Maureen Kroll, Attorney at Law, 8981 Norwin Avenue # 20, North Huntingdon, PA (2026)

10/13/2026

Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax: The Basics Every Family Should Know
Pennsylvania is one of only five states that still has an inheritance tax, and it surprises many families. The federal estate tax only affects very large estates. Pennsylvania’s tax is different: there’s no minimum threshold, so it can apply from the first dollar an heir receives. The rate depends on the heir’s relationship to the person who passed away.

Current rates:
• 0% for a surviving spouse, for a parent inheriting from a child age 21 or younger, and for a child age 21 or younger inheriting from a natural parent, adoptive parent, or stepparent
• 4.5% for children (including stepchildren), grandchildren, and other lineal descendants and lineal heirs (including parents)
• 12% for brothers and sisters
• 15% for other heirs, such as nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends

Gifts to charities are exempt. So are life insurance proceeds and property owned jointly by spouses.

The tax is due within nine months of death. If you pay within three months, you get a 5% discount.

Planning during your lifetime can lower the tax bill, but some common strategies don’t work the way people expect. Naming a beneficiary on a bank account, or adding an adult child as a joint owner, can help the estate avoid probate. In most cases it does not avoid inheritance tax. Gifts of more than $3,000 per person made within one year of death are still counted and taxed. A careful review of your estate plan can show where the real savings are.
Learn more at the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/revenue/resources/tax-types-and-information/inheritance-tax

If you have questions about how Pennsylvania inheritance tax could affect your family, let’s talk.

Contact Maureen Kroll, Attorney at Law, for the help you need. Call me at 724-863-6770, or visit my website today: https://www.maureenkroll.com/

Disclaimer: This post is not intended as tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only.

10/06/2026

When Your Child Turns 18, the Rules Change

Every parent of a teenager or college student needs to know this one.

The day your child turns 18, they become an adult in the eyes of the law. You're still the parent. You are no longer the automatic decision-maker.

Most families learn this at the worst possible moment. It could be a call from a campus health center or an emergency room, and you have questions that aren’t getting answered.

If your adult child is unmarried with no children of their own, Pennsylvania law recognizes a parent as a potential ‘health care representative.’ So you aren't shut out. But that authority only takes effect after a physician formally determines your child can't make decisions.

It doesn’t help with routine records or an ordinary phone call to a doctor while your child remains able to make their own choices. And there’s another wrinkle: both parents stand in the same priority class and share equal authority, which becomes a real problem if you’re divorced and disagree.

And if your child attends school out of state, another state's rules apply entirely.

Three documents help close those gaps, and none of them are complicated:

• A health care power of attorney, naming you (or whomever your child chooses) to make medical decisions in the event they cannot.
• A HIPAA authorization, so providers can share records and speak with you directly. Without one, that sharing is left to the provider's judgment: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/disclosures-to-family-and-friends/index.html
• A FERPA release through the college, if you want access to academic records.

A financial power of attorney is worth a look too, so you can sort out a bank or insurance problem while your student is far from home.

It's a short conversation and a short set of documents, but like all these things, the best time to get it all sorted out is before you need them.

Contact Maureen Kroll, Attorney at Law, for the help you need. Call me at 724-863-6770, or visit my website today: https://www.maureenkroll.com/

Disclaimer: This post is not intended as tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only.

09/29/2026

Is That Really Social Security Calling? How to Spot the Scams

Scammers continue to pose as Social Security and other government offices. They may call, text, email, or even mail a letter warning that your benefits will be cut off or that there's a "problem" with your Social Security number. Then they pressure you to share personal information or send money right away.

Here's what to remember: real Social Security employees will never threaten you with arrest or legal action if you don't pay immediately. They will never promise to raise your benefits in exchange for a fee, and they will never ask you to pay with gift cards, wire transfers, or cash sent through the mail. If you receive an unexpected call or message, hang up. Then contact your local Social Security office directly or report the fraud online at https://www.ssa.gov/scam

One of the best defenses is a personal my Social Security account. With a secure online account, you can check your benefit information, review your earnings record, and manage your benefits yourself. You won't need to rely on someone who contacts you out of the blue and claims to be from the agency.

