Page 14 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, July 21, 2023 MUSINGS | FROM PAGE 3 CASH VALUE LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES period. If the policies are paid up with no more required premiums to be paid, the life insurance policies can be transferred to an irrevocable trust as well in order to commence the five year look back period. Keep in mind that since term I f applying for MassHealth it is important to realize that MassHealth will count the cash value in a whole life, universal life or variable universal life insurance policy if the face value of the policy is greater than $1,500. This is important as the community spouse can have no more than $148,620 in countable assets and the nursing home spouse can only have $2,000 or less in countable assets in order to be eligible for MassHealth long-term care benefits. If the community spouse has two cash value life insurance policies and each has a face value of $800, then the total face value would exceed $1,500 thereby rendering the cash value of both policies a countable asset. If the cash value policies are owned by the spouse applying for MassHealth benefits, ownership of the policies can be transferred to the community spouse in order to reduce the nursing home spouse’s countable assets to less than $2,000. There is no disqualifying transfer when one spouse transfers countable assets to the other spouse. However, the community spouse’s total countable assets cannot exceed $148,620, including the total cash value of all of the life insurance policies. An advanced planning strategy might be to transfer ownership of the policies to the children in order to commence the five year look back period. Each of your children could also be the beneficiary of each life insurance policy. This will serve to remove the countable asset out of the name(s) of the parent(s) when you feel confident neither of the parents will be applying for MassHealth benefits prior to the expiration of the five year look back insurance policies have no cash value, they are not countable assets for MassHealth eligibility purposes. The community spouse would certainly want to make sure that the children are named the beneficiaries of the life insurance policy and not the spouse who is entering a nursing home who is either applying for MassHealth benefits or who is already on MassHealth. Another option would be for the community spouse to name his or her estate as the beneficiary of the life insurance policies (cash value or term) and include a testamentary trust provision in his or her Will that would provide discretionary distributions of income and principal for the nursing home spouse. Assets in such a testamentary trust would not be a countable asset for MassHealth purposes and income and principal distributions would serve to provide supplemental benefits to the nursing home spouse that would not be provided by MassHealth or any other governmental programs. With advanced planning, you can transfer ownership of any life insurance policy to an irrevocable trust in order to remove the policy from the countable resource pool. Five years after such a transfer, the cash value in any life insurance policy will no longer be countable. If the insured were to die, the death benefit would be paid to the Trust and the surviving spouse would be entitled to the income generated from the investment of the life insurance proceeds, but not be entitled to receive any principal. It is always good to review your life insurance policies in order to determine if any advanced planning strategies should be employed. Joseph D. Cataldo is an estate planning/elder law attorney, Certified Public Accountant, Certified Financial Planner, AICPA Personal Financial Specialist and holds a master’s degree in taxation. Wishoski – Malden Catholic, 1965 – speaks: “Peter, I just read your piece on Red Harris. It was excellent and as usual you were able to make the Edgeworth connection in a nice way. The Harris family lived on Watts Street, right in the middle of Edgeworth, before moving to Boundary Road (my sister Diane told me there were some questions about Red’s Edgeworth birthright on Facebook). So, you had it right. Other players on the 1965 team from Edgeworth were: Steve Harris (Red’s brother), Richie Cullen (Pleasant Street), Tom Denehy and Bob Ciccarelli (Malden Street), me (Emerald Street) and Frank Schifano (Whitman Street). In addition, that team produced three All Scholastics (Red, Neil Hurley and Rich Cullen) and seven Division 1 college football players. I really enjoy reading your stuff. Keep up the good work.” Thank you so much, Steve, and tell that lovely sister of yours I said hello! • How about the late Maglione brothers (Lou and Anthony) donating their combined life savings of $6 million to WGBH-TV?! What a wonderful way of showing their appreciation for all the joy they received from GBH. Both brothers were part of the “Old Y” family and could be spotted at any given point in the day at the Y getting