Elder Law Attorney’s roles in supporting our Aging Population

The specialty of attorneys understanding Elder Law is becoming essential as our population ages.  We are living much longer but not necessarily “living better Attorneys specializing in Elder Law are a great resource seniors and their families in many ways. Below are some of the more important elder issues we at LA Law Center, LLP can help you with.

Help with Understanding Medicare and Medi-CAL Programs

Qualified legal help is available from elder law attorneys to help individuals in applying for and accelerating payments for Medi-CAL. An elder law attorney can also help with disputes with Medicaid. Also attorneys who specialize in Medicare can help with disability claims and sometimes this help is the only way claims are ever granted.

Financial Elder Abuse or Exploitation

Seniors can be become lonely and then become vulnerable to strangers (or family members) and become victims of financial exploitation. Examples of the most common types of financial exploitation can include:

·      Pay in Advance Prize-Winning Schemes

·      Telephone Solicitations for Dishonest Charities or Fraudulent Investments

·      Identity Theft to Get Credit Card Numbers and Other Information

·      High-Pressure Door-To-Door Sales

·      Dishonest Home Improvement Contracts

·      Dishonest Miracle Health Cures

·      Unnecessary Living Trusts through a Trust Mill

·      Dishonest Funeral Arrangement Plans

Seniors should have their affairs in order and be protected with Powers of Attorney given to a trusted family member. Adult children need to keep a close eye of their parents if the suspect any failure in metal or physical capacities. Sometimes it is best to have an elder law attorney explain these issues to seniors as they will take it more seriously.  They should also be warned of and told to avoid any financial transactions that:

·          Anything requiring upfront deposits.

·          Contracts are to be signed without two or three days of consideration in consultation with knowledgeable family members.

·           Any dishonest schemes sent through the mail are guilty of mail fraud

Elder Law Attorneys and your local area agency on aging can be a good source for help in these areas. Most importantly you should have a review of estate documents to make sure your estate is protected!!!

Settle Family Disputes

An Elder Law attorney can help as an arbitrator or a mediator in solving disputes among family members relating to the care of elderly parents. There may be disagreements over many issues is an estate plan and it may take an attorney to help sort though the family politics! A lawyer may be necessary to settle the differences either through informal mediation to court actions. We prefer to settle issues before they destroy a family!

For more information, please go to our website and look around. We try to educate our community and assist them with any elder law needs they may have or fear. Visit our site or call us today to schedule your FREE consultation with one of our experienced elder law attorneys. 

1 (877) 537 - 8283

>>>     www.la-lawcenter.com     <<<

Elder Mediation Can Resolve Family Conflicts

Family ties become more complicated as a parent or sibling is aging and nearing death. The people in your family begin conspiring and suspicions arise about each other in fear that someone is trying to take advantage of the one dying or trying to cheat the rest of the siblings. Our Los Angeles based elder law firm sees many seniors with feuding family members quite often. 
  

There are many cases reported to the National Care Planning Council about disputes between family members. Caregivers sometimes want to keep others away from the parent to avoid others taking advantage of them. Or caregivers may be taking advantage of them themselves and trying to keep other siblings out of it. Every situation is unique and none are sound for who is right and who is wrong. The problem is that amidst all the animosity, the elder’s wishes are not being met.

It is a difficult situation to communicate with one another when one child is the caregiver and the others are not. This is where having a Mediator can come in handy. Mediators are a neutral third party in your feud and can help correct issues caused by the disagreement. It’s smarter to mediate between each other with an experienced professional than to leave it to yourselves and possibly hurting ties with your siblings.

WHAT IS ELDER MEDIATION?

Mediation helps bring disputing parties together and have them negotiate solutions to their disagreements. Allowing for voices of each party to be easily communicated is the point behind mediation. It is also important to be able to establish resolutions between the elderly parents and their relatives.

Mediation also allows for the family to achieve results that work in everyone’s favor. Here are some reasons why it is important to use an Elder Law Mediator:

• Having a trained expert allows for new perspectives of the family that it could not have on its own
• Meeting together lets you preemptively negotiate problems before they arise
• The mediator can invite experts, such as care providers, to help shed light and give the family new perspectives
• Lets parents use their abilities rather than their limitations
• Encourages family members who are not involved to get involved
• Lets the parents express their wishes for everyone to hear
• Lets the mediator challenge family members and require them to take responsibility for their actions
• Creating a written plan helps make compliance more feasible.

