Many of our wonderful clients are animal lovers (we are too!)

Your creatures are quirky and beloved members of your family but, alas, they can’t take care of themselves. And some pets-like parrots-live for a long, long time.

We regularly provide for pets in people’s estate plans.

While you can’t leave money property directly to a pet, you can name a caretaker in your will and leave that person money to care for your creatures.

You could also consider the use of a pet trust, where a trustee of your choosing makes payments on a regular basis to your pet’s caregiver and pays for your pet’s needs as they come up.

Questions about planning for your pet?

Bring them to meet us (yes, really.)

We have a face for radio!

Big thanks to Emmis Communications & our friends at Joy’s House for inviting Stasia to join them for “Caregiver Crossing,” a program designed to provide information and support to anyone caring for a loved one. (They even provided Girl Scout cookies for sustenance.)

Stasia discussed ABLE accounts, along with Indiana State Treasurer, Kelly Mitchell, and Amy Corbin, the Executive Director of Indiana’s ABLE program, INvestABLE Indiana.

ABLE accounts, also known as 529A accounts, allow eligible people with disabilities and their families an easy way to save money (up to a certain threshold) without jeopardizing their benefits for Medicaid and Social Security.

Indiana’s ABLE program (INvestABLE Indiana) was launched in 2017 and we regularly recommend it to our clients with disabilities and their families.

Now, Indiana ABLE Authority and the Treasurer’s office are working to improve the program by the addition of a tax credit.

INvestABLE Indiana accounts currently do not afford the same tax benefits as the CollegeChoice 529 programs, but Senate Bill 559 and House Bill 1350 are before members of the Indiana General Assembly this session. This legislation would correct that dissimilarity and provide contributors of both programs the same tax incentives.

The digest of the language for both introduced bills is as follows:

“ABLE account tax credit. Creates a stand-alone credit for contributions to Indiana ABLE accounts. Provides that a taxpayer is entitled to a credit against adjusted gross income tax equal to the least of: (1) 20% of the amount of the total contributions made by the taxpayer to an account or accounts of an Indiana ABLE 529A savings plan during the taxable year; (2) $1,000; or (3) the amount of the taxpayer’s adjusted gross income tax for the taxable year, reduced by the sum of all allowable credits. Provides that a taxpayer is not entitled to a carryback, carryover, or refund of an unused credit. Provides that a taxpayer may not sell, assign, convey, or otherwise transfer the tax credit. Provides that an account owner of an Indiana ABLE 529A savings plan must repay all or a part of the credit in a taxable year in which any nonqualified withdrawal is made. Provides that a rollover of assets or transfer of assets to an Indiana ABLE 529A account is a qualified withdrawal from a college choice 529 education savings plan.”

We’ll definitely be watching the progress of this bill. And we strongly support any legislation that further incentivizes opportunities for financial literacy and mobility for people with disabilities.

Happy New Year to you and yours!

Here’s to eating clean, moving more, being more intentional with time, and getting those little ducks in a row.

We usually get a deluge of estate planning inquiries in January as people make good on those resolutions.

Let us know if we can help.