Publications
Works by Gilfix & La Poll Associates LLP
At Gilfix and La Poll, we aim to provide you with helpful resources, including articles, books, newsletters and other publications. Please note that they do not constitute legal advice. Please contact us to answer any questions about Trusts, Durable Powers of Attorney for asset management, Advance Health Care Directives, and any other appropriate planning options.
Our Books
Special Needs Trust Creation and Management Guide with ABLE Act Updates
3rd Edition now available!
Special Needs Trusts are the essential planning document for individuals with disabilities. They can hold any amount of money to provide a lifelong safety net without disturbing eligibility for needs-based government benefits. This guide is designed for use by parents and by those who serve as trustees or managers of Special Needs Trusts.
Our goal is to identify the most important issues that arise and to suggest how they might be addressed. Above all, this guide is designed to be practical. It is a "must read" for everyone who has a family member with a disability. Our focus is on the operation of Special Needs Trusts in California, though it is generally reliable for guidance in any state. Special Needs Trusts are the creature of and authorized by federal law. In some ways, state law can affect their operation.
Beat Estate Tax Forever: Planning for Future Generations
2nd Edition now available!
IF YOUR ESTATE IS WORTH MORE THAN $3 MILLION TODAY, you must plan to avoid the estate tax. In and after 2013, everything in your estate beyond $5.35 million will be taxed at 40% upon your passing. As your estate grows, you must be aware of this. The future is unclear, and this number could be lowered significantly in the future.
This timely, readable book explains how you can plan to avoid this outcome. It gives an overview of the estate planning process, and the steps you need to take to protect your family. It explains that we have remarkable opportunities to plan ahead, and shows you how to take these steps. You can plan to protect everything if your estate is under $5 million, or under $10 million if you are a couple, from this controversial tax. If your estate is even larger, this book explains how you can protect even more. These opportunities might not last.
In this book, nationally renowned expert, author, lecturer, and estate planning practitioner Michael Gilfix gives you guidance and action steps so you can avoid the estate tax rather than fall victim to it.
In this book, nationally renowned expert, author, lecturer, and estate planning practitioner Michael Gilfix gives you guidance and action steps so you can avoid the estate tax rather than fall victim to it.
You Are and Should Be Worried About the Cost of Long-Term Care
You are reading this book because you are concerned, perhaps worried to your wits' end, about getting and paying for quality long-term care for yourself or a loved one. You are looking for reliable, understandable information about options, different levels of care, and how the potentially devastating cost can be paid.
This book will deliver. Based on over 40 years’ experience, the authors answer your questions and give you the information you need to develop a plan that works for you. It is "agnostic," in that it does not presume a solution for any given situation. It identifies the three ways the cost can be covered – paying out of your own pocket or "self-insuring," purchasing long-term care insurance, or looking to Medi-Cal and other government programs that can pay all or part of the cost of long-term care. Often, it is a combination of two or all three of these approaches.
The authors appreciate that these challenges are difficult and emotional. Their goal is to make this complicated world of long-term care – and long-term care financing – manageable for you and your family.