Finances and Business
Trusts
Trusts
In General
There are a variety of situations in which other people may make decisions for you.
Wills and trusts can both be used to direct where and to whom your property passes once you have passed on.
Trusts
Trusts can also be used to allow someone else to manage your property during your lifetime if you wish to have someone else do this, or if you become incompetent.
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.
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.
Often a person wants to leave property in his or her Will to a child.
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.
Some people wonder if they need a Will or other estate plan if they are ordinary middle class folks, or even people of moderate wealth, but who fall below the estate tax threshold.
Some people decide not to have a Will because they expect to spend everything before they die.
While one can plan for this, sometimes death comes unexpectedly.
There might be a pandemic. Or, more prosaically, one might have a car accident.
In some circumstances, contacting Medicaid can start time clocks running.
In other cases, contacting Medicaid can stop a time clock.