Practice Areas
Elder Law & Medicaid Planning

Elder Law & Medicaid Planning

While elder law intersects many other areas of law, during the last thirty years it has grown into a large practice area in its own right, largely because members of the baby boom generation have come of age. The law provides a number of useful tools to provide and plan for the medical, financial, and other needs of aging and disabled individuals.

LRW’s experienced attorneys provide assistance and advice regarding the following:

• Estate planning tailored to elderly and disabled clients. Each estate plan is uniquely tailored to achieve your personal goals. Often times, if elderly or disabled family members are named as beneficiaries, it is important to ensure that the estate plan is properly structured to address and protect the needs of the beneficiary and to incorporate special needs trust provisions in order to protect certain government benefits and eligibility for various entitlement programs for which the beneficiary may qualify. We want to ensure that a special needs beneficiary does not become disqualified from certain beneficial programs as a result of receiving an inheritance.

• Advance Health Care Directives and Durable Powers of Attorney. As you or your loved ones age, it is important to consider the need for the designation of an agent to assist with the management of your personal financial affairs and to act as your substitute decision-maker for both personal financial decisions, as well as health-care decisions.

• Conservatorships and Guardianships. If a family member becomes incapacitated or unable to manage his/her personal affairs, it may be necessary to seek appointment as a guardian or conservator over that individual to cause the court to grant you the legal authority needed to assist that individual with their health-care and day to day affairs. We can assist with the process to seek appointment of a guardian and/or conservator.

• Long-term care planning. On average, the monthly cost of nursing home care can easily range from $8,000 to $10,000 per month, with that figure continuing to increase year after year. For many individuals, this is a significant expense, and a nursing home stay could cause these individuals to wipe out their entire life savings. The goal of long-term care planning is to protect and preserve the assets of the individual needing care, while at the same time developing a plan to allow the individual to qualify for Medicaid long term care coverage as soon as possible.

• Medicaid planning. The Medicaid eligibility rules regarding skilled nursing assistance are extremely strict and complex. We can assist you through the process of determining whether Medicaid assistance is right for you, and we can further develop a unique plan tailored to your individual situation to allow you to become Medicaid eligible as soon as possible.

• Medicaid estate recovery. In certain circumstances, if you or a loved one has received Medicaid benefits, Medicaid is entitled to seek recovery against your estate when you pass away. We can assist throughout the estate administration process to address Medicaid’s right to estate recovery.