In the world of estate planning there are specialists who can help you to handle situations that you might have never considered before. Elder law attorneys who work in Cape Coral understand the challenges that your estate faces as you get older and your medical needs change. There may come a day when you need to pay for long-term health care in the form of an assisted living facility or nursing home, and it is important to take the necessary steps to protect your estate now to help pay for those long-term care costs later.
Long-term medical care for veterans is a part of elder law that many experienced estate planning lawyers focus on. Just as guardianship arrangements are important to special needs children after their parents pass on, long-term care services and elder law provisions are important to veterans. Every veteran should talk to an experienced estate planning expert about the services they are entitled to and any services their spouses are entitled to as well.
The cost for a private room in an assisted living facility in Marco Island, Florida in 2018 is approximately $113,150.00 per year. If you have done no planning for those types of expenses up to this point, then that number can create quite a shock. But even if you have not done any planning for your long-term health care needs to this point, there are still ways you can prepare for the expenses you will incur as you get older.
When parents get close to the time to transition to an
assisted living situation, the family starts to worry about the status of the
family home. Will Medicaid swoop in and sell the home to pay back whatever
expenses it paid for the parents? Is there anything the kids can do to prevent
the family home from being lost to Medicaid? These are good questions, but all
too often the answers people come up with are wrong and dangerous.
The people who live in North Fort Myers work hard and
are constantly looking for ways to protect their futures. You are never too
young to start talking to an elder law attorney, because an elder law attorney
is there to make your golden years easier. When you talk to an elder law
attorney, they will want to discuss the need for and benefits of a health care
proxy. If you have never heard of a health care proxy before, then it is a good
idea to use your elder law attorney as a resource to get the important information
you need.
When a resident enters a Sanibel assisted living
facility for the first time, they are covered by an extensive list of rights.
In 1987, the federal government passed the Nursing Home Reform Law that is used
throughout Florida to make sure that residents are given the care and respect
that they deserve. The law covers a lot of territory, but there are some main
points it makes that every assisted living resident and their families should
know.
The laws associated with the Medicaid application
process are both complex and, in some ways, intimidating. Medicaid bases many
of its decisions on the relationships the applicant has with others and how
those relationships affect the applicant’s finances. For example, the
relationship between a husband and wife is looked at much differently than the
relationship between a parent and a child. This is especially true when it
comes to joint bank and investment accounts.
If you are over the age of 55 and have been receiving
long-term care benefits from Medicaid, then the chances are very good that
Medicaid will try to recoup the money it has spent when you pass away. The
Medicaid Estate Recovery Program (MERP) exists in most states and has come
about to help keep down the costs of Medicaid to the taxpayers. Without the
MERP program, Medicaid would be giving out money and never taking anything in.
Over time, this sort of financial model is bound to collapse.
The field of elder law can be confusing if you do not have any experience. Most people with a casual understanding of power of attorney, guardianship, and healthcare proxy often feel that the three are interchangeable. The truth is that each is a separate type of legal document that serves a very specific purpose. If you feel that your parent needs to be transferred to a new nursing facility, you might be surprised to find out that a power of attorney is not enough to get the job done.
Sanibel is a beautiful place where people come to enjoy
their retirement and benefit from their years of hard work. It is also the kind
of a place where young people come to start and raise a family. The key to a
long and happy life in Sanibel is planning ahead and being ready for whatever
life tries to throw your way. There are many ways to make sure you are ready
for life’s little surprises, and one of those methods is to make sure you get
the right legal advice from a good elder law lawyer.
