What if I Noticed a Decline over the Holidays?
Despite the Covid pandemic, millions of Americans went home for the holidays. For many adults, this is one of the few occasions when multiple generations gather under one roof. If your parents are getting older, your trip back to the family home can lead to concern...
COVID Vaccine Arrives at Long-Term Care Residences
The much-anticipated COVID vaccine has arrived. It is now rolling out to Florida’s nursing homes and assisted living residences. Some residents are already receiving inoculations. Long-term care facilities in Florida and around the country have been prioritized,...
Talk to your Parents about Long-Term Care
The Holiday season can be a trigger for changes in family dynamics. Often times out-of-state children will meet with their parents for the first time in a year or more. Changes in the parent’s conditions may seem more pronounced after the period of absence. How do...
Common Signs of Elder Abuse
Elderly individuals often go through health issues they did not experience when they were younger and may have been unprepared to deal with. Other seniors might have few living friends, and relatives scattered far from Florida. This makes aging difficult both...
How to Help a Family Caregiver
Family caregivers sacrifice their own financial security, family time, and health to provide uncompensated care for elderly or disabled family members who need help. Over 40 million Americans are thrust into the role of family caregiver, sometimes unexpectedly. ...
When do You Need Crisis Medicaid Planning?
Medicaid is a joint federal and state program available to individuals who meet certain asset requirements that help them pay for long-term care costs. Long-term care often creates devastating financial impacts on Americans, especially the elderly and disabled, and...
Annual Exclusion and Long-Term Care Planning
Many of our clients have been in the habit of making annual gifts to their children and other beneficiaries. These gifts are thought of as “annual exclusion” gifts because the IRS allows anyone to give up to the maximum amount (currently $15,000 per beneficiary)...
Dangers of Trying to do Your Own Estate Plan
People often wonder why they can’t just do their own estate plan. There are will forms on the internet. Banks try helpfully suggesting you add your kids as pay-on-death to your accounts. What’s the big mystery? We view it like medical care. Yes, you can find...
When Family Caregivers Are Not Enough
Sometimes an elderly loved one needs more care that a family member can provide. When you reach the point of needing more care differs with every family. We all have different skills, time available, available space in our home and other factors. Family caregivers...
Medicaid 5 Year Look-Back Penalty
You may never have heard of the Medicaid 5 year look-back penalty. Or you may have heard of a “five-year period” without being clear what that meant. You get busy with health, financial and insurance information when going through a long-term placement for...
Veterans and Medicaid
Sometimes we deal with a war-time Veteran (or widow of a war-time Veteran) who is receiving Aid and Attendance benefits but also needs Medicaid. A Veteran can receive both an Aid and Attendance benefit and Medicaid so long as there are out of pocket expenses toward...
A Good Estate Plan Can Reduce Elder Exploitation
Financial elder exploitation has been called “the crime of the 21st Century” with one study suggesting that older Americans lost at least $2.9 billion to financial exploitation in 2010 by a broad spectrum of perpetrators, including persons they know and trust, as well...
An Unexpected Trip to the Emergency Room
No one wants to land in the emergency room of a hospital, but it happens frequently, especially to seniors, so it is imperative that seniors be ready for an unexpected trip to the emergency room. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are...
Will POA Prevent Guardianship?
A good Florida estate plan will always include planning for possible incapacity. A Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA) names a trusted person to make financial decisions for you, while an Advance Directive for Healthcare does the same for health decisions. But there...
Gifting Real Property Poses Problems
We get many inquiries about gifting real property. Sometimes we deal with seniors who want us to prepare a deed gifting the home to their children. Some believe that they could wait out the five year ineligibility period and obtain Medicaid. We always try to convey to...
Informal Estate Plan
Many times clients think they have solved their division of assets (after their death) by making up an informal estate plan of their own device. They may name their most responsible child as Personal Representative or Trustee in their estate planning documents, and...
2020 VA Benefits
Many of our clients are war-time Veterans who may look to the VA for some help with payment of their long-term care costs and knowing the 2020 VA benefits available is crucial. There are two paths in VA to receive monthly payments: disability or pension. Disability...
A Proper DPOA Helps in Medicaid Planning
A Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA) is a document that gives a trusted person of your choosing, the “Agent”, legal authority to act on your behalf regarding financial matters. A DPOA withstands incapacity and is a very important document for you to have in the...
Incapacity Planning in Florida
Incapacity Planning is vital were you to have a sudden illness or life-threatening injury. More people are thinking about the implications of the possibility of a bad bout with COVID-19 and where that would leave them legally and financially. The good news...
Managing Isolation during COVID-19
Things have changed so much in 2020 and managing isolation has been critical. Every aspect of our life has changed in some way. Events are cancelled, many stores and movie theaters are closed, and gatherings are too risky. No one wants to be that super spreader who...
Medicaid Income Issues
Florida rules for long-term nursing care are complicated but Medicaid income issues are particularly difficult. State and Federal regulations both control the application process. Among the rules of importance for married couples is the Minimum Monthly Maintenance...
A Durable Power of Attorney Helps in Medicaid Planning
A Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA) is a document that gives a trusted person of your choosing, the “Agent”, legal authority to act on your behalf regarding financial matters. A DPOA withstands incapacity and is a very important document for you to have in the event...
Elder Abuse on the Rise during COVID-19 Pandemic
Whether at home or in a long-term care facility, elder abuse is on the rise as social isolation during the pandemic creates more vulnerabilities. Stay-at-home guidelines isolate seniors from the systems that can protect them like medical providers, congregations,...
What is a Care Plan Meeting?
If you have a loved one in a nursing home, you will soon hear the term “care plan meeting.” Shortly after moving in a new resident, each nursing home is required by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs to develop a plan of care. This helps the facility know what...