Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, May 27, 2023

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Mountain View News Saturday, May 27, 2023 


SAFE PATH FOR SENIORS

Steve Sciurba, Senior Placement Specialist 

There are many reasons in working with Safe Path 

for Seniors, we will assess your loved ones and make

recommendations depending on care needs and 
budget. 

With our many years of experience, we will make an

informed recommendation. 

We work with large communities to the small 6-bed, 

board & care residential homes.

You will tour with an experienced consultant who will 

work with you through the entire process. from selecting 
the right living environment to all of the necessary 
paperwork involved.

The good news is that there is no cost for this service.

If you have any questions about placing a loved one, 
visit our web site:

www.safepathforseniors.com 

or call Steve at 626-999-6913

SENIOR HAPPENINGS


HAPPY BIRTHDAY! …MAY Birthdays*

Beth Copti, Marilyn Diaz, Anne Schryver, Jo Ann Williams, Paul Hagan, Lenore 
Crilly Joann Serrato-Chi, Harriett Lyle, Jean Coleman, Birgitta Gerlinger, 
Luciana Rosenzweig, Linda Wochnik, Marian Woodford, Debbie Sheridan, 
Joanne Anthony, Carole Axline, Kika Downey, Shirley Hall, Annie Scalzo, Janet 
Ten Eyck, Jane Thomas, Ray Burley

*To add your name to this distinguished list, please call the paper at 626.355.2737. YEAR of birth not required

SENIOR CLUB Every Saturday at Noon Hart Park House

Open to all seniors 50+ Fun - Games - And More! Call Mark at 626-355-3951 

DOMINOES TRAIN GAME

1st & 3rd Wednesdays 11:00 am— 12:30 pm Hart Park House

The object of the game is for a player to play all the tiles from their hand onto one or 
more trains, emanating from a central hub or “station”. Call Lawren with questions 
that you may have.

TEA AND TALK BOOK CLUB

Wednesday, 4/12 and 4/26 9:00 am Hart Park House

Tea and Talk, which meets twice a month to discuss the fun, suspense, intrigue, 
love and so much more that each selection will have in store!

HULA AND POLYNESIAN DANCE

 BEGINNERS - Every Thursday 10-11:00 am

 INTERMEDIATE Every Friday 10-11:00 am

Bring a lei, your flower skirt or just your desire to dance! Hula in the Park is back 
and waiting for you to join in on all the fun! Memorial Park Covered Pavilion.

CHAIR YOGA

Every Monday and Wednesday 10-10:45 am

Please join us for some gentle stretching, yoga, balance exercise and overall relaxation 
with Paul. Classes are ongoing and held in the Memorial Park Covered 
Pavilion or the Hart Park House. 

SPRINGO BINGO 

Thursday, 4/20 Hart Park House 1:00 pm-2:30 pm $5

Fee includes bingo games, light lunch, & prizes! Please call 626-264-8876 or visit 
HPH to pre-register. "Must pre-register to participate" Active Adults 55+

CAN I COLLECT SOCIAL SECURITY FROM MY EX-SPOUSE?


Dear Savvy Senior:

Is it possible to collect Social Security 
benefits from my ex-spouse? 
We were married for 12 years but 
have been divorced for almost 20 
years now. Never Remarried

Dear Never:

Yes, depending on your specific 
circumstances, you may very well 
be eligible for divorced spouses 
Social Security benefits. Here’s 
what you should know.

Who’s Eligible?

A divorced spouse can collect a 
Social Security retirement benefit 
on the earnings record of their ex-
husband (or ex-wife) if you are at 
least age 62, were married for at 
least 10 years, are unmarried, and 
are not eligible for a higher benefit 
based on your own earnings 
record. 

 In order to collect, your former 
spouse must also be at least 62 
and eligible for Social Security 
benefits. But he doesn’t have to be 
receiving them in order for you to 
collect divorced spouse’s benefits, 
as long as you’ve been divorced for 
at least two years. 

 Even if your ex is remarried, it 
won’t affect your right to divorcee 
benefits, nor will it affect your ex’s 
retirement benefits or his current 
spouse’s benefits. 

