Finances and Business
Trusts
Trusts
In General
There are a variety of situations in which other people may make decisions for you.
Health Care Documents, Finances and Business, Guardianships and Conservatorships
There are a variety of situations in which other people may make decisions for you.
Health Care Documents
It can be very important to have a valid Advance Directive for Health Care in place, so that if you are unable to direct your own health care, the person you want to make health care choices for you will be able to direct doctors and hospitals, and will be able to have access to your health care information.
Time for First Contact
Consider contacting an Elder Law attorney before you, your spouse, or your parents make any significant transfer of property. Consider getting the advice of an Elder Law Attorney:
Elder Law includes a wide range of subjects, including matters relating to Medicaid, including asset protection, Medicaid spend down, look back periods, avoiding or dealing with disqualification for Medicaid, and planning for a situation where one spouse needs to enter long term care, but the other may be able to remain in the home.
Generally once one spouse has qualified for Medicaid, there will be a need for the other spouse to re-do their estate and incapacity planning.
Sometimes there is a concern that someone should NOT be notified that a guardianship or a conservatorship is being sought for a person.
For example, there may be a sibling or an adult child with whom the person has fallen out, or from whom the person is estranged.
As part of a good estate plan, most people also do an incapacity plan, so that someone else can manage their affairs if they ever become incompetent
A major component of some incapacity plans is a trust, which many people think of as simply an estate plan.
Powers of Attorney allow someone else to handle business affairs for you when you can not or do not want to handle your own affairs.
In some circumstances, a Medicaid recipient, or even a person who is planning to make a Medicaid application, may be able to transfer their home to children who lived in the home with them for a certain period, and who provided a certain level of care during that period.