Elder Law

We offer Medicaid planning services to help client’s defer the high costs of long-term care. While Medicare will help pay up to 100 days of skilled or rehabilitative care under certain circumstances, it does not cover any of the costs of long-term care. Long-term care (sometimes referred to as custodial care) services are necessary when someone is unable to perform the basic activities of daily living without major assistance. Those activities including, walking, standing, dressing, feeding, bathing and doing toiletry.

Long term care services, whether provided in a nursing home, assisted living facility or home environment, is paid for in one or a combination of ways:

• Long term care insurance;
• Private funds; and
• Medicaid.

Some individuals are fortunate enough to have long term care insurance, and this is something we recommend that people investigate. If you are young and healthy enough to qualify, and can afford the premiums, long term care insurance may be your best option. For the rest of the people faced with concerns for the costs of long term care, understanding Medicaid is critical.

During your long term care Medicaid planning consultation we will discuss how to qualify for the benefits, and what the options are to protect assets from being depleted. Universally, our clients have a desire to receive high quality care and to avoid spending more assets than necessary to qualify for benefits. Many of our clients also have a desire to preserve assets for their spouse, children and other heirs.

We work with many clients who have been given misinformation from nursing home or hospital staff, from case workers, and from other friends and relatives. We help explain how the programs really work and put minds at ease with better understanding.

Options that are available in a given situation can range from very simple to complex, and each depends on the particular facts and the client’s preferences. There is no “one-size-fits all” solution when it comes to Medicaid planning.

We can help with all stages of the Medicaid eligibility process including pre-eligibility planning and the application process. Below is a list of information and items we would like you to bring to your initial consultation. Having this information will help make our meeting more productive. However, if you cannot pull all of this together, just do the best you can.

• Copy of current power of attorney for finances and health
• Copy of any wills and trusts you have already created
• Current balance of all bank accounts, CDs, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, brokerage accounts, etc.
• Current balances in all retirement accounts.
• Any life insurance policies you own, along with information about the current cash value of any whole life policies.
• Copies of any annuities you own
• Information regarding all real estate you own
• Details on any businesses you own
• Value of any vehicle(s) you own or make, model, year and mileage of any such vehicle(s).
• List of any gifts or loans you have made in the last five years.