The irrevocable Medicaid Asset Protection Trust has proven to be a highly effective estate planning tool for many older Americans. There are many factors to consider when deciding whether a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust is right for you and your family. This brief overview is designed to give y...

The “ostrich syndrome” is part of human nature; it's unpleasant to observe that which frightens us.  However, pulling our heads from the sand and making preparations for frightening possibilities can provide significant emotional and psychological relief from fear.When it comes to Alzheimer's dis...

Many veterans are unaware of the Aid and Attendance benefit, a component of the Veteran's Administration Improved Pension that was designed to provide much-needed financial help to elderly veterans and their spouses. Even veterans who know about this pension benefit, however, are frequently targe...

Common Estate Planning Mistakes Regarding Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) For many people, retirement savings accounts are among the largest assets they have to bequeath to their children and grandchildren in their estate plans.  Sadly, without professional and personally tailored advice a...

Healthcare directives can be vitally important, as recent cases, like that of Terry Schiavo, clearly brought to light. These important documents can mean the difference between your health care wishes being carried out or family members fighting over whether a loved one should be placed in a nurs...

In my last blog post, I wrote about designating a patient advocate in Michigan with a Medical Durable Power of Attorney.  This post is about when that should be done.  All Michigan citizens should designate a patient advocate when they become adults, which in Michigan is at age 18.  The reason th...

Many people have never met with an elder care attorney before, so they may be concerned about what will happen at a consultation with an attorney.  I have written an article that you can review by clicking here that describes the consultation process in my office.  If you or an older relative hav...

It has long been the case in the State of Michigan that the state frowns upon payments to family caregivers.  The Department of Human Services (DHS) is the state agency that is responsible for administering Michigan's Medicaid program for nursing home care.  DHS policy provides that payments made...

Aid and Attendance is a wonderful program that can help elderly veterans and their surviving spouse pay for long-term care in their home, assisted living facilities and, if properly documented, other senior living facilities.  As such, it can help elders avoid quickly depleting their savings on h...

In my last post, I wrote about how Mike had purchased a power of attorney for elderly father, Robert, who has dementia, from a legal forms website, Legal Whirl.  Now that it had come time to use the power of attorney in order to sign Robert's name to sell the home, the title company processing th...

Mike, age 56, was upset.  He had just gotten off the telephone with the realtor who was handling the sale of his parents' home.  The realtor told him the title company refused to accept the power of attorney that Mike had gotten for his father, Robert.  Now the realtor was saying that Robert had ...

Susan was upset.  She had just gotten off the telephone with adult protective services.  Someone made a report that Ted, her 82 year old father, was being neglected.  Adult protective services had then visited Ted's home unannounced and without notice to Susan.  Ted let the adult protective servi...

As an elder care attorney, a phrase I hear from time-to-time is that an annuity is “Medicaid friendly.”  Annuities are a written contract with an insurance company to receive a specific amount of payments for a term of years or for the life of an individual.  The person obtaining the annuity give...

Certain types of trust may be used by seniors who want to protect their savings and other assets from creditors and long-term care costs.  These trusts are referred to as “income-only trusts” or “Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts.  The person who creates the trust is called the “settlor.”  These t...

Often, senior wartime veterans or their surviving spouses can no longer live on their own in their home anymore, but they do not yet need the level of care provided in an assisted living facility or nursing home.  Independent living facilities for seniors are a great option in these situations, w...

Individuals I consult with as part of my elder care practice frequently wonder when they should submit the Medicaid application for a patient in a nursing home?  The patient they are consulting about is usually their elderly parent or their spouse. The simple answer to this question is you shoul...

I have been practicing law since 1996 and there have been a lot of changes in that time.  One of the biggest changes has been in the federal estate tax.  When I was a new lawyer, the estate tax applied to estates over $600,000.  The estate tax rate ranged from 18% to 55%.  With the recent passage...

For years, seniors with long-term conditions and age-related frailty who have needed rehabilitation care in nursing homes have been denied Medicare coverage for their care based on an “improvement standard.”  The improvement standard was that Medicare would not pay for physical therapy and other ...

It appears that wartime veterans and their surviving spouses who are receiving the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Aid and Attendance pension will receive a cost of living adjustment in their pension rate in 2013.  While the official numbers have not been released yet, the 2013 pensi...

In my last post, I wrote about how individuals can irrevocably assign the death benefit of life insurance policies in order to obtain a funeral plan. Some elders who need to qualify for Medicaid nursing home benefits in Michigan do not have life insurance, but may have savings that would disqual...

As an elder care attorney practicing in the Detroit area, my clients come to me with a variety of legal needs based on their own unique situations.  However, there are also some needs that are common to many of my clients, including how to pay for long-term care, reimburse a child who has provide...

In my last post, I discussed the patient pay amount, which is a special type of co-pay for nursing home residents who are eligible for Medicaid nursing home benefits in Michigan.  The patient pay amount is the amount the nursing home resident has to pay to the nursing home out of his or her incom...

As an elder care attorney, a common question I am asked is “will the nursing home take my mother's Social Security?”  When a parent or another older loved one moves to a nursing home, there tends to be a lot going on, so people are unsure of how the billing works and what happens to the nursing h...

In my last blog, I wrote about one of the protections contained in Michigan's Medicaid rules for married couples:  the ability to seek an order in probate court increasing the protected spousal amount.  By doing that the spouse who is living at home, called the community spouse, may be able to ke...

As noted in my last post about the Michigan Medicaid Assets Declaration form, the spouse of a nursing home resident (called the community spouse) can keep all of the couple's countable assets if they do not exceed $22,728.  If the couple's countable assets exceed $22,729, the community spouse can...