THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, JUly 21, 2023 Page 17 WALK OF HOPE | FROM PAGE 15 Lake Quannapowitt, the event includes activities and refreshments for all walkers. Kings Bowl of Lynnfield, an annual supporter of the walk, will again provide refreshments for registered walkers. The Angel Fund will also honor those who have ALS and those who have lost their battle with the disease with the Faces of ALS®. Any participating team or individual who would like to honor a loved one with a poster along the walkway should send a high-resolution photo to theangelfundals@gmail.com by September 1st. Donations to the Angel Fund for ALS Research can also be made online, or can be sent to The Angel Fund, 649 Main Street, Wakefield, MA 01880. All donations should be made payable to The Angel Fund for ALS Research. Walkers are encouraged create their own webpage to raise money online. Registered walkers can create their page at https://secure.frontstream.com/2023-walk-ofhope-for-als. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. Information about sponsorship opportunities can also be obtained on the website, www.theangelfund.org, or by calling 781245-7070. Northeast Metro Tech and Woburn Public Schools mourn passing of Northeast Metro Tech student W AKEFIELD – Northeast Metro Tech Superintendent David DiBarri and Woburn Public Schools Superintendent Matthew Crowley are saddened to announce that a Northeast Metro Tech student from Woburn passed away following a crash on Saturday night. The districts were made aware on Sunday that Robert Stocker, a 17-year-old student, was one of two people killed in a crash in Wareham on Saturday, July 15. Northeast Metro Tech will have grief assistance and counseling resources available at the school throughout the week for those who have been affected. Woburn Public Schools is also arranging counseling services to begin tomorrow at 8 a.m. at Woburn Memorial High School for those affected by this tragedy, as Stocker has family members who attend the school. “This tragedy has affected all of us in Woburn and the surrounding communities,” said Superintendent Crowley. “Our hearts are with the victims’ families, and all those impacted by this tragic event.” “We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Robert, a beloved student at Northeast Metro Tech,” said Superintendent DiBarri. “We express our most sincere condolences to his family during this difficult time.” Local student achieves Honor Roll at Thayer Academy T hayer Academy in Braintree recently announced its Upper School (grades 9-12) Honor Rolls for the second semester. Saugonian Joshua (Josh) Halliday (11th grade) achieved Honor Roll status. Honor Roll is attained by earning a grade of B or better in each graded course and a Pass in a Pass/ Fail course. High Honor Roll can be attained by earning a grade of A- or better in each graded course and a Pass in a Pass/Fail course. Thayer Academy is a coeducational day school for grades 5-12 (Middle School, grades 5-8; Upper School, grades 9-12) that has been an enabling and ennobling environment where each student is affirmed, supported and challenged to take on responsibilities, ambitions and achievements. Thayer continues to be a place where tradition and innovation meet, and where students form lifelong relationships with one another and with inspiring teachers who care deeply about their students’ personal growth and academic success. BBB, GoFundMe join forces to help Vermonters recover from floods T he Better Business Bureau (BBB) and GoFundMe are partnering to help support the Vermont community after the devastating flooding and state of emergency. The flooding in Vermont has caused widespread damage, displacing thousands of people and destroying businesses. “The flooding in Vermont has been devastating, and we want to do everything we can to help those affected,” said BBB’s Chief Marketing & Sales Officer for much of New England, Paula Fleming. “Our hearts go out to the communities impacted by the flooding in Vermont,” said GoFundMe Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Margaret Richardson. “We are proud to partner with the BBB as we work around the clock to ensure the families, businesses, and communities affected receive the quick and trusted support they need.” To make it easier for people who want to support those affected, GoFundMe, a BBB Accredited Business, has launched a centralized hub (https://www. gofundme.com/c/act/northeast-flooding-help) housing all verified fundraisers related to the flooding in Vermont and across the Northeast. The hub identifies fundraisers verified by GoFundMe’s Trust & Safety team and is regularly updated as new fundraisers are created. The BBB’s landing page for weather flood damage and support provides information about how to prepare for a flood, how to recover from a flood, and how to find reputable businesses to help with flood damage. Donations on GoFundMe are processed by payment partners, held and then released only to the person named as the recipient of the funds (the beneficiary). Before funds are transferred to the beneficiary, their personal information must be verified. If any questions arise, GoFundMe’s processors will hold the funds until the recipient is verified. Additionally, GoFundMe protects donations. With the GoFundMe Giving Guarantee (https://www.gofundme.com/c/ safety/gofundme-guarantee), GoFundMe guarantees donors a full refund in the rare case that BBB | SEE PAGE 18 Cash Value Life Insurance Policies 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 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 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 masters degree in taxation.
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