From the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS’s) release of 2025 tax inflation adjustments to approaching Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) deadlines and a new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) final rule establishing an appeals process for Medicare beneficiaries, we have recently seen significant legal developments.

To ensure that you stay abreast of these changes, we have highlighted some noteworthy developments and analyzed how they may impact your estate planning, elder and special needs law, and business law practices.

By Zach Bloxham, JD

Assisting Veterans and their spouses in planning for long-term care is one of the most professionally rewarding and emotionally satisfying experiences the practice of law can provide. This article introduces the five tests a claimant must meet to attain VA eligibility.

By Kevin Urbatsch, Esq., and Jessica Jones, Esq.

A third-party special needs trust (SNT), also called a third-party supplemental needs trust, is commonly utilized to hold and administer an inheritance for a person with a disability. It can also facilitate gifts or donations to the beneficiary with a disability. It is important to note that creating an SNT is only one part of a plan for a person with a disability. Special needs planning requires a comprehensive approach to address all the needs a person with a disability requires. The authors often discuss with parents that a special needs plan is designed to create a strategy to replace everything they do for their loved ones with special needs. This generally involves planning to ensure that there is someone to make medical or personal care decisions for the loved one with a disability, a suitable living arrangement (whether private, group home, or skilled nursing), a sustainable caregiving arrangement, appropriate transportation, opportunities for social interactions, proper advocacy, and enforceable protection from predators. This article will focus on the third-party SNT, a vital element of a comprehensive special needs plan.