{"id":12095,"date":"2020-10-11T07:03:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-11T12:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legaltalktexas.hammerle.com\/?p=12095"},"modified":"2025-06-18T17:15:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T22:15:18","slug":"retirement-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Pays Off – Problematic Decisions When You Reach Retirement Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your retirement age, in case you are interested, is between 65 and 67, depending on the year you were born. So says a host of government agencies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That does not mean that the government will force you to put down your pen and pick up a fishing rod when you hit that age. It just means that it is the key age when your friendly government will force you to make a whole lot of important decisions with little or no education about the ramifications.<\/span><\/p>\n

Homestead Exemption<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Such as ad valorem tax. This little tax can mean the cost of owning your homestead steadily increases each year, which can cause a huge problem for people on fixed incomes. You should have already filed for a homestead exemption on your home. What you may not know is that a person who has to move into a long-term care facility is allowed to keep a homestead exemption no matter how long their stay in the facility and regardless of their medical condition, as long as that person \u201cintends\u201d to return home.<\/span><\/p>\n

School Tax Exemption<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In addition to the homestead exemption, a person who is at least 65 years old is entitled to an exemption from taxation by a school district of $10,000. While we are talking about school taxes, the amount cannot increase after the homeowner hits age 65.<\/span><\/p>\n

Home Tax Deferral<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Another nice benefit: If an elderly Texan owns a home free of a mortgage, that person cannot be forced out of his or her home because of a failure to pay any property taxes owing to any jurisdiction. This is called a tax deferral. The taxes aren\u2019t forgiven, but payment is delayed.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you get all of these benefits? You have to request them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Social Security Benefits<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Next is the whole Social Security payment thing. You can draw Social Security benefits once you hit 62, but the longer you wait to draw them the greater monthly payment you will receive. However, and this is a big one, you should not delay benefits after you hit 70 because there is no increase for benefits after that age, and no penalty for working.<\/span><\/p>\n

Medicare Part A and B<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s move on to Medicare. If you worked at least 10 years (the government refers to it as 40 quarters), then you are eligible for Part A of Medicare when you turn age 65. There are no additional premiums to start Part A<\/a>. So sign up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Medicare Part B, though, requires monthly premiums. This gets a bit tricky. If you do not sign up for Part B when you are first eligible for Medicare, then you may be hit with a penalty that lasts forever. Plus, when you need Part B, you may not be able to immediately get it. After the initial period, you may have to wait until the next general enrollment period to sign up.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On all of these programs, you may be entitled to more or different benefits as a spouse, a disabled person, a veteran or a widow.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So start researching now. Your government has projected that if you are a man, you will live until age 84, and if a woman, until age 86. That means the decisions you make when you hit your retirement age will haunt you for a very long time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Virginia Hammerle<\/a>\u00a0is a Texas attorney whose practice includes\u00a0estate planning<\/a>,\u00a0guardianship<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0probate<\/a>. Sign up for her newsletter at\u00a0legaltalk@hammerle.com<\/a>. Contact Hammerle Morris Law Firm to schedule a consultation at hammerle.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

