Elder Law

What is Elder Law? Elder law is a focus of legal planning that ensures you, your spouse, and your loved ones are not just able to find good long-term care, but also be able to afford it. Unfortunately, most Americans believe this care will be covered by Medicare and this is simply not true. Medicare will not cover the expensive care you or a loved one may need in a nursing home. This is where elder law planning helps families. Whether you need a nursing home right now or at some point in the future, or you just want to be prepared for what the future could hold, an experienced elder law planning attorney can ensure you do not lose a lifetime of savings paying for nursing home care.

It is never too early to start planning for the cost of long-term care. In fact, the sooner you begin planning, the better. Many strategies are only available when planning occurs within a certain time frame prior to a person needing long term care. Specifically, planning over five years before you may actually need long-term care can be ideal. This is due to the five year lookback period for Medicaid eligibility. When you plan early, you are in more control of your decisions and your options.

Did you not plan early for long-term care? While this is far too common, it is still considered to be a crisis planning scenario. It happens when you, your mom, your dad, or another family member or loved one may already be in need of a nursing home, but do not have a plan for how to cover the cost of long-term care. Do not worry. We can help you with crisis planning as well.

Many of our clients ask if Medicare helps at all. It does, for up to the first 100 days in a skilled nursing home, but after that residents are at risk of being kicked out for lack of payment. With the average cost of a nursing home being over $8,000 a month for a semi-private room, most of us are not prepared to pay that bill. When you work with an experienced elder law attorney, you can develop a plan for covering the substantial costs of long-term care before the need arises. You may be concerned about being removed from a facility for non-payment. It can happen. This is why you need to put a plan in place now.

All of this can be scary for most adult children, especially for those who may not realize how much a parent has declined, what the estate planning status is, what the next steps are, or all of the above! We are here to help. Adult children do not need to shoulder the burden of paying for care and need a trusted resource to guide them through the complicated Medicaid maze.

Our office is here to help families and their loved ones. Let us work with you to develop a long-term care planning solution. You do not have to lose your life savings to pay for nursing home care. Contact our office to discuss your long-term care planning options today.