their workout in. • Malden/Medford-based rock band Extreme’s latest album “Six” is blowing up all over the world. They keep adding concert dates across the globe, and it looks like you won’t be catching Gary at Starbucks anytime soon. • Best of luck to Dunkin’ (619 Broadway) owner John Malachowski on the Grand Reopening last week of that location. John is one of the good guys and I’d like to personally wish him the best! • The hanging plants at the corner of North Milton and Salem Streets look fabulous! • Coincidence? I think not. The first two reaching out to me with their top hitters from the past 75 years were 1970 BRL Co-MVP’s Dave Caiazzo and Dennis Damiano. Dennis mentioned that for him Paul Murphy was the purest, the most natural hitter he ever saw in Malden. Paul was before my time BUT from what I have heard through the years, Dennis is spot on. As Peter Falk’s iconic TV character Columbo would say, “Just one more thing, sir” – déjà vu all over again... speaking of Extreme and Gary Cherone, let’s hear from M.H.S. Class of 1964’s Aaron Mintz: “My brother (Mayer) and I read your nostalgic columns religiously online and always appreciate your writings for the wonderful memories they bring back. We grew up in Suffolk Square in the 1950’s. My brother ended up as Chief of Surgery at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital and told me an incredible story that I flagged right away as one I told him that ‘Peter Levine would want to hear and perhaps use.’ Even after I gushed about the story, my brother was reticent about contacting you, so I said I would do it and here I am. Here are ~ Legal Notice ~ NOTICE OF FUNDING AVAILABILITY (NOFA) American Rescue Plan Act Funds Available for Vacant Property Acquisition and Development The City of Malden has received $45.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Local Fiscal Recovery funds and has granted $2 million to the Malden Redevelopment Authority (MRA) to acquire, rehabilitate, and sell vacant and blighted properties as affordable homes to income-eligible households. The City of Malden is seeking proposals from non-profit housing developers, for-profit housing developers, and public housing authorities to develop affordable homeownership under the Neighborhood Hub Program. Eligible projects for ARPA funding include the acquisition, rehabilitation, or new construction of affordable homeownership. The City’s Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development (OSPCD) will review applications for accuracy and completion. OSPCD staff may request additional information after an application has been received. The full Notice of Funding Availability will be available at https://www.cityofmalden. org/bids.aspx beginning on Wednesday, June 28th, 2023. Applications are available upon request and will be accepted on a rolling basis. Please direct any questions to Kristina Tseng, HOME Director, at ktseng@cityofmalden.org June 30, July 7, 14, 21, 2023 REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS BUYER1 NIEMEYER, JAMES D PINKHAM JR, DAVID T BUYER2 NIEMEYER, DAVID C SELLER1 WILION, HAROLD PINKHAM, SUSAN E SELLER2 PINKHAM, DAVID T Copyrighted material previously published in Banker & Tradesman/The Commercial Record, a weekly trade newspaper. It is reprinted with permission from the publisher, The Warren Group. For a searchable database of real estate transactions and property information visit: www.thewarrengroup.com. ADDRESS 30 RICH ST #31 92 WINCHESTER ST CITY MALDEN MALDEN DATE 06.30.23 06.30.23 PRICE 360000 525000 the barest of details, as I remember them: while about to perform surgery at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, the 2 other attending surgeons discovered that each one had a nephew that was a singer in a rock and roll band. No big deal there but as they talked, they discovered that each nephew had been lead singers for the same band – Van Halen. One surgeon’s nephew is Gary Cherone...the other’s nephew is David Lee Roth. As you can imagine, everyone in the operating room was astounded by this coincidence.” Postscript 1: Dr. Mayer Mintz resides in Florida these days, graduated M.H.S. in 1960 and was good friends with Norman Greenbaum. You’ll be hearing more from the Mintz brothers in the very near future. Postscript 2: My sincerest condolences go out to the family of James Donald Mitchell, Jr. on his recent passing. I did not know Mr. Mitchell but reading his obit, I wish I had. Sixteen years of public service, including one term as Mayor of Chelsea, voted “Best Athlete” in Chelsea as a senior in 1955, and co-publisher, with his son Jim, of the Advocate Newspapers. Quite a life. Quite a legacy. Postscript 3: Carole Gately... “Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam” – Marty, may your mom’s memory be a blessing. —Peter is a longtime Malden resident and a regular contributor to the Malden Advocate. He can be reached at PeteL39@aol.com for comments, compliments or criticisms.
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