Ronald Morton's Elder Law Blog

Public Seminar Schedule

The firm hosted a series of estate planning seminars for the public in January and March.  Future seminars are scheduled for June 14th, 15th, and 16th. In this popular seminar, we discuss why most estate plans fail to address the real problems that real people face, and what to do about it.  The seminar offers practical solutions to problems like protecting an inheritance from a foolish child or a divorcing spouse, or preserving an estate from the cost of long term care.  If you know someone who might benefit from this seminar, please direct them to our registration site at www.theassetprotector.com where they can obtain further details and register, or simply have them call.

Bootcamps Return

By popular demand, in June we will resume our monthly Bootcamp for Advisors series, where we provide 16 hours of continuing education to insurance professionals, certified public accountants, and certified financial planners, on planning techniques that can help them better serve their clients.  The new seminar has been updated to reflect planning techniques under the new estate tax law.  If you are a professional advisor and are interested in attending one of these two day events, please feel free to contact our office for dates and locations. 

What have you been up to lately?

The first half of 2011 has proven to be a busy one for the Morton Law Firm.  As part of our ongoing commitment to cutting edge service to our clients, firm members attended seminars throughout the country during the early months of the year: Veteran’s Special Pension Benefits for Aid and Attendance, held in Dallas Texas; Effective Client Communication training in Las Vegas, Nevada; and Medicaid Benefits and Planning in Phoenix, Arizona.  In May, the firm will attend an event hosted by the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorney’s in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

The firm has also hosted several client education and appreciation events in 2011.  In March, we hosted a seminar designed to educate clients on recent changes to the estate tax code, and introduced to our clients our newest service, the Client Annual Maintenance Plan (CAMP), where clients can receive additional member-only services, member-only discounts, and the assurance of an annually updated estate plan that accomplishes their goals for a predictable annual fee.

HIPAA Fine

A health care provider, Cignet, was fined over $4 million for a violation of HIPAA.  Article here.  While the primary experience that most people have with HIPAA is to keep their health care info private from third parties, ironically this fine actually arose from Cignet's failure to disclose requested healthcare documents to the requesting patient.  While HIPAA is over 15 years old, this is the first fine under HIPAA that I am aware of.