Medicaid Planning/Crisis Intervention

If you or a loved one has a current or imminent need for care in a nursing home, you need a thorough analysis of your estate to determine what actions should be taken to protect and preserve as many of your assets as possible. The details of each case can vary, but it is important to have your case evaluated as soon as possible.

Veteran Aid & Attendance Benefit (Improved Disability Pension)

This benefit can be complicated to navigate the qualifications, but our office offers a telephone consultation to help you determine if you might qualify. Basically, to qualify you or your spouse must be a wartime veteran, you must be experiencing significant regular unreimbursed medical expenses in comparison to your monthly income; and your assets must be within a VA recommended limit. The maximum reimbursement amount for a married couple if $1,949/month; for a veteran is single $1,644/month; $1,056/month for a surviving spouse of a veteran.

Estate Planning

This is the process of creating a plan for your eventual death and potential incapacity or disability. Most people understand they should have a will but they ignore the fact that it is likely they will face mental or physical problems during their life. In order to have the best outcome possible, it is important to have your estate planning foundation up-to-date.

What is an estate planning foundation?

An estate planning foundation includes the basic documents every estate plan should have: a Last Will & Testament; a General Durable Power of Attorney; a Medical Power of Attorney; a Living Will; and a HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) Release. In addition to providing the Last Will & Testament as a tool to manage your estate when you pass away, your estate planning foundation helps your loved ones manage your financial and medical decisions in case you have a future incapacity or disability. Every adult should have an estate planning foundation – regardless of their age.

Last Will & Testament

This legal document provides for the management of a person’s estate and the proper distribution of their assets at their death.

Trust

Typically, most trusts are either testamentary which means the trust is created by a Last Will & Testament or a living trust which means the trust is created during life. Irrevocable trusts can be used to protect assets while revocable trusts can be amended or revoked. A person creates the trust (referred to as Grantor, Settlor, or Trustor) granting the fiduciary (the Trustee) the ability to manage trust assets for the benefit of a Beneficiary.

Asset Protection

This is a part of Estate Planning where assets are protected utilizing any of a variety of methods such as trusts, insurance, or other products.

HIPAA Release

The HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act) refers to the federal protections provided to patients for personal health information held by covered entities. The HIPAA Release provides designated individuals (such as specific family members or friends) access to the principal’s protected information.