If a scam has already affected your benefits, your finances, or a loved one's savings, I can help you understand your options.
Contact Maureen Kroll, Attorney at Law, for the help you need. Call me at 724-863-6770, or visit my website today: https://www.maureenkroll.com/

Disclaimer: This post is not intended as tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only.

09/22/2026

Alzheimer’s: Plan Before the Diagnosis

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 7 million Americans are now living with Alzheimer’s disease, and that number is expected to grow significantly in the coming years.
Here’s the legal reality families need to understand: once a person loses the capacity to sign legal documents, the options narrow dramatically.

A power of attorney must be signed before incapacity. A will must be signed by someone who understands what they’re doing. After that window closes, families often face a costly and emotional guardianship proceedings.

The kindest thing you can do for the people you love is to put your documents in place while you’re well. If a diagnosis is already on the table, don’t wait. Call today.

Learn more at the website of the Alzheimer’s Association: https://www.alz.org/

Contact Maureen Kroll, Attorney at Law, for the help you need. Call me at 724-863-6770, or visit my website today: https://www.maureenkroll.com/

Disclaimer: This post is not intended as tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only.

09/15/2026

Healthcare Decisions: Why Every Adult Needs an Advance Directive

An advance directive isn't just for seniors. Any adult over 18 can have a sudden accident or illness that leaves them unable to speak for themselves, and without the paperwork in place, families are left guessing about what their loved one would have wanted.

In Pennsylvania, an advance directive typically includes two documents: a living will, which spells out your wishes about life-sustaining treatment, and a health care power of attorney, which names someone you trust to make medical decisions on your behalf. You can have one, the other, or both combined in a single document. They’re governed by Pennsylvania’s Act 169 of 2006 (20 Pa.C.S. Chapter 54). They must be signed and dated and witnessed by two adults age 18 or older. A notary is not required (though optional and sometimes useful for out-of-state recognition).

Don’t have an advance directive? You should know that : Pennsylvania law allows a ‘health care representative’ from a statutory priority list of relatives and others to make decisions. That person may not be the one you would have chosen, and they act without your written instructions.

Done right, these documents give doctors clear direction during the hardest moments and spare your family disagreement (or a guardianship proceeding) at the worst possible time.

One note on timing: advance directives in Pennsylvania don't expire. But if yours is more than five years old, your health, your family, or the person you named may have changed. That alone is reason for a fresh look.

Learn more from the National Institute on Aging (NIH) website. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/advance-care-planning/advance-care-planning-advance-directives-health-care

If you don't have an advance directive, or yours hasn't been reviewed in years, let's talk about getting it done right.

Contact Maureen Kroll, Attorney at Law, for the help you need. Call me at 724-863-6770, or visit my website today: https://www.maureenkroll.com/

Disclaimer: This post is not intended as tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only.

09/08/2026

Scam Alert: The Grandparent Scam is Evolving, and it’s Getting Smarter

The old “grandparent scam” (where a caller pretends to be a grandchild in trouble and begs for money) is now being supercharged with AI voice cloning. Scammers can lift 3 to 30 seconds of a real voice from social media and produce a phone call that sounds heart-breakingly real.

Protect your family with a simple safe word. Pick a word together that only family members know. If a frantic call comes in claiming an emergency, ask for the safe word before doing anything. Real family will know it. Scammers won’t.

Other red flags: urgent demands for gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency; pleas to “not tell Mom and Dad”; and pressure to act in the next few minutes. When in doubt, hang up and call the person back on a number you already know.

Report suspected elder fraud to the Westmoreland County Area Agency on Aging: https://www.westmorelandcountypa.gov/directory.aspx?did=77 (You can also report to the FTC at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/ or call local law enforcement.)

Contact Maureen Kroll, Attorney at Law, for the help you need. Call me at 724-863-6770, or visit my website today: https://www.maureenkroll.com/

Disclaimer: This post is not intended as tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only.

