I’m Jill Burzynski, from Burzynski Elder Law and today we will talk about Planning for the Well Spouse
We work with many couples where one of the spouses is suffering from chronic long term illness. Planning for the care of the physically or cognitively impaired individual is critical but significant planning needs to happen for the well or caregiver spouse also. The caregiver spouse typically is under a great deal of stress which can impact his or her physical well being. A thorough plan needs to be devised that considered what would happen to the sick spouse if the well spouse becomes incapacitated or dies. Furthermore, we want to ensure that if the caregiver spouse dies first, that the well spouse’s estate plan provides for a Special Needs trust for the sick spouse so that he or she will not become ineligible for possible government benefits.