 

There is various organizations and companies that provide expert Elder Mediators to help seniors and their families. Many of these elder mediators typically have accreditations such as, Professional or Geriatric Care Manager, Elder Attorney, Clinical Social Worker or Certified Mediator.

Mediators provide different sets of skills, so selecting the proper one for your family’s needs is important. This includes issues such as medical assessment, legal concerns over inheritance or power of attorney. Bringing the family together to communicate helps decide what exactly needs to be done and by whom.

Seniors Use Mediators to help the family plan for long term care.

Creating a care plan before its needed is a very important way to be prepared for Elder Care. Taking steps to help plan long term care are very important. First, you may want to designate a personal care coordinator for the individual to help streamline what process is going to be needed to care for the elder. It is important for other family members to be in compliance with the personal care coordinator and discuss what they all can do to provide long term care for the elder.

If communication is an issue in deciding who will be personal care coordinator, or if there is trouble getting everyone on board with long term care, a mediator may be exactly what you need to help.

If you would like to learn more about long term care planning, you can read the book “The 4 Steps of Long Term Care Planning” which is available online at http://www.longtermcarelink.net/a16four_steps_book.htm.

 Where to Find an Elder Mediator

• In a phone book, the internet, or community senior services
• A friend or neighbors reference
• Contacting your local area agency on aging
• Contact the State Bar Association

The National Care Planning Council lists Professional Mediators throughout the United States on its website at http://www.longtermcarelink.net/a7mediation.htm

Please call us for a free phone consultation or appointment  consultation to review your individual situation and determine if you would benefit from our experience and legal services. 

What you do not know CAN hurt You!

For more information go to www.la-lawcenter.com or call us at:

Local Phone: (818) 241-4238 or

                                                        Toll Free Phone: (877) 537-8283

California Medi-CAL Planning - Part Three

 This is PART THREE in our blog helping middle classed family members understand how to qualify for  Medi-CAL (Medi-Cal in California) to pay part or all of the cost for skilled nursing home care.

Always remember, you do not operate on yourself and we highly recommend that you get assistance from a qualified elder law attorney for your family’s Medi-CAL planning, allows you to legally qualify for the federal and state Medi-CAL Program. There are several strategies a family can use to make sure their loved one can qualify for Medi-CAL Long Term Care Benefits.

1. Special Home Exemption Rule

It's often the case that an adult child will move into the family home to take care of aging and or ill parents. In this case Medi-CAL has a special leniency rule to allow transfer of the home to this  adult child and not result in a penalty for a transfer for less than value. If the child provides care for a parent in a parent's home for at least two years, and that care kept the recipient out of a nursing home, the property can be transferred to the child without penalty and the property will not be a subject asset for Medi-CAL recovery. Medi-CAL will require some proof of this. Typically an affidavit from a third-party care provider such as a doctor or an agency stipulating that the care was given for at least two years and resulted in keeping the care recipient out of a long-term care facility, will be sufficient evidence. It's important to get the assistance of an experienced elder law attorney to ensure you file this properly and timely with the  Medi-Cal Recovery Unit.

2. Joint Tenancy

Some families anticipating the need for Medi-CAL benefits are tempted to put a child's or sibling's name on property titles to avoid probate and Medi-CAL recovery. It may not be a good idea as there are problems with this strategy. They are:

• If the family member that is put on the home’s title becomes subject to a judgment, (arising from an accident or debt obligation), then at least 50% of the family home can be lost to a court ordered judgment.

•  The family member on the title must consent to sale of the property. This may cause problems with the wishes of the original owner.

• Redoing the title must occur at least 3 years prior to claim in order to avoid look back rules and a sanction on a gift to a non spouse owner.

• The person assuming joint ownership has received a gift and loses the step-up in basis at death. Capital gains taxes may have to be paid. And if the property is not the principal residence of the new tenant, the capital gains exclusion cannot be used either.

• Note: In California, an Elder law attorney can draft a grant deed transfer with a life time occupancy agreement to avoid these problems.

Take advantage of a free phone consultation or appointment for a free 30 minute consultation to review your individual situation and determine if you would benefit from our experience and legal services.

For more information go to www.la-lawcenter.com or call us at:

Local Phone: (818) 241-4238 or

Toll Free Phone: (877) 537-8283

California Medi-CAL Planning - Part Two

This is PART TWO in our blog helping middle classed family members understand how to qualify for  Medi-CAL (Medi-Cal in California) to pay part or all of the cost for skilled nursing home care.

Always remember, you do not operate on yourself and we highly recommend that you get assistance from a qualified elder law attorney for your family’s Medi-CAL planning, allows you to legally qualify for the federal and state Medi-CAL Program. There are several strategies a family can use to make sure their loved one can qualify for Medi-CAL Long Term Care Benefits.

1. Intend to Return Home

If a single person receiving Medi-CAL care in a facility owns a house, this family home does not disqualify them form Medi-CAL, but could be subject to sale to pay for Medi-CAL expenses. The house is only protected if a qualifying child or dependent lives there or if the recipient intends on returning home. In California you must always have the Medi-Cal recipient (or their attorney-in-fact) sign an intent to return home.

Most families sell the home and end up with a large amount of cash that must be spent down before the loved one qualifies for Medi-CAL. Keeping the home avoids losing the entire value of it to spend down. By retaining the home, Medi-CAL recovery may not come after the full value of the home when the loved one dies.

Potential rental income from the house would also go towards paying the nursing home care cost and reduce the amount that Medi-CAL would have to pick up. This could mean that Medi-CAL recovery using this strategy might go after a smaller share of its cost in the recovery process.

In California, an experienced Elder Law Attorney may be able to help you transfer the home to an irrevocable trust to prevent Medi-CAL recovery on the family home.

2. Medi-CAL Treatment of a Home

If the community spouse lives in the home then the home is exempt from determining Medi-CAL eligibility. It does not count as an asset and prevent the institutional spouse from receiving Medi-CAL help. On the other hand any other real estate property, not the primary residence, will have to be converted to cash and spent down before Medi-CAL will start paying the bill.

If the well spouse living in the home does not in turn need Medi-CAL help in the future then one of two things can happen to the house after the death of the institutional spouse. Legally Medi-CAL has a claim against the property for recovery services. At the death of the community spouse, the property cannot be sold until the lien is satisfied.  

In California,  if the property is properly transferred into a Medi-CAL Asset Protection Irrevocable Trust, the state does not consider the house an asset for recovery. Always work with an experienced elder law attorney when dealing with recovery issues. You can never assume what your state recovery program will actually do.

 We will discuss more issues regarding real property in our next blog.

We invite you to take advantage of a free phone consultation or appointment for a free 30 minute consultation to review your individual situation and determine if you would benefit from our experience and legal services.

For more information go to www.la-lawcenter.com or call us at:

Local Phone: (818) 241-4238 or

Toll Free Phone: (877) 537-8283

California Medi-CAL Planning - Part One

  A middle classed family facing the prospect of a loved one needing long-term care that has a moderate income and assets may need  Medi-CAL (called Medi-Cal in California) to pay part or all of the cost for skilled nursing home care.

Using a qualified elder law attorney for your family’s Medi-CAL planning, allows you to legally qualify for the federal and state Medi-CAL Program. There are several strategies a family can use to make sure their loved one can qualify for Medi-CAL Long Term Care Benefits.

 Over the next few blog posts we will give a brief overview of these strategies.

1. Prepaid Funeral Instead of or in Addition to Burial Funds

Federal rules allow a person on Medi-CAL to keep up to $1,500 for funeral expenses. California allow an applicant to buy a prepaid funeral plan with  additional costs such as the burial plots, caskets and vaults to be tacked on, thus raising the limit.

2. Use of Spend Down Resources

People assume money being spent down for Medi-CAL eligibility needs to be applied to care costs. In reality, Medi-CAL is only interested in seeing the potential Medi-CAL recipient's resources reduced to less than $2,000. How the money is spent is only questioned if there has been a transfer for less than value.

In order to qualify for Medi-CAL more quickly, you may want to use some of the “spend down” money to pay off debt, trade in the old car and buy a new one. (Medi-CAL typically allows a community spouse to retain just one car), or fix up the house. Do not let a skilled nursing staff member tell you that you can only pay for nursing care to qualify for Medi-CAL…this is NOT TRUE!!!

3. Stacked Gifting is only allowed in California

California is the only state that has not adopted the Deficit Reduction Act, and stacked gifting is still legal and allowed by Medi-CAL as long as it is completed in a specific way. This is very tricky and should be guided by a California Elder Law Attorney. 

What you do not know can hurt you... stay tuned to this blog for more Medi-CAL Planning tips.

 

 Take advantage of a free phone consultation or appointment for a free 30 minute consultation to review your individual situation and determine if you would benefit from our experience and legal services.

For more information go to www.la-lawcenter.com or call us at:

Local Phone: (818) 241-4238 or

Toll Free Phone: (877) 537-8283