09/01/2026

The 2026 Medicaid Income and Resource Limits

You May Qualify for Help You Didn't Qualify for Last Year

Every January the federal poverty guidelines are updated, and Pennsylvania uses those numbers to decide who qualifies for Medical Assistance (what most people call Medicaid) and a whole family of related health programs. The 2026 guidelines were published on January 15, 2026, and the Pennsylvania Health Law Project has released its annual fact sheet showing the new limits for each program.

A few of the numbers most likely to matter to you or someone you love:

Medicare Savings Programs. If you have Medicare, these programs pay your Part B premium, and at the lowest income level, your Part A premium and cost-sharing as well. Monthly income limits for 2026 range from $1,330 single / $1,804 married up to $1,796 single / $2,435 married, depending on the program.

Home and Community-Based Services waivers. For older adults and people with disabilities who want to stay in their own homes rather than enter a facility: $2,982 in monthly income (only the applicant's income is counted) and $8,000 in countable resources.

Medical Assistance for Workers with Disabilities (MAWD). For adults ages 16–64 with a disability who work: up to $3,325 monthly single or $4,509 married, with a $10,000 resource limit.

Medicare Part D Extra Help. $1,995 single / $2,705 married in monthly income, with resource limits of $18,090 and $36,100.
Two things are easy to miss. First, not all income and resources count toward these limits, disregards apply, and people often assume they're over the line when they aren't.

Second, the resource limit can be dramatically different between two programs with the same income limit, so being turned down for one does not mean you're ineligible for another.

If you or a family member were denied in the past, or you've never applied because you assumed you earned too much, it is worth a second look this year.

You can view the Pennsylvania Health Law Project's full 2026 fact sheet here:https://maureenkroll.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2026-Income-and-Resource-Limits-for-Medicaid-and-Other-Health-Programs.pdf

Contact Maureen Kroll, Attorney at Law, for the help you need. Call me at 724-863-6770, or visit my website today: https://www.maureenkroll.com/

Disclaimer: This post is not intended as tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only.

08/25/2026

What You Can Keep: 2026 Pennsylvania Medical Assistance Asset Exemptions

When a family first starts looking at long-term care (a nursing facility, or services that help a loved one stay at home) one of the questions I hear most often is some version of: "Do we have to lose everything?"

The answer is no. Pennsylvania Medical Assistance (Medicaid) protects a number of assets so families can hold onto basic stability and dignity. Here are the key exemptions for 2026:

• Your primary residence: equity interest up to $752,000 if you intend to return home. There is no equity cap at all if your spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or permanently disabled child of any age lives in the home.
• One motor vehicle, regardless of value.
• Real and personal property essential to a trade or business.
• Household goods and personal effects.
• Term life insurance that carries no cash surrender value.
• Life insurance with a total face value of $1,500 or less per insured person. If the face value is higher, only the cash surrender value above $1,000 is counted.
• Burial spaces for you and your immediate family.
• A properly structured irrevocable (or limited revocable) burial reserve subject to specified limits based on average local burial costs. Limits interact with life insurance rules and should be confirmed with the County Assistance Office.
• A community spouse's IRAs and qualified retirement accounts. The applicant's own retirement accounts are generally countable, but this is one area where Pennsylvania is notably more protective of the at-home spouse than many other states.

These exemptions sit on top of the resource limit itself.

Pennsylvania uses a two-tier limit: $8,000 in countable resources if gross monthly income is at or below $2,982 per month, or $2,400 if income is above that figure. Separate spousal protections apply when one spouse needs care and the other remains at home.

One important caution: these rules apply primarily to long-term care eligibility, and the details matter enormously. Whose name is on which asset, whether a written intent to return home has been filed, and exactly how a burial reserve is drafted can each change the result. The dollar figures also change every January.

Before you transfer, spend down, or restructure anything, talk it through with your County Assistance Office or a Pennsylvania elder law attorney.

