Anyone who has been following our blog knows that the expiring Bush tax cuts (including the repeal of the estate tax this year and the tax’s reinstatement next year) have given lawmakers no end of trouble as they struggle and debate—and debate and struggle—to agree on new tax legislation moving forward. In fact, The Wall Street Journal calls the issue “a ticking time bomb,” while the New York Times warns that “an epic fight is brewing.” It seems that the only thing everyone does agree on is that something has to be done before December 31, 2010.

Unfortunately, according to both news sources, politics takes precedence over legislation. “The tax fight will serve as a proxy for the bigger political clashes of the year, including the size of government and the best way of handling the tepid economic recovery,” warns David M. Herszenhorn of the NY Times, “’…this is code for the role of the federal government, the debate over the size of government and the priorities of the nation.’”

According to David Wessel of the WSJ party lines are clearly drawn. “The Obama administration is pressing to extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone with an income under $250,000 a year and to raise taxes on those above. A recent Pew/National Journal poll found that only 11% of Democrats favor extending all the Bush tax cuts.” Meanwhile, “Republicans are happily staking out the no-new-taxes turf, playing to their traditional constituency. Pew says 52% of Republicans favor extending all the Bush tax cuts.”

It would certainly give taxpayers some comfort if legislation could be passed quickly and decisively, but Herszenhorn warns that it’s not likely to happen, “Given the partisan gridlock of recent months, there is a chance that the battle could go down to the last minute, or even — in the face of a stalemate — that the tax cuts could be allowed to expire completely, a development that… lawmakers in both parties say could be the worst outcome.”

Either way, the best advice we can give our readers is to be prepared. Just because lawmakers keep putting off a decision doesn’t mean you should. Talk to your attorney about the best way for your family to weather the coming storm. Be aware of changes to tax laws and update your estate plan accordingly.

Everybody thinks it won’t happen to them. Or rather, everybody knows it’s going to happen to them eventually, but nobody thinks it’s going to happen tomorrow, or next week, or even next year. The “it” of which I speak is, of course, death. It is this perceived immortality that allows so many people to put off their estate planning until it is too late.

But today’s blog post is not a cautionary tale about a family who put off their planning and regretted it, today’s post is about the peace and relief that forethought and planning brings not just to your family, but to you as the person making the plan.

In this article in Market Watch Chuck Jaffe tells the moving story of his brother Rob, who insisted 2 years ago on creating an estate plan even though he and his wife were both healthy. As Jaffe puts it, “While not pleasant subject matter, it was not morbid… you’d rather be drinking lemonade on the veranda, but it wasn’t a sharp stick in the eye.” However, when Rob became unexpectedly ill in May of this year the estate plan turned out to be a comfort to Rob and his family—such a comfort, according to Jaffe, that Rob “made me [Chuck] promise that I would write about him… when his time was up, because his story would help others.”

“People need to understand… how big a blessing it is to know — when their time comes — that they have everything in order, that they don’t need to stress or worry about how things they worked their whole life for are going to turn out. … I would not want to waste a minute of my life now having to do estate planning or worrying that I live long enough to get documents filed or whatever garbage comes with it… Focusing on death and dying while you are living, that’s easy; having to focus on death when you are dying, that would be unimaginable.”

In our business we frequently see how much easier it is for people to create a plan when they’re healthy, as opposed to the stress that comes with creating a plan when they are sick. Thank you Mr. Jaffe for sharing your brother’s moving story. We hope that your (and your brother’s) words will help motivate others to take comfort in planning ahead.

Our country may be facing a simultaneous growth and recession… unfortunately, according to journalist John Leland, the two seem to be at odds. What we are referring to is the growth of the elderly population and the recession of funds available to help this aging community pay for the care they need.

The economic downturn of the past few years has hit the elderly with a double-whammy. Many of them lost close to all of their savings when the stock market bottomed out, and now budget cuts to state-funded home-care services threaten to force many of them out of their homes and into hospitals or nursing facilities.

“’I’m not getting a cost-of-living adjustment, and now I’m not getting food,’ said Joyce Plennert, 83, who is on a waiting list for Meals on Wheels in Palatine, Ill. ‘Now I’m worried my home services will be cut. Without that, I’d be in a nursing home, if I could find one with room.’”

According to the above-mentioned NY Times article, a number of states have already made cuts to home-care services, including Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Texas. “The situation is grim, and it’s safe to say that present trends are expected to continue,”

These budget cuts impact more than just senior citizens—they affect the professional caregivers and home aides who lose their jobs when state programs are cancelled, as well as the families of the elderly. When these seniors lose their ability to live at home it’s their families who will have to pick up the slack either by contributing to the costs of care or more often by become the caregiver themselves.

If you or a loved one is facing a loss of benefits due to budget cuts don’t be afraid to explore your options. Geriatric care managers can help families through confusing times, and other advisors such as elder lawyers, estate planners, financial planners and others can offer invaluable advice when creating your plan for the future.