift concerns, and second marriages are discussed, as well as the possible loss of tax advantages that might occur. Particular strategies for overcoming obstacles and fulfilling a multitude of requirements are explored.

Aging In Place: Naturally Occuring Retirement Communities And Condominium Living, Ellen Hirsch De Haan

Marquette Elder's Advisor

As more and more senior citizens choose to grow older in familiar surroundings, condominium and community associations now may have to grapple with the problems encountered as members age, such as physical and mental impairment and incipient decrepitude. How association officers can (and should) deal with these situations as well as the legal issues involved is discussed at length.

Retirees Can Benefit From Roth Iras, Sara Buscher

Marquette Elder's Advisor

Contrary to past beliefs, Roth IRAs can benefit retirees. This article discusses retirement planning for individuals of retirement age. This article also discusses how Roth IRA conversions can optimize retirement income, strengthen estates, and reducing tax liabilities.

Marital Deduction Planning: Naming A Trust As Beneficiary Of Retirement Plan Benefits, Barbara Freedman Wand

Marquette Elder's Advisor

This article discusses marital deduction planning for retirement plan assets when a trust will be named a beneficiary. The author discusses the necessity for careful planning and numerous issues that must be considered

Reconfiguring Social Security For The 21st Century, Susan A. Channick

Marquette Elder's Advisor

This article focuses on In the Matter of the Guardianship and Protective Placement of Jimmie L. v. Sauk County. The guardian in the case was appointed in one state, but the guardian desired to relocate to another state. The article also explores the use of the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act where issues arise in interstate guardianship.

Advising Clients Regarding Lifetime Distributions From Qualified Retirement Plans, Barbara Freedman Wand

Marquette Elder's Advisor

This column reviews various requirements of qualified retirement plans, their myriad rules and requirements, and how uninformed decision-making can negatively impact a client's overall program. Wand's column is intended to aid an attorney in advising clients as to the appropriate choices.

Elderlaw: The Top Ten Social Security Questions, Andy Landis

Marquette Elder's Advisor

No abstract provided.

A Win/Win Scenario For The Senior Key Employee And The Closely Held Business Owner: Nonqualified Deferred Compensation, Grace C. Wellwerts

Marquette Elder's Advisor

Seniors are living and staying employed longer. Wellwerts discusses how being strategic, a client can defer inflation-adjusted income into retirement years.

Planning And Experiencing The Move To A Continuing Care Retirement, Mary Anne Erickson, John A. Krout

Marquette Elder's Advisor

This article suggest that continuing care retirement communities have become more common. While expensive, they offer many amenities as well as long term care

Texas' Nursing Home Enforcement System, Lowell A. Keig, Rande K. Herrell

Marquette Elder's Advisor

This article examines Texas' nursing home regulation system, and suggest that it should be a national model.

Retirement Account Distributions: A Journey Through The New Rules, Catherine M. Priebe Hertzberg

Marquette Elder's Advisor

This article examines new proposed regulations that make changes to minimum required distribution rules for IRAs and other retirement accounts

Social Security Reform: Creating Transformative Opportunities For African Americans, Pheobe Weaver Williams

Marquette Elder's Advisor

The Social Security retirement income program provides important security to nearly all workers in the U.S. Professor Williams reviews aspects of the Social Security system and proposes reforms in order to provide equitable protection.

New Regulations Simplify Required Distributions From Iras And Certain Qualified Deferred Compensation Plans, Richard Mandel

Marquette Elder's Advisor

In April 2002, the IRS released new regulations that greatly simplify the rules regarding required distributions from IRAs and certain qualified retirement plains. This articles summarizes these new rules by applying them to the two categories into which each retiree must fall and analyzing the effect of the four possible beneficiary designations available to retirees.

"Super Charging" Your Clients' Retirement Portfolios, Robert P. Kreitler

Marquette Elder's Advisor

Most retirees' main objective is to maximize income and ensure that they do not run out of money. This is different from the preretirement years, when maximizing total return is typically the client's goal. The often neglected immediate fixed annuity is unique in its ability to "super charge" a portfolio. It can increase income and guarantee it for life.

Elders In The Workforce: Advantage And Disadvantages Of Staying On The Job, Monica Pikoske

Marquette Elder's Advisor

Is it wise to encourage older employees to delay retirement? Some statistics say yes. While there are benefits to continuing to work, however, there are also financial consequences. This article discusses the advantages and drawbacks of staying in the workforce beyond the age of sixty-five.

Essay: Housing Trends For The 21st Century, Ellen Hirsch De Haan

Marquette Elder's Advisor

This essay describes the changes in housing availability over the last two centuries and offers projections of what this century might bring, and how possible changes will affect the elderly. Discussion includes condominiums, cooperatives, and planned communities, and how these types of ownership can relate to retirees. The return to higher density housing along with mixed land usage is discussed in detail.

Tax Planning For Retirement , Vada Waters Lindsey

Marquette Elder's Advisor

As increasing life expectancy and inflation diminish the purchasing power of retirement savings, careful tax planning to maximize funds available to seniors is necessary. Lindsey discusses the taxation of various types of retirement income including traditional and Roth IRAs and Social Security benefits, and explains how careful planning can reduce income and estate taxes. The disparate effects of state income and estate taxes are also explored.

Union-Negotiated Lifetime Retiree Health Benefits: Promise Or Illusion, William T. Payne, Pamina Ewing

Marquette Elder's Advisor

This article discusses the legal theories and causes of action that are commonly associated with claims for benefits of retirees. The authors begin by discussing the way contractual benefits are analyzed by the courts, including the determination of a governing document, the Yard-Man Inference, and the use of extrinsic evidence when governing documents are ambiguous. The authors then discuss several potential claims employees may raise in an attempt to secure benefits, such as promissory estoppel, equitable estoppel, and breach of fiduciary duty. The authors conclude by stating that although they have attempted to lay out the claims associated with retiree …

Continuing Care Retirement Communities Versus The Fair Housing Act: Independent Living And Involuntary Transfer , D. Trey Jordan

Marquette Elder's Advisor

America's population is aging. The Baby Boomers are beginning to reach retirement age. The number and percentage of seniors is dramatically increasing, and the numbers will explode in 2011, as the Baby Boomers begin to reach age sixty-five. With an aging population, issues including Social Security, health care, Medicaid, and housing must be addressed. This article focuses on the issue of senior citizen housing and the Fair Housing Act (FHA). In particular, this article explores the applications of independent living requirements or active senior clauses in assisted living development housing contracts under the Fair Housing Act.

Reality Check: The Dra's Impact On Seniors With Disabilities And Their Caregivers , Kim Dayton

Marquette Elder's Advisor

This article discusses the hardships on seniors with disabilities who are unable to qualify for Medicaid under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The author argues for the repeal of the DRA and calls for policymakers and politicians to work towards a long-term care financing scheme that fairly distributes the costs of long term care across the broader population. The author begins by laying out the arguments that the nation cannot afford the cost of long-term care for the elderly and disabled, their entitlement to such care should be minimized, and individuals should plan for their own healthcare. The author …