Official overview from the PA Department of Human Services:
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dhs/resources/aging-physical-disabilities/medicaid-payment-long-term-care

Detailed 2026 eligibility summary:
https://www.medicaidplanningassistance.org/medicaid-eligibility-pennsylvania/

Contact Maureen Kroll, Attorney at Law, for the help you need. Call me at 724-863-6770, or visit my website today: https://www.maureenkroll.com/

Disclaimer: This post is not intended as tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only.

08/18/2026

Caregiver Child Exemption: Preserving the Family Home in 2026

If you have moved in with your parents to care for them, Pennsylvania law may let the family home pass to you without triggering a Medicaid penalty.

Normally, giving away a home within five years of applying for Medical Assistance creates a penalty period: a stretch of time when Medicaid won't pay for nursing facility care. In 2026, Pennsylvania calculates that penalty using the state's average private-pay nursing home rate of $421.20 per day, or $12,811.50 per month. A home worth $150,000 given away at the wrong moment can mean roughly a year without coverage.

The caregiver child exemption is a federal exception to that rule (42 U.S.C. § 1396p(c)(2)(A)(iv)). To qualify, the adult son or daughter must have:

• Lived in the parent's home for at least two years immediately before the parent entered the nursing facility, and
• Provided care that allowed the parent to stay at home rather than move into a facility sooner.

"Child" means a biological or adopted son or daughter. Stepchildren, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews do not qualify under this exception.

Expect to document the residency and, critically, the level of care provided. A physician's written statement describing the parent's condition and the care that kept them home is usually essential. Casual help with errands will not meet the standard.

Because Pennsylvania’s Estate Recovery Program collects from the probate estate, a home properly transferred during the parent’s lifetime is generally beyond its reach. (Note: Pennsylvania also has a separate estate-recovery hardship waiver under 55 Pa. Code § 258.10 that can protect the home after death even if it was never transferred, but that waiver has additional requirements, including that the caregiver has no other permanent residence. The exemption discussed here is the federal transfer-penalty exception that allows the lifetime transfer without creating a Medicaid penalty.)

Learn more about Pennsylvania's Estate Recovery Program: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dhs/resources/for-residents/estate-recovery

Contact Maureen Kroll, Attorney at Law, for the help you need. Call me at 724-863-6770, or visit my website today: https://www.maureenkroll.com/

Disclaimer: This post is not intended as tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only.

08/11/2026

Durable Powers of Attorney: Essential Protection in 2026

A financial Power of Attorney is one of the most useful documents in any plan. It lets you name a trusted agent to handle your bills, bank accounts, investments, insurance, and real estate if illness, injury, or age ever leaves you unable to manage those things yourself.

Here is something you may not know: in Pennsylvania, a Power of Attorney is durable by default. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 5601.1, your document keeps working even after you become incapacitated, unless it specifically says otherwise. That durability is exactly what makes it valuable.

But there is a catch. You must be mentally competent at the time you sign. If a family waits until after a stroke or a dementia diagnosis, that door is generally closed for a new financial Power of Attorney, and the primary remaining path is often a court guardianship proceeding. That’s a formal proceeding involving court filings, medical evidence, attorneys, and ongoing reporting to the court for years afterward.

Pennsylvania's Act 61 guardianship reforms, effective June 11, 2024, now require courts to look first at less restrictive alternatives before appointing a guardian. A financial Power of Attorney is at the top of that list. Signing one now is often what keeps a family out of court later.

Pennsylvania also has strict signing rules. For documents signed since January 1, 2015, the POA must be dated and signed, include the required statutory notice, be witnessed by two adults, and be acknowledged before a notary. Your agent must also sign a separate acknowledgment before acting. Generic forms downloaded online frequently miss one of these steps , and a bank or title company will catch it at the worst possible moment.

If your Power of Attorney is more than a few years old, or you do not have one, this is worth a conversation.

Learn more from the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network: https://www.palawhelp.org/resource/power-of-attorney-in-pennsylvania

Contact Maureen Kroll, Attorney at Law, for the help you need. Call me at 724-863-6770, or visit my website today: https://www.maureenkroll.com/

Disclaimer: This post is not intended as tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only.

Maureen Kroll, Attorney at Law

10/13/2026

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