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Letha Sgritta McDowell CELA 24 posts 0 comments

Letha Sgritta McDowell currently serves as InterActive Legal’s Director of Legal Strategy. Letha is an ACTEC Fellow and past president of NAELA, and practices law with The McDowell Law Group. She is licensed to practice in both North Carolina and Virginia and has been an elder law and special needs planning attorney for more than 15 Years. Letha is a Certified Elder Law Attorney, is Board Certified as a specialist in Elder Law by the North Carolina State Bar Board of Legal Specialization, and is accredited to prepare and prosecute claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

At InterActive Legal, Letha provides insight into how modern law firms run in order to assist in strategic decisions about how to maximize the tools provided by InterActive Legal, as well as what tools may be useful for practitioners in the future. In addition, Letha contributes to the elder law and special needs planning content in the software and to the InterActive Legal practice management and development tools.

Letha is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the North Carolina Bar Association’s Elder Law and Estate Planning Sections, serves as Vice President of the Elder Law Specialization Committee for the North Carolina State Bar, and serves as an active mentor to a number of young attorneys through the North Carolina Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. She is a 2001 graduate of Purdue University and a 2004 graduate of the University of Maine School of Law.

Practice Development

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Attracting and Retaining Today’s Elder Law Clientele

Letha Sgritta McDowell CELA Jul 27, 2022

As people live longer and have more active lives into their later years, we can perceive a shift in the typical Elder Law Planning client demographic. How to best reach potential clients who need legal services, and how to retain those…

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Tax Rules You Must Know When Using Trusts (Medicaid Planning or Otherwise)

Letha Sgritta McDowell CELA Oct 1, 2020

Creating trusts for estate planning and Medicaid planning is an essential tool for every estate planning and elder law attorney. However, any time a trust is created, there are income tax consequences that could be both unexpected and…

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InterActive Legal Advisor Comments on Important Issue Facing Children of Retired Parents

Letha Sgritta McDowell CELA Jan 16, 2020

InterActive Legal Advisor and Director of Elder Law Strategy, Letha McDowell, was featured in a recent Money Magazine article titled How to Support Your Retired Parents Without Sinking Your Own Retirement Plan.

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Waivers, Penalty Periods, and the 5 Year Lookback

Letha Sgritta McDowell CELA Jun 4, 2018

On April 17, 2018, the acting director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a policy clarification to all state Medicaid Directors regarding the imposition of penalty periods for individuals requesting Home and Community…

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Elder Law Trusts – What to Use, When to Use & Why

Letha Sgritta McDowell CELA Mar 27, 2018

Watch this video for a discussion of the different types of trusts unique to elder law and special needs planning and some guidance on which trust to use in each situation.

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Tips to Make Your Elder Law Cases Profitable

Letha Sgritta McDowell CELA Mar 27, 2018

While you may have clients retaining your services, you may feel like the fees aren’t producing the profits you expect. Watch this video to learn ways in which you can make your cases and your practice more profitable.

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Special Needs Planning

Letha Sgritta McDowell CELA Mar 27, 2018

This video will briefly discuss special needs planning and advocacy as well as the creation and funding of special needs trusts.

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Introduction to Veterans Benefits

Letha Sgritta McDowell CELA Mar 27, 2018

This video is a quick introduction to understanding Veterans Benefits and how they fit into an elder law practice. Specifically, this video will review the structure of the Department of Veterans Affairs, review the wide variety of benefits…

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