Why Do You Need an Elder Law Attorney?
As you age, one of the most important things you can do for your children and yourself is to be proactive about planning your future – from protecting your assets to making sure you have enough money for long-term care to ensuring that your children understand your wishes. The process can be complicated, which is why you need an experienced elder care attorney.
Often, we see clients who wait too long to begin this planning process, leaving their children with the responsibility. This can make the process even more complicated, creating an even greater need for an elder law attorney.
As an elder care law firm, Bingaman and Hess has a staff of experienced elder law attorneys who can help you navigate the complicated legal and financial planning process that comes with aging.
How Our Elder Law Attorneys Can Help:
Paying for Long-Term Care
As people continue to live longer, determining how to pay for quality, long-term care has become a concern for many. The cost can be exorbitant, and often Medicare and private insurance aren’t enough.
Long-term care insurance may be a solution, but it requires advanced planning. If you wait too long, you could face prohibitively high premiums or even find that you’ve been denied coverage.
Visit one of Bingaman Hess’s experienced elder care lawyers - sooner rather than later - to discuss options to help you plan for the cost of quality, long-term care.
Protecting Your Assets
One goal for many parents is to leave an inheritance for their children and grandchildren. If you don’t plan in advance, the cost of long-term care can quickly suck that inheritance dry. Plus, Pennsylvania’s 4.5 to 15% inheritance tax can significantly reduce the amount of the inheritance.
Through trusts, family caregiving agreements, and other estate planning strategies, our experienced estate law attorneys can help protect the assets that you’ve worked so hard for.
Medicaid Planning
One way to help pay for long-term care and protect your assets is with Medicaid - a state and federally-funded health coverage available to more than 65 million Americans.
Your ability to qualify for Medicaid is based on your assets, but did you know that certain assets are not used in the calculation of your eligibility? Transferring your assets to this type of asset could mean the difference between qualifying or not qualifying for Medicaid.
But remember, you can’t wait till the last minute to make these transfers. The elder law attorneys at Bingaman Hess can help you navigate government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
Healthcare Directives
If you were to become physically or mentally incapacitated, would your children know your wishes? An elder care lawyer can establish guardianships, durable powers of attorney, a living will, and clear advance health care directives to ensure that your health and financial wishes can be carried out if you are no longer able to make those decisions.
The recent changes in Pennsylvania law make an experienced elder care attorney even more essential. It’s also important to review these documents regularly. Bingaman Hess can review existing documents or create new ones to ensure that they continue to reflect your current wishes.
Nursing Home Admission Process
Placing your aging loved one in a nursing home can be a very difficult and emotional experience, and the typically complicated admissions process can make it even more trying. The admission process can be lengthy and often includes piles of documents that need to sifted through.
You will need to provide information about your aging loved one’s medical history and financial situation. You may need to apply for Medicare or Medicaid or go through the complicated process of tapping into long-term care insurance. Some nursing homes will assist you with this process, but remember that they will focus on what is important to them, which may not be the same as what is important to you.
The local elder law attorneys at Bingaman Hess represent you, so what is important to you is important to us. Our experienced attorneys can help you wade through the complicated process, ensure that the process moves along quickly, and relieve much of the stress to allow you to focus on the well-being of your aging loved one.
We can also shift your assets to a Medicaid-compliant annuity that will protect your assets and provide a reliable income if the person entering the nursing home is your spouse.
