Estate Planning
About Estate Planning
Estate Planning is Not Just for the Rich
Estate planning is not only for the rich or the elite. If you have assets and own property, you have an estate and therefore you need to have a plan! Your estate is what you leave after you pass away. You want to control how it is done, who gets your property, and when.
Read More...Elder Law Publications
Medicaid Attacks Life Estates and Trusts Featured
Written by Vincent J. RussoNew York State has implemented new regulations effective September 8, 2011 that have “Expanded” Medicaid Estate Recovery.
In the past, New York State (NYS) was limited to recover against the estate of the Medicaid recipient as to assets passing under a Will or by intestacy (when there is no will). As a practical matter, generally, Medicaid recovery would occur when a Medicaid recipient retained ownership of his or her home while receiving Medicaid benefits. There are other restrictions on NYS as to Medicaid estate recovery which is not covered in this article.
Misplaced Priorities (The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005) Featured
Written by Vincent J. RussoThe Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) is not part of a natural evolution of the Medicaid program that was created along with Medicare and the Older Americans Act in 1965 in order to prevent the elderly from living their final years in poverty. Instead, the DRA is an unnatural partisan product of those determined to scare boomers and their parents into purchasing long-term care insurance. It contains the most regressive and punitive changes to the Medicaid program since its creation. These new rules will hurt seniors, the nursing home industry, and may or may not drive boomers to purchase long-term care insurance out of fear from what their parents are about to experience. That remains to be seen. And certainly the ethical question of denying care to chronically ill older Americans and people with disabilities in order to strengthen the demand for a private sector product must be evaluated by policy makers and the American people in the years ahead.
Do You Have the Right Power Of Attorney? Featured
Written by Vincent J. RussoMany seniors have Powers of Attorney, but do you have the right one? This is a very important question because no one has the right to make financial decisions for you, unless you have legally appointed a person with the authority to act for you. The best way to give that legal authority is by executing a Comprehensive Durable Power of Attorney.
Newsday: Cutting Medicaid to curb debt won't be easy
Written by Vincent J. RussoFamily Comes First 2010 Fall Season
The moment has arrived.....
The Fall 2010 Season of Family Comes First™ Exclusively on Telecare TV
Cablevision, Channel 29 and 137 / Verizon FiOS TV, Channel 296
Family Comes First 2010 Fall Season
The moment has arrived.....
The Fall 2010 Season of Family Comes First™ Exclusively on Telecare TV
Cablevision, Channel 29 and 137 / Verizon FiOS TV, Channel 296
A Break Thru - On Reverse Mortgages
Seniors want to live at home and independently and why not? In our experience, the most important and valuable asset is one's home. So, how does one protect the home while also accessing Medicaid for long term care and a Reverse Mortgage for living expenses?
Elder Abuse - Don't Be a Victim, Be Victorious: Warning Signs & Resources
Written by Vincent J. RussoWhen one thinks of abuse, you envision one person physically hurting another, like we hear all too often in domestic violence situations. Unfortunately, abuse comes in many forms: physical, financial, medical and emotional and all too often, the signs of abuse are overlooked or ignored. In general, we also tend to think of those abused in terms of “groups” – young or middle-aged Americans – however it has been reported that older women (67 percent) are far more likely than men (32 percent) to be victims of abuse and a little more than half (53 percent) of the abusers are female. Elder abuse and neglect is a reality for far too many of our seniors today. It is our responsibility as a society to recognize the warning signs, to intervene and to help educate others about how to report and reduce the incidence of this crime.
Ask The Expert
Thanks to Lynn Brenner of Newsday for her column, Ask the Expert. On November 5, 2010, she responded to a question regarding how to protect mom's home if mom needs Medicaid nursing home care. The daughter informed Ms. Brenner that her mother is 93 years of age, in failing health and her daughter has lived in mom's house since 1995.
Medicaid Home Care - NYC
It has come to our attention that CASA has begun requiring that applicant's applying for community Medicaid coverage need to complete a Resource Verification Attestation form. This form requires that the applicant/representative check off the type of coverage that is being requested.
Medicaid Approved
With DRA, there were significant concerns regarding the Medicaid transfer penalty. Immediately, we focused on exempt transfers and in particular, transfers made for full consideration.
In a recent case in our office, we had a senior ("Mom") seeking Medicaid nursing home care. Mom's daughter had paid for her mother's home repairs and furnishings, medical equipment and medical supplies prior to entering the nursing home. The daughter had used credit cards to pay for these expenses and she had outstanding bills. Mom made payments to the credit card companies over a period of time in excess of one year for the expenses incurred by the daughter.
Questions for Aging Parents
A recent Real Simple magazine article examines how adult children and their parents can have an open discussion about their concerns, and together face the challenges of aging. This discussion is often not an easy one to have; a 2001 AARP study revealed that three-quarters of adult children think about their parents' ability to live independently, but one-third of the children surveyed have avoided discussing the topic with their parents. The results for parents are similar; a little over two-thirds said they think about their ability to live independently, but more than one-third said they do not discuss the subject with their children. The article provided several conversation-starting questions that adult children can ask their parents.