The Single Most Dangerous Mistake When Applying for VA Benefits (Part 2)
Last week we were talking about Melissa’s call to our office. Her parents had been receiving VA benefits for 2 years while living in an assisted living facility and everything had been great. The reason she called us, however, is that Dad now needs nursing home care. Her parents have
The Single Most Dangerous Mistake When Applying for VA Benefits (Part 1)
Melissa called to explain her parents’ situation. Mom was 80 and Dad 85. For a number of years they had been receiving care at home from a home health aide. 2 years ago, Melissa attended a seminar offered by a financial advisor at a local assisted living facility about a
How We Pulled Charlie from a Black Hole of Long Term Care
A few months back I wrote about a situation that is not all that uncommon, a nursing home resident with long term care insurance benefits but no other assets. If the insurance payment goes directly to the resident it counts as income, resulting in too much income to qualify for
Don’t Put Long Term Care Planning on the Backburner
Laura called us in a panic because her husband, George, was in a nursing home, about to have his Medicare coverage terminated. George had no long term care insurance and Laura was totally unprepared for how Medicaid works and how much she would have to spend down. I explained that
“But the Lady Said Medicaid is Gonna Take My House!!”
It’s an issue we deal with often, especially in our married couple crisis planning cases.  We explain to clients how Medicaid works and engineer a plan to get the sick spouse Medicaid without putting the healthy spouse in the poor house. The healthy spouse will keep the home.  This is
Are There Really Any Easy Medicaid Applications?
    Ben calls us with some basic questions about his mom’s long term care needs as she is very close to needing nursing home care. The subject turns inevitably to Medicaid as I explain the complexities of the program and how people get tripped up by it with often disastrous
Is Your Long Term Care Plan Stuck in a Time Warp?
The amount of change in the last 15 years is incredible and the pace of change has quickened. Nothing stays the same forever, and forever is not as long as it used to be. We are starting to see this in the senior market, beginning with how the term “old”
What’s Your “88 Plan”?
It seems more and more to me, that dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease are everywhere, but then, maybe as an elder law attorney I am more tuned to it. In the last month three notable celebrities died or were diagnosed with dementia and/or Alzheimer’s, actor, Peter Falk of Columbo fame, “Rhinestone
Reading the Will – An Urban Myth?
There is an amusing Direct TV commercial which takes place in an attorney’s office that highlights a practice that doesn’t exist any longer in New Jersey (if it ever did) and, to my knowledge, isn’t practiced in most other states. The attorney is conducting what is known as “the reading
How a Tax Refund Can End Up Costing You Big
Janet and Murray have been married for 50 years. Murray is in advanced stages of Alzheimer’s Disease and Janet finally was forced to place him in a nursing home. Murray recently received Medicaid approval and Janet got to keep the house and $100,000 in assets.  She filed a joint income