Many times, you have heard that it is always better to
give than to receive. It is a good practice unless you think that someday, you
will apply for Medicaid. If you consider the Medicaid long-term care benefits,
then you need to rethink about giving away your property or money, because any
gifting will subject you to specific penalties. Gifting before applying for
Medicaid reduces your eligibility and exposes you to the risks of penalty.
The people who are best prepared for their golden years
are those who understand that planning for those years is a lifelong activity.
North Fort Myers residents who have had the foresight to talk to an estate
planning professional should take that discussion a step further and talk about
protecting assets and paying for long-term health care.
It is a nightmare many families want to avoid. Their
loved one is in an assisted living facility but is being ordered to leave
because the paperwork is no longer in order. When the family member with the
loved one’s power of attorney tries to sign the forms to make things right
again, the Medicaid agency refuses to acknowledge the power of attorney. Now
there is a loved one on the verge of being evicted into a homeless situation and
a family desperate for answers.
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.