Benefit Amount 

A divorced spouse can receive 
up to 50 percent of their ex’s full 
Social Security benefit, or less if 
they take benefits before their full 
retirement age, which is 66 for 
people born in 1945-1954 but is 
gradually increased to age 67 for 
people born in 1960 or later. To 
find out your full retirement age 
and see how much 
your benefits will 
be reduced by taking 
them early see 
SSA.gov/benefits/
retirement/planner/
agereduction.html. 

 Keep in mind though, that if you 
qualify for benefits based on your 
own work history, you’ll receive 
the larger of the two benefits. You 
cannot receive benefits on both 
your record, and your ex’s work 
record too.

To find out how much your retirement 
benefits will be, see your 
Social Security statement at SSA.
gov/myaccount. And to get an estimate 
of your ex’s benefits, call 
Social Security at 800-772-1213. 
You’ll need to show your marriage 
certificate and divorce decree to 
prove your marriage lasted at least 
10 years along with his Social Security 
number to get it. 

Other Factors to Know

You also need to be aware that 
working can affect your divorced 
spouse’s benefits. If you start taking 
benefits while working, and 
are under full retirement age, 
your benefits will be reduced $1 
for every $2 you earn above the 
annual limit, which is $21,240 in 
2023. In the year you reach full retirement 
age, however, the annual 
limit increases to $56,520 and the 
reduction lowers to $1 for every 
$3 above that limit. See SSA.gov/
pubs/EN-05-10069.pdf for more 
details.

 Another factor that can reduce 
your divorced spouse’s benefits 
is receiving a pension from an 
employer that did not withhold 
Social Security taxes (like a government). 
This is a rule know as 
Government Pension Offset (see 
SSA.gov/benefits/retirement/
planner/gpo-calc.html) which 
can reduce your benefits by two-
thirds of the amount of your 
pension.

Divorced Survivor’s Benefits

You also need to know that when 
your ex-spouse dies (and if you 
were married for 10 or more 
years), you become eligible for divorced 
survivor benefits, which is 
worth up to 100 percent of what 
your ex-spouse was due. 

 Survivor benefits are available 
to divorced spouses as early as 
age 60 (50 if you’re disabled). But 
if you remarry before 60, you become 
ineligible unless the marriage 
ends. Remarrying after age 
60 will not affect your eligibility.

 Also note that if you are receiving 
divorced spouses benefits 
when your ex-spouse dies, you 
will automatically be switched 
over to the higher paying survivor 
benefit.

For more information visit SSA.
gov/benefits/retirement/planner/
applying7.html and click on “Benefits 
for Your Divorced Spouse.”

Send your senior questions to: Savvy 
Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 
73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim 
Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today 
show and author of “The Savvy 
Senior” book.

OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder


DIZZY IS AS DIZZY SAYS

Several years ago, I had a heart attack, which surprised my family and 
friends, who didn't know I had a heart. I was not sure I had a heart 
either until that day it attacked me.

What my heart had against me to attack me like that I still have not figured out.

Two years later, I have to go in for some tests, including a stress test. The date was set 
for my test, and I wasn't supposed to drive myself because of the procedure, so The 
Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage drove me to my appointment in her Sissy Van.

That alone was a stress test. Just riding in that Sissy Van prepared me for my stress 
test, and I don't believe the doctor could do anything more stressful. 

I went to the cardiac place and prepared for the procedure that would last more than 
an hour. The first level of stress, which I considered the most severe level, I was not 
allowed to have any coffee for 12 hours before the test. I don't know about you, but 
I live on my morning coffee. "You do know," I said to my doctor, "that without my 
coffee, I will be a mess?"

"That's all right, I've dealt with many people like that, and I plan to strap you down, 
and I will have a needle in my hand that I'm sure will direct your attention from your 
caffeine."

I was then escorted into a room with a nurse who told me I needed to remove my shirt 
and T-shirt so she could prep me. I was nervous and told her, "That will cost you one 
dollar." "What are you talking about?" Looking at her seriously, I said, "I do not strip 
without getting paid." It was then that my real stress test began. Nurses don't have a 
sense of humor.

I very cautiously removed my shirt and T-shirt and sat in the chair, and she came over 
and put all kinds of tabs on my chest. According to her, these tabs will be hooked up 
to lines that go to The Machine that will begin the test of my heart.

Getting all those tabs stuck on my chest in the right place took her a while.

"You don't plan to electrocute me, do you?" She looked at me with a sinister grin and 
said, "Time will tell." Now my stress went up another notch.