This column does not constitute legal advice.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your retirement age, in case you are interested, is between 65 and 67, depending on the year you were born. So says a host of government agencies.\u00a0\u00a0 That does not mean that the government will force you to put down your pen and pick up a fishing rod when you hit that age. It just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[1060,1098],"class_list":{"0":"post-12095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-legal-talk","8":"tag-elder-law","9":"tag-legal-talk"},"yoast_head":"\nResearch Pays Off - Problematic Decisions When You Reach Retirement Age<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You have to make a whole lot of important decisions when you're 65 years of age. Let's go over all the retirement benefits that you need to know about.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Research Pays Off - Problematic Decisions When You Reach Retirement Age\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You have to make a whole lot of important decisions when you're 65 years of age. Let's go over all the retirement benefits that you need to know about.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hammerle Morris Law Firm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-11T12:03:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-18T22:15:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/10\/Retirement-benefits-Social-Security-and-Medicare-.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Virginia Hammerle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Virginia Hammerle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/legal-talk\\\/retirement-benefits\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/legal-talk\\\/retirement-benefits\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Virginia Hammerle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a35dce360aad1cd9da53574c3c1a6bd\"},\"headline\":\"Research Pays Off – Problematic Decisions When You Reach Retirement Age\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-11T12:03:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-18T22:15:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/legal-talk\\\/retirement-benefits\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":600,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/legal-talk\\\/retirement-benefits\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/Retirement-benefits-Social-Security-and-Medicare-.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Elder Law\",\"Legal Talk\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Legal Talk\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/legal-talk\\\/retirement-benefits\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/legal-talk\\\/retirement-benefits\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/legal-talk\\\/retirement-benefits\\\/\",\"name\":\"Research Pays Off - Problematic Decisions When You Reach Retirement Age\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/legal-talk\\\/retirement-benefits\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/legal-talk\\\/retirement-benefits\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/Retirement-benefits-Social-Security-and-Medicare-.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-11T12:03:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-18T22:15:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a35dce360aad1cd9da53574c3c1a6bd\"},\"description\":\"You have to make a whole lot of important decisions when you're 65 years of age. Let's go over all the retirement benefits that you need to know about.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/legal-talk\\\/retirement-benefits\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/legal-talk\\\/retirement-benefits\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/legal-talk\\\/retirement-benefits\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/Retirement-benefits-Social-Security-and-Medicare-.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/Retirement-benefits-Social-Security-and-Medicare-.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Retirement benefits - Social Security and Medicare\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/legal-talk\\\/retirement-benefits\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Research Pays Off – Problematic Decisions When You Reach Retirement Age\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hammerle Morris Law Firm\",\"description\":\"Legal Talk Texas\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a35dce360aad1cd9da53574c3c1a6bd\",\"name\":\"Virginia Hammerle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/virginia-150x150.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/virginia-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/virginia-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Virginia Hammerle\"},\"description\":\"Virginia Hammerle is a contributing columnist to The Dallas Morning News and writes weekly articles and blogs on legal issues confronting seniors and their families.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/virginiahammerle\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/author\\\/virginia-hammerle\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Research Pays Off - Problematic Decisions When You Reach Retirement Age","description":"You have to make a whole lot of important decisions when you're 65 years of age. Let's go over all the retirement benefits that you need to know about.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Research Pays Off - Problematic Decisions When You Reach Retirement Age","og_description":"You have to make a whole lot of important decisions when you're 65 years of age. Let's go over all the retirement benefits that you need to know about.","og_url":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/","og_site_name":"Hammerle Morris Law Firm","article_published_time":"2020-10-11T12:03:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-18T22:15:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/10\/Retirement-benefits-Social-Security-and-Medicare-.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Virginia Hammerle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Virginia Hammerle","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/"},"author":{"name":"Virginia Hammerle","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/#\/schema\/person\/3a35dce360aad1cd9da53574c3c1a6bd"},"headline":"Research Pays Off – Problematic Decisions When You Reach Retirement Age","datePublished":"2020-10-11T12:03:25+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-18T22:15:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/"},"wordCount":600,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/10\/Retirement-benefits-Social-Security-and-Medicare-.jpg","keywords":["Elder Law","Legal Talk"],"articleSection":["Legal Talk"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/","url":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/","name":"Research Pays Off - Problematic Decisions When You Reach Retirement Age","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/10\/Retirement-benefits-Social-Security-and-Medicare-.jpg","datePublished":"2020-10-11T12:03:25+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-18T22:15:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/#\/schema\/person\/3a35dce360aad1cd9da53574c3c1a6bd"},"description":"You have to make a whole lot of important decisions when you're 65 years of age. Let's go over all the retirement benefits that you need to know about.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/10\/Retirement-benefits-Social-Security-and-Medicare-.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/10\/Retirement-benefits-Social-Security-and-Medicare-.jpg","width":800,"height":500,"caption":"Retirement benefits - Social Security and Medicare"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/retirement-benefits\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Research Pays Off – Problematic Decisions When You Reach Retirement Age"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/","name":"Hammerle Morris Law Firm","description":"Legal Talk Texas","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/#\/schema\/person\/3a35dce360aad1cd9da53574c3c1a6bd","name":"Virginia Hammerle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/virginia-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/virginia-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/virginia-150x150.jpg","caption":"Virginia Hammerle"},"description":"Virginia Hammerle is a contributing columnist to The Dallas Morning News and writes weekly articles and blogs on legal issues confronting seniors and their families.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/virginiahammerle\/"],"url":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/author\/virginia-hammerle\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}