Buyer Beware

A colleague recently handed me a flyer she had received and asked if I knew anything about the service. Here are some of the claims made in the flyer:

Important Elder Law Update
Congress has passed legislation that standardizes entitlement provisions for persons 60 and over. These laws provide the following benefits:

Seniors may apply to completely avoid all probate and estate taxes
I don't even know what that means. The way it reads, it implies that there are probate taxes. There are not. If they mean that you can "apply" to avoid probate, they are wrong. You can't "apply" to avoid probate. You can plan to avoid probate.

In 2009, unless your estate is over 3 million dollars, there won't be any estate taxes anyway. Again, there is no "application" to complete to avoid estate taxes. If you have to pay estate taxes, you may be able to minimize the tax liability through proper planning.

Exempt assets from collection by government or nursing home if ill (with no need for nursing home insurance!)
I assume they are talking about paying for nursing home care. The government does not collect assets. Neither will the nursing home.

If you do not have long term care insurance and you need nursing home care, you can either pay privately for your care, or you can apply for Medicaid assistance. If you apply for Medicaid assistance, certain assets, like a homestead up to a certain value or one vehicle of any value are considered "exempt" (This is the rule in Texas. Medicaid rules vary from state to state). If the state pays for your nursing home care, they do have the right to recover expenses from your estate, this is the Medicaid estate recovery program. With proper planning, it may be possible to avoid estate recovery. Even so, the state isn't going to take your assets. They will file a claim against your probate estate, just like any other creditor.

The key is proper planning, done by qualified professionals. Many elder law attorneys are well versed in Medicaid laws, as well as estate tax planning. You would probably not let an electrician work on your plumbing system, so why would you let a someone with no credentials or questionable credentials give you tax planning or Medicaid planning advice?

I would also be cautious getting advice from someone whose main business appears to be selling financial products. Sometimes annuities are a perfectly fine financial product, but if an annuity won't mature until you're 114 years old (I have seen this, really), then it may not be the best product for you.

When I went to the website listed on the flyer, annuities figured prominently, as well