Elder Law

An estate plan (as defined by the American Bar Association) is your blueprint for where you want your property to go after you die. Estate planning lets you do the following:

• Determine what happens to your property—who, what, when, and how. It enables you to coordinate gifts in your lifetime with bequests in your will or trust. You can apportion property among your family members, your friends, and charities that are important to you. If you don't have a will or a trust, state law will step in and determine how to dispose of your property, in ways that you might not intend.
• Determine who will be in charge of carrying out your wishes—your executor if you have a will, and your trustee if you have a trust.
• Save money on probate, taxes, and other expenses of settling an estate.
• Be in control of your own life. A living trust can provide a way to manage your property should you become disabled. A living will or a health-care advance directive can set up a plan for your medical care, should you no longer be able to make decisions for yourself.
• Coordinate estate planning with other kinds of financial planning. For example, the new tax law has made significant changes in incentives to save for education, making this an ideal time to look into planning for the education of children and grandchildren, as well as other financial issues.
• Decide whether your business will be sold or stay in the family—and if it stays in the family, who will run it.

If an adult becomes unable to handle day-to-day financial or medical affairs, someone else must step in to take care of things. If the incapacitated person planned ahead and signed durable powers of attorney for finances and health care, the person named in those documents can take charge.

However, if no planning has been done -- a common situation -- then family members must ask a court to appoint a conservator or guardian. This person will have the court-ordered authority and responsibility to manage the incapacitated person's affairs.

The best way to avoid a conservatorship is for an older person to prepare durable powers of attorney before a health crisis occurs. That way, someone handpicked will be able to step in to make financial and medical decisions if necessary.

Life Care Planning is a holistic, elder-centered approach to elder law that helps families respond to every challenge created by the long-term illness or disability of an elderly loved one before, during, and after the onset of declining health. Life Care Planning helps receive the assistance and care needed to maintain the desired quality of life for as long as possible. Families get access to a wider variety of options for care as well as knowledgeable guidance from a team of compassionate advisors who help them make the right choices about every aspect of their loved one's well-being.

Life Care Planning Law Firms rely on an inter-disciplinary team that works to identify present and potential future care needs, locate appropriate care, and ensure high-quality care. This approach relies less on crisis-oriented transactions and more on the development of on-going relationships with families. The Life Care Plan is at the heart of the elder-centered law practice. A Life Care Plan is an approach that defines, organizes, prioritizes, and mobilizes every aspect of an elder's care for the future. In addition to traditional asset-focused elder law services such as estate planning, asset protection and public benefits qualification, a Life Care Plan typically includes provisions for care coordination, family education and decision-making, nursing home advocacy, crisis intervention support and other services. Every life care plan is designed to achieve three primary objectives:

1. Make sure the elder gets appropriate care, whether at home or in a residential facility, to maintain the quality of life that he or she desires.
2. Locate public and private sources to help pay for long-term care while resolving issues created by the high cost of care.
3. Offer peace of mind that comes from making choices to ensure that loved ones are safe and getting the right care while preserving family resources.

Long-term care is made up of many different services and may include help with activities of daily living like dressing, bathing, eating, and using the bathroom, as well as help with care most people do themselves like taking medications. Long-term care can take place at home, in senior centers, at community centers, in special retirement or assisted living facilities, or in nursing homes. Someone with a long-term physical illness, a disability, or a memory or thought problem (such as Alzheimer's disease) often needs long-term care.

Choosing long-term care is a very important decision. You should plan and think about long-term care before you need care or before a crisis occurs. Planning ahead allows you the time to talk with your doctor about your health and any problems you may be having. It is also very important to talk with your family about the kind of long-term care services you think you might need someday, how much they would cost, and how you would pay for them.

Our experienced elder law attorneys can provide guidance and resources to help you make the best decision for your long term care.

Medicare does not pay for most long-term care.

Medicaid is a State and Federal Government program that pays for certain health services and nursing home care for older people with low incomes and limited assets. In most states, Medicaid also pays for some long-term care services at home and in the community. Who is eligible and what services are covered vary from state to state. Most often, eligibility is based on your income and personal resources.

Confused about Medicaid? You are not alone! Knowing how and when to apply to Medicaid can be overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be. Our experienced elder law attorneys stay abreast of this constantly changing area of law. Each situation, in challenges of aging, is unique. Our approach with our clients is individual, with a shared goal to get the best care possible with the resources available.

At death, your will goes through probate. Probate simply means the process by which your last will is determined to be your final dispositive statement and which confirms the appointment of the person or institution you have named to administer your estate. The term probate is also used in the larger sense of probating your estate. In this sense probate means the process by which assets are gathered, applied to pay debts, taxes and expenses of administration, and distributed to those designated as beneficiaries in the will. The executor of personal representative named in the will is in charge of this process, and probate provides an orderly method for administration of the estate. The executor is held accountable by the beneficiaries 9and sometimes is supervised formally by a probate court). The executor is entitled to a reasonable fee or commission. Probate law generally encourages or provides for partial distribution during the period of administration; assets may generally be distributed in kind rather than sold during this time. The tax laws generally focus the responsibility for death tax filings and payments on the executor under a will. Thus, the choice of an executor is an important one.

*As defined by the American Bar Association section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Law

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is reaching out to inform wartime veterans and surviving spouses of deceased wartime veterans about an under-used, special monthly pension benefit called Aid and Attendance. The Aid and Attendance pension benefit may be available to wartime veterans and surviving spouses who have in-home care or who live in nursing-homes or assisted-living facilities.

Many elderly veterans and surviving spouses whose incomes are above the congressionally mandated legal limit for a VA pension may still be eligible for the special monthly Aid and Attendance benefit if they have large medical expenses, including nursing home expenses, for which they do not receive reimbursement.