When I first opened my law practice twenty-five years ago, I knew that I would concentrate in one area—elder law. There are many benefits to...
Eldercare Lawyer Blog
Protecting Your Assets from Medicaid
For years, I have been using an irrevocable trust to protect a client’s home from the cost of long-term care. I successfully used such a trust to...
Having an Estate Plan
In my lifetime, several United States presidents have passed away, and one thing I notice about presidents is, each of them planned out their...
New Year’s Estate Planning Resolutions
It’s another new year. Many of us will enter resolutions with ourselves—either spoken or unspoken—things we want to accomplish in the new year. I...
Will I Pay Estate Tax?
The new year is upon us, and with that, the federal government has issued new numbers for the credit equivalent against federal estate and gift tax....
Should I Have More than One Guardian?
I have been practicing elder law for twenty-five years. During that time, I have been involved in hundreds (if not thousands) of guardianship...
Stepping Up With Irrevocable Trusts
In 2023, the United States Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued a revenue ruling concerning irrevocable grantor trusts and whether the assets...
Where Did My Money Go?
Having a Last Will and Testament is not the be-all and end-all for most estate plans. In order to have a proper estate plan, you must know how your...
Applying for Medicaid: Cost and Services
In last week’s article, I wrote about non-attorney Medicaid application companies. Medicaid is a health payment plan for needy individuals. Medicaid...
Applying for Medicaid
I have been helping clients apply for Medicaid benefits for nearly twenty-five years. Medicaid is a health payment plan for needy individuals....
Protecting Assets with a Trust
When a family member needs long-term care, the family has many concerns, not the least of which is the cost of the care and their ability to pay...
Mom’s Journey to the Nursing Home, Part II
The last article I wrote began mom’s journey to the nursing home. Mom had fallen at home and broken her hip. After a brief stay in the hospital in...
Mom’s Journey to the Nursing Home
When a parent needs long-term care, there is often a common pattern. Mrs. Smith, aged 85, falls at home and breaks her hip. She is taken to a...
Will I Lose My Medicare?
“When I qualify for Medicaid benefits will I lose my Medicare benefit?” I get this question quite often from clients. A substantial part of my...
Can the Nursing Home Send Mom Home?
When a family member needs long-term care in a nursing home, her family is often distraught—distraught because mom is failing mentally and...
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Recent Posts
Delayed Medicaid Decisions Threaten Long-Term Care Access
A colleague of mine recently won a Medicaid appeal that highlights an increasingly common problem: excessive delays in processing applications. Medicaid, the joint federal and state health program, has been in the news due to proposed reforms, including those in the...
How Medicaid Protects the Spouse at Home
When a family member needs long-term care—such as care in a nursing home or assisted living residence—it can be devastating. It is emotionally devastating to think that a loved one will need care with his basic needs for the remainder of his life. It is also...
Legal Documents Every Parent Should Have
All three of my children are in college and over eighteen. Though I still think of them as kids, the law sees them as adults. The moment a person attains the age of eighteen, he or she is an adult. As an adult, the authority of a parent as the natural guardian for the...
Profits Over Patients?
This week, I came across three separate articles on nursing homes. While each offered a unique perspective, together they painted a troubling picture of a system where financial interests often eclipse patient care. I’ve synthesized their key takeaways to share my...
“Do I Have To Pay Mom’s Credit Card Bills?”
“My mother died recently. She had about $20,000 in credit card debt. I am the executor of her estate. Do I have to pay that credit card debt or did the debt die with her?” I receive a question such as this quite regularly. When a person dies, all of her assets make up...
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