Structured Settlements 4Real® Blog: Structured Settlements | Settlement Planning News and Commentary

Life Insurance is a Powerful Settlement Planning Tool

A review of life insurance needs at the time of case settlement can help round out a good settlement plan. For example where there is a shared burden caring for a special needs child, the loss of a spouse would double the burden at a time when the surviving spouse is dealing with their own grief. Life insurance can help. Stamford, Connecticut settlement consultant John Darer, who has 28 years of experience placing life insurance, frames the issues for both plaintiffs and attorneys.

            

 

Other blog posts by John Darer which discuss the use of life insurance as a settlement planning tool.

Take New York CPLR Article 50B Judgment or Take Settlement?

New York State CPLR 50A  and CPLR 50B Structured Judgments Video

Tuition for Special Needs Child Considered Deductible Medical Expense

by John Darer CLU ChFC CSSC

In IRS Private Letter Ruling PLR 200729019 the IRS concluded that the program offered by a school  was designed primarily to enable a child to compensate for and overcome a child's diagnosed medical conditions and therefore it was a "special school" within the meaning of Reg. Section 1.213-1(e)(1)(v)(a). So the tuition paid for the child to that school was deductible as a medical cost under IRC § 213.

IRC§213(a) provides that expenses paid during the taxable year, not compensated for by insurance or otherwise, for medical care of the taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, and dependents (terrm is defined in IRC § 152) are deductible to the extent such expenses exceed 7.5 percent of the taxpayer's adjusted gross income.

Postscript

The medical expense threshold rises to 10.5% of your adjusted gross income for those younger than 65 in 2013.