This was just the beginning. According to the schedule, I had at least another 45 minutes 
under some machine that would be doing another level of stress testing.

I was escorted back to the room where this would occur and introduced to two young 
guys who would set me on this machine. "I'm going to give you a shot of some medicine, 
and you might feel a little dizzy or lightheaded. Don't worry. It's part of the 
process."

That sure was easy for him to say he didn't have to go through all this nonsense.

"Just relax. You might hear noises, see things, lights, and so forth, but you're okay; 
everything is under control." I love it when a plan comes together, but this wasn't 
part of it.

I was put on the table, and then all of these cords were attached to the tabs on my 
chest. I was get-ting ready to go through that tunnel that was just behind me. "You're 
going to be all right, and we have everything under control. Just relax, and maybe 
you even want to take a nap." Right. I want to nap when somebody has hooked me up 
to cords I'm not sure what will happen. It's not that I don't trust doctors; I just don't 
trust doctors.

For the next 45 minutes, I was going through this machine, and I heard noises, saw 
flashes of light, and heard someone on the outside say, "Just breathe normally, and 
you might even just want to take a nap."

Then the stress test was over, and I could put on my shirt and T-shirt. They said everything 
went through just fine, and the doctor would get to me sometime next week 
with the results. I was then ushered to the outside, where The Gracious Mistress of 
the Parsonage was waiting to take me home, which was the last level of my stress test.

As I walked out, a lot of people in the lobby area were waiting for their doctor's appointments. 
As I walked out, everybody looked at me, which brought me to another 
level of stress.

Feeling slightly dizzy, I looked back at them, then pointed both hands to my face and 
said, "I've just had a facelift. How does it look."

For some reason, all the air was sucked out of the lobby, and even a couple laughed. 
Someone looked at my wife and said, "Is that your husband?" She smiled and ushered 
me out of the room to the waiting Van.

Stress can be very stressful; at least, that's my experience.

I couldn't help but think of a verse of Scripture. "Humble yourselves therefore under 
the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care 
upon him; for he careth for you" (1 Peter 5:6-7).

I can try to handle everything on my own, or I can cast all my care upon the Lord. 
The choice is mine.

Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. 
Telephone 1-352-216-3025, e-mail jamessnyder51@gmail.com, website www.jamessnyderministries.
com.

FAMILY MATTERS


PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN’S INHERITANCE 
WITH A LIFETIME ASSET PROTECTION TRUST

As a 
parent, 
you’re 
likely
hoping 
to
leave
your
children 
an inheritance. In fact, doing 
so may be one of the primary factors 
motivating your life’s work. 
But without taking the proper precautions, 
the wealth you pass on is 
at serious risk of being accidentally 
lost or squandered due to common 
life events, such as divorce, serious 
debt, devastating illness, and unfortunate 
accidents. 

 Creating a will or a revocable living 
trust offers some protection 
for your kid’s inheritance, but often, 
you’ll be guided to distribute 
assets through your will or trust to 
your children at specific ages and 
stages, such as one-third at age 25, 
half the balance at 30, and the rest 
at 35.

 If you’ve created an estate plan, 
check to see if this is how your will 
or trust leaves assets to your children. 
If so, you may not have been 
told about another option that can 
give your children access, control, 
and airtight asset protection for 
whatever assets they inherit from 
you.

 I always talk to parents about the 
option of creating a Lifetime Asset 
Protection Trust for their children’s 
inheritance. These unique 
trusts safeguard your kids’ inheritance 
from being lost to common 
life events, such as divorce, serious 
illness, lawsuits, or even bankruptcy. 
But that’s not all they do.

 Indeed, the best part of these 
trusts is that they offer your kids 
the best of both worlds: 1) airtight 
asset protection and 2) the ability 
to use and control their inheritance. 
You can even provide your 
heirs with a unique educational 
opportunity in which they gain 
valuable experience managing and 
growing their inheritance. More 
on all of this below.

Not Only for The Super Rich

Contrary to what you might think, 
Lifetime Asset Protection Trusts 
are not just for those with massive 
wealth. In fact, these trusts are 
even more useful if you’re leaving 
a relatively modest inheritance because 
they can be used to educate 
your children about how to grow 
your family wealth, instead of 
quickly blowing through it.

 Not to mention, the smaller the 
inheritance, the more at risk it is 
of getting wiped out by a single 
unfortunate event like a medical 
emergency, lawsuit, or serious 
accident. 

Don’t Take Any Chances

Regardless of how much financial 
wealth you have (or don’t 
have), if you plan to leave your 
kids anything at all, you should 
do everything you can to make it 
more likely that they grow what’s 
left behind, instead of losing it. 
This way, your resources can have 
a truly beneficial effect on their 
lives—and even the lives of future 
generations. A Lifetime Asset 
Protection Trust can achieve each 
of those goals and so much more.

Not All Trusts Are Created Equal

When it comes to leaving an inheritance, 
most lawyers will advise 
you to place the money in a 
revocable living trust, which is the 
right thing to do. However, many 
of those lawyers would have you 
distribute the trust assets outright 
to your loved ones at specific ages, 
such as one-third at 25, half of the 
balance at 35, and the rest at 40. 
Check your own trust now to see 
if it does this or something similar. 

 Rather than risking their inheritance 
by leaving it outright to 
your children at certain ages or 
following certain life events, such 
as graduating college, you can 
gift your assets to your children 
at the time of your death using a 
Lifetime Asset Protection Trust. 
When you gift the inheritance 
to your kids via a Lifetime Asset 
Protection Trust, the Trustee of 
the trust owns the assets, not your 
children.

 Therefore, if your kids ever get 
divorced, file bankruptcy, have 
a major medical issue, or are ordered 
to pay damages in a lawsuit, 
they can’t lose their inheritance 
because they never owned it in the 
first place. 

Here’s how it works: A Trustee of 
your choice holds the trust assets 
upon your death for the benefit of 
your child or children. Because a 
Lifetime Asset Protection Trust 
is discretionary, the Trustee has 
the power to distribute the assets 
at their own discretion, instead of 
being required to release them in 
a rigid structure. This discretionary 
power enables the Trustee to 
control when and how your kids 
can access their inheritance, so 
they’re not only protected from 
outside threats like ex-spouses and 
creditors, but from their own poor 
judgment as well. 

A Lifetime of Guidance & Support

Given that distributions from a 
Lifetime Asset Protection Trust 
are 100% up to the Trustee, you 
may be concerned about the 
Trustee’s ability to know when to 
make distributions to your child 
and when to withhold them. To 
address this issue, you can write 
up guidelines to the Trustee, providing 
the Trustee with direction 
about how you’d like the 
trust assets to be used for your 
beneficiaries. 

 For example, many of our clients 
add guidelines describing how 
they’d choose to make distributions 
in different scenarios. These 
scenarios might involve higher 
education, the purchase of a home, 
a wedding, the start of a business, 
and/or travel. 

An Educational Opportunity

Beyond these benefits, a Lifetime 
Asset Protection Trust can also be 
set up to give your child hands-on 
experience managing financial 
matters, like investing, running 
a business, and charitable giving. 
And he or she will learn how to 
do these things with support from 
the Trustee you’ve chosen to guide 
them.

 This is accomplished by adding 
provisions to the trust that allow 
your child to become a Co-Trustee 
at a predetermined age. Serving 
alongside the original Trustee, 
your child will have the opportunity 
to invest and manage the trust 
assets under the supervision and 
tutelage of a trusted mentor.

 You can even allow your child to 
become Sole Trustee later in life, 
once he or she has gained enough 
experience and is ready to take 
full control. As Sole Trustee, your 
child would be able to resign and 
replace themselves with an independent 
trustee, if necessary, for 
continued asset protection.

 A Lifetime Asset Protection Trust 
gives you the opportunity to turn 
your child’s inheritance into a 
valuable teaching tool. Do you 
want to give your child the ability 
to leave trust assets to a surviving 
spouse or a charity upon 
their death? Or would you prefer 
that the assets are only distributed 
to his or her biological or adopted 
children? You might even want 
your child to create their own 
Lifetime Asset Protection Trust 
for their heirs.

 Lifetime Asset Protection Trusts 
offer you a wide variety of options 
that can be tailored to fit your values 
and family dynamics. Be sure 
to check your trust for these provisions 
if this is something that interests 
you.


Marc Garlett, Esq.

Cali Law Family Legacy Matters

www.caliLaw.com

626.355.4000

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