There are times when a senior absolutely needs to talk to a lawyer to make sure that an appropriate plan is in place that will provide for (1) decision-making on financial and health care matters and (2) preservation of assets. How can you know when that time has come?
Planning NOW is a good idea. But at the very least, when you, your spouse or your parent enters a period of decline or disability, run, do not walk, to a qualified lawyer. That lawyer can help you do any or all of the following:
You can make sure you and loved ones sign a Durable Power of Attorney for financial matters. That document allows you or your loved one to choose someone to make financial decisions in the event of incapacity. A well-drafted Power of Attorney may also head off the expensive procedure of having a conservator appointed for you or a loved one.
You can make sure that a Power of Attorney for Healthcare Matters and an Advance Directive or Living Will are prepared and signed. This will allow you or your loved one to choose the person that will make healthcare decisions in the event of incapacity. You or your loved one can also express in writing wishes for end-of-life care such as CPR or hip replacement
when you have end stage dementia. This has become especially important in this era when life can be preserved far longer than the capacity to enjoy or appreciate life.
If there are assets, you or your loved one can choose who will inherit them and pave the way for a peaceful, less expensive transition of your assets after your death. You may have read that the family of Bob Marley, who didn’t make a will even though he had cancer, is still battling over his estate. You may not have the assets of Bob Marley, but the story is still a cautionary
tale of waste (on lawyers) and ill feelings among family members.
Sixty-four percent of people who describe themselves as “very familiar” with Medicare believe that Medicare will pay for nursing home care. They will be shocked to learn that other then the first 20 days after a 3 day hospitalization, and potentially a share of the next 80 days, Medicare does not pay for nursing home care.
A lawyer can help determine whether assets can be preserved if you or a loved one needs home care, assisted living, or nursing home care. There are nontaxable VA benefits available to certain qualified veterans or their surviving spouses.
There is also a federal law to protect some assets of a spouse (the “community spouse”) whose mate needs nursing home care (the " institutionalized spouse"). This law, called The Spousal Anti-Impoverishment Act has existed since 1988 and is almost unknown to the public.
Here in Tennessee, this law means that one-half of a couple’s assets up to $119,220 can be preserved when a spouse goes into a nursing home. The meaning of this formula is that if a couple has twice that amount or less, private pay in a nursing home could diminish what the community spouse could have preserved to live on.
For an unmarried person entering a nursing home, there are also ways to preserve assets during a lifetime to afford extras that TennCare will not pay for, with the balance going to reimburse taxpayers after death.
Some of the saddest calls I get are from people or their loved ones who failed to plan. I can’t do much to help when Mom is too demented to sign a document, and the children want to assist her but can’t, or when all of Mom’s and Dad's money has been spent on the nursing home.
Plan now is my message–but at least take the necessary steps when the diagnosis is made or you begin to notice your own or a loved one’s decline or disability.