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Can I Keep My Pension if I Go On Medicaid?

Medicaid helps cover the costs of long-term care, nursing home costs and other medical expenses. However, Medicaid only provides coverage to people with limited income and limited countable assets. If you receive a pension, the amount may be too high for you to qualify for Medicaid to help get the cost of nursing home […]

What Assets Can I Keep When My Spouse Qualifies for Medicaid?

If your spouse requires long-term care in a skilled nursing facility, the costs can be significant. Nursing homes can cost nearly $100,000 per year and many retirees could quickly exhaust their entire life savings paying for the costs of nursing care. This is a big problem when one spouse needs to go into a nursing home […]

Do VA Benefits Pay for a Nursing Home?

The Department of Veterans Affairs provides benefits to eligible former military members. Eligible veterans can apply for VA health care services and receive subsidized or free care depending upon their years of service, whether they have a service-connected disability, and their income. If you qualify for veterans benefits and you need long-term care, it is […]

Can An Agent Make a Gift Under Power of Attorney?

A power of attorney is one of the most fundamentally important estate planning tools. A power of attorney created when you are of sound mind allows you to name someone who will act as your agent. If the power of attorney is “durable”, the person you name as your agent can make important decisions about […]

Special Needs Trust: Protecting an Inheritance without Losing Government Benefits

Many government benefits including Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are means-tested. In other words, eligibility for these benefit programs is restricted on the basis of both assets and income. In addition to other requirements, a person may not have more than $2,000 in countable assets and a couple may not have more than $3,000 […]

What is Guardianship and How Does it Work?

A guardian is someone appointed by the court to control a ward’s assets and make decisions on behalf of the ward. The ward must be declared as incapacitated by the court to be unable to handle his/her own affairs. People who suffer from mental disabilities, including people with dementia and other conditions of old age, […]

Estate Planning Advice: Should My Parents Give Me Their Home?

Long-term care can be very costly and it can quickly deplete a person’s life savings. Medicaid can help cover the costs of a nursing home, but only if the person going into care has limited resources. When someone owns a home, it is thus natural to be concerned about whether the home will be lost if […]

What is a Power of Attorney and When Does it Become Effective?

A power of attorney (POA) is a legal instrument that gives someone else the right to act on your behalf. The person granting that power (the “principal”) grants the right to act on his/her behalf to the agent, who is also referred to as the attorney-in-fact. The language of the POA determines what powers are […]

What is the significance of national elder law attorney organizations?

When you are looking for an elder law attorney, it is important that you have an experienced legal professional representing you. An attorney’s membership in a national organization of elder law attorneys shows a commitment to staying up-to-date on legal issues affecting seniors. An attorney who is a member of a certifying elder law professional […]

I just moved to Florida; is my Will still valid?

A Will executed in another state, sometimes referred to as a “foreign will”, could be valid if it was validly executed under the laws of the other state (Fl. Stat. 732.502(2)). Therefore, the answer to this question could be partially dependent on the state in which you previously lived. One exception is a holographic Will, […]

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