Elder Law

What is an Elder Law Attorney?

An Elder Law Attorney knows all six key areas of Elder Law, Estate Planning, Asset Protection, Medicaid Planning, Veterans Benefits, and Long Term Care Planning.

What is Elder Law?

Elder law is a growing field of law that deals with the issues faced by the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, the elderly.  With the key goal of asset preservation, this area of law combines parts of Long Term Care Planning, Veterans Benefits, Special Needs Trusts, Medicaid Planning, Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Administration, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

With proper planning (“getting your ducks in a row,”) you can protect your hard earned money from the devastating cost of nursing home care, perhaps even allowing you to stay in your home rather than move to a nursing home, without selling your house, without wiping out your life savings, without leaving your spouse penniless, and still leave an inheritance for your children, grandchildren or charity!

What does this mean to me?

Today’s seniors are more active and live longer than ever before.  That raises a variety of issues that have not been addressed by earlier generations.  Adults have always needed a Last Will and Testament and other forms of estate planning strategies to pass their assets to their beneficiaries.  Now that seniors are living longer, there are more issues about their care that have to be included in estate planning, such as plans for housing, future medical care, and what to do if the person should become mentally ill and in need of care.

One of the most important questions is how to pay for the increasing levels of care as seniors age.  This in turn is giving rise to a whole new industry of senior living communities and raises many legal questions about contract rights and the power of communities to discharge residents.

As care becomes more and more expensive, seniors are also in need of information about long-term care insurance, government benefits, and how to protect and preserve assets for their quality of life and quality of care.

We know from personal experience how devastating the emotional, psychological, and financial strain can be when a loved one needs long-term care. We understand there is the fear of financial ruin as well as anxiety, stress, uncertainty, and guilt.

Our Elder Law Practice

We want to ensure that you or your loved one receives the best legal, financial and care benefit possible.  We accomplish this through four primary objectives:

Senior Estate Planning.  We work together with our clients to develop a plan that will, appoint people to act on your behalf if you are unable to make your own decisions, provide quick and easy distributions of assets and minimize the amount of taxes, and provide you peace of mind knowing that you have protected yourself, your spouse and your family.

Protection and Preservation of Assets.   We assist our clients in exploring legal opportunities to protect assets for long term care.  We want to make sure you don’t go broke in a nursing home, and receive the best quality of care your assets can provide.

Veterans Pension Benefit.  We believe that all Veterans, and their surviving spouses, should receive every benefit to which they are entitled.  It is an honor and privilege to assist our clients who are Veterans or their surviving spouse to apply for a little known benefit that helps pay for large medical expenses and the cost of long term care.

Medicaid and Long Term Care.  If the time comes that you need care for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, dementia, or any other type of age related illness, we are your resource for locating excellent in-home care providers, adult day care centers, independent and assisted living communities, skilled nursing communities (nursing homes) and numerous additional services that are available in the community.  We recommend people that we know are outstanding in their field and treat their clientele with the same respect and concern for their well-being as we do.

We look forward to getting to know our clients and their families as they become part of our family and guide you through The Elder Care Experience.

The Healthy Senior:

• It is very important to update your estate plan documents \while you are healthy, and before any dementia, or memory issues start, or you are diagnosed with a debilitating illness.  As we age, our healthcare needs, financial needs and legal needs change.  Estate plans should be kept up to date for a maximum protection of you, your family, and your assets.  When you are a healthy senior is the time to seek the advice of an elder care attorney.
• If the senior has a loved one with special needs, now is the time to establish a special needs trust.  Without working with a qualified elder law attorney, your loved one could end up losing government benefits.
• If you don’t have Long Term Care Insurance or it is a “use it or loose it” policy, now is the time to look at exciting new options to pay for long term care.
• Medicare, private health insurance or a Medicare supplement pay for health care and prescriptions.
• We commend every 5 years to have your looked at by an Elder Law Attorney.

The Declining Senior:

• If you receiving in-home care, show signs of cognitive decline or dementia, or if you move to an assisted living community, it is imperative that you seek immediate advice from an elder law attorney to ensure your quality of life and quality of care.
• There may be TAX FREE Veterans benefits that can help a wartime.  Veteran, or the surviving spouse of a wartime Veteran to pay for high, un-reimbursed medical expenses.
• Long term care insurance is still available to help with costs, but the option decreases with age.

The Fragile Senior:

• There are very few ways to pay for skilled nursing care (a nursing home).  With the average cost of a nursing home totaling $90,000 a year on average, very few people can afford to private pay for very long without going broke.
• Without the advice and assistance of a knowledgeable elder law attorney, your family may spend more money on skilled nursing care than is necessary.  Even if your loved one is in a nursing home, it may still be possible to protect some of your assets from the devastating cost of long term care.

Estate Administration and Survivor Care:

• Once a loved one passes, there may be many options available to make sure assets are passed on to family in a timely manner while minimizing tax consequences.  The guidance of an elder law attorney can make this experience much less confusing and complicated.

No matter what stage you are in, Vouga Elder Law & Estate Planning, will be your trusted guide.  Call us at 636-394-0009 to see if you qualify for a FREE initial conference.