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We have office hours in Arlington Heights,

Chicago, Skokie, and Westchester.

The attorneys at Dutton & Casey are now offering appointments in Westchester.

Conveniently located near the intersection of 294 (Tri-State) and 22nd Street (Cermak), we are easily accessible for clients in western and southern parts of Cook County and DuPage County.

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The government has tightened the rules regarding reverse mortgages, making it harder for some seniors to get these types of mortgages and reducing the amount of their home's value that they can tap. The new rules are an effort to strengthen the federal Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program, which insures almost all reverse mortgages and which has seen default rates rise.

A reverse mortgage allows a homeowner who is at least 62 years old to use the equity in his or her home to obtain a loan that does not have to be repaid until the homeowner moves, sells, or dies. In a reverse mortgage, the homeowner receives a sum of money from the lender, usually a bank, based largely on the value of the house, the age of the borrower, and current interest rates. Seniors sometimes use the loans to pay for long-term care.

The loans are expensive and controversial. In recent years, there have been complaints over problems with reverse mortgages, including large costs, aggressive marketing techniques, and the danger of default if insurance and property taxes aren't paid on time. Encouraged by lenders, more homeowners withdrew the entire loan amount all at once, straining the HECM program's reserve funds.

The government began addressing these problems last year by eliminating one of the most popular types of reverse mortgage, the HECM Standard fixed-rate, lump-sum reverse mortgage. The new rules make changes to who can take out loans, the amount they borrow, and the pricing:

• Who can borrow money? Borrowers are now required to undergo a financial assessment to ensure they can make insurance and property tax payments. If a lender determines you are a risk to default on insurance or tax payments, you may be required to set aside money to make those payments.
• Amount you can borrow? Before the new rules, homeowners had the choice of two programs: HECM standard, which allowed for higher loans, and HECM saver, which had smaller loans and smaller fees. The government has merged these two programs, and the new maximum loan amount is about 10-15 percent less than in the standard, but slightly higher than in the saver.
• Fees: Previously, the upfront fee to take out an HECM standard was 2 percent of the property's value, while a HECM saver was .01 percent. The new fee is .5 percent on smaller loans, but individuals who take out a loan that is more than 60 percent of their home's value will pay a 2.5 percent fee.
• First-year limit: During the first year of a loan, homeowners can only withdraw up to 60 percent of the loan amount.

"The changes really put the product on track as a long-term financial planning tool as opposed to a crisis management tool," Ramsey Alwin, Senior Director of Economic Security at the National Council on Aging, told New York Times.

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Increasingly, several generations of American families are  living together. According to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census data, more than 50 million Americans, or almost 17 percent of the population, live in households containing two adult generations. These multi-generational living arrangements present legal and financial challenges around home ownership.

We have numerous programs, for community  members and professionals, planned for 2014.

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Inpatient or Observation Status in the Hospital 

Medicare beneficiary's inpatient or outpatient status in a hospital affects the way that Medicare bills the beneficiary as well as whether the patient qualifies for Skilled Nursing Facility care following the hospital stay, so it is vital for a beneficiary to understand their rights.

The Center for Medicare Advocacy and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid offer information that describes the issue surrounding observation status and provides steps that patients can take to try and resolve the issue.

Note: In Illinois, hospitals are not required to tell a patient if they are being put under observation status or being admitted to the hospital, so it is important for the patient to ask.

information from the Center for Medicare Advocacy

information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 

 Source: Make Medicare Work Coalition  

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