Elder Law Advocate

    Minimizing the cost of long-term care requires a strategy that takes into account the intricacies of estate planning and government benefits, and the strategy you chose depends on the mode you’re in: Preplanning, Wait-and-See or Crisis. Preplanning can be done when there is no imminent threat of a long-term care. Wait-and-See Mode exists when there is a diagnosis but the senior will not be leaving home in the near term. Crisis Mode occurs when the senior is either in or soon to be in a nursing home. In Preplanning Mode, because time is on our side, we can …

  The first determination in selecting a facility is to realize whether a facility is required at all in order to deliver the long-term care that the senior needs. Families should ask, “Can our loved one live at home with in-home care? Are there any alternatives to institutionalization, such as daycare? Private duty nursing care?” The answer to these questions is based on medical decision. If a physician indicates that institutionalization is required, then another set of questions needs to be asked. For example can care be delivered in: Independent living? Assisted living? Supportive living? (Note: Supportive living is similar …

  Why create an inventory of your assets for long-term care planning? Often we go to the doctor thinking, “I feel fine.” As you are aware, though, the doctor doesn’t simply take your word for it. Rather he or she will do a blood workup to see if he agrees with your assessment. The equivalent of a blood workup for legal and financial advisers is a thorough inventory. Some think that by listing assets on a piece of paper that they have created an adequate inventory of what their assets are. This list certainly is a starting point for the …

  When you’re building a home, you don’t hire a contractor to start slapping bricks together until you have decided on the number and types of rooms and their location in the overall structure. Likewise, it’s imprudent to draft a will, trust, powers of attorney, irrevocable trust or annuity without having a design in mind to give shape and structure to your efforts. This can be very costly and foolish. How can you create a plan consisting of various documents that are supposed to protect you without a design in mind? Mindlessly putting together layers of documents yields nothing except …

    In the fourth installment of my ongoing series on how to deal with the looming crisis associated with long-term care costs for the middle class, I would like to talk about when it may be necessary to revise wills and trusts. Also, what should these revised wills and trusts look like? First of all, we should remember that during our maturing years, most people, especially those with children, will prepare wills and trusts that deal with what happens to their assets upon death. This is a very understandable and laudable goal, especially for those people that are afraid of …

  Many people ask, “What is guardianship in the state of Illinois?” Simply put, guardianship is the process of applying to a court to be able to legally assist an individual over the age of 18 if the person has a disability. A disabled person, for purposes of guardianship laws, is someone who cannot make basic life decisions or manage their own property or money. Due to the participation of the court system and the attorneys’ fees involved, it’s an expensive proposition and should be avoided at all costs using other methods of surrogate decision such as powers of attorney, …

View image | gettyimages.com In this part of our 10 installment series, I would like to discuss when it is necessary to invoke the services of a physician in the estate planning, long-term care planning and eldercare journey. Obviously, if there are immediate health concerns, a physician should be contacted straightaway, before legal counsel is sought. However, there are circumstances where involvement of a physician is necessary even if the client isn’t in the middle of a medical crisis. This generally arises in cases where clients come in to execute powers of attorney for property and powers of attorney for …

  Powers of attorney are your financial lifeblood as you enter your senior years, but oftentimes they’re not taken serious until it’s too late. We had six senior couples come into our office this week, all of whom had powers of attorney that were nothing more than simple documents that would be useful only to clients who are 25 years old. This is a potentially devastating problem that can be corrected if the senior has the requisite mental capacity to execute new documents. If, however, the senior has diminished capacity, then we are left with these almost worthless powers of …

What is middle-class estate planning? It’s a must! As we have written in the past, for many years estate planning was driven primarily by estate tax minimization. Now with the estate tax exemption at $5.43 million per person, there are very few middle-class individuals that need to worry about federal state tax and their estate plan. Does that mean that no estate planning is necessary for the middle class? Absolutely not. Instead, with this freedom from the need to focus on the estate tax planning, there are plenty of opportunities and resources to focus on matters that are far more …

During your stay in a hospital, your doctor and the staff must work with you to help pave the way to a smooth transition to the next level of care. Your input is an important part of creating a comprehensive plan for what happens to you after you leave the hospital setting and enter rehab or long-term care. The following questions come from a document called “Your Discharge Planning Checklist” from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. We recommend using this and other checklists in working with the hospital’s staff before discharge. 1) Where will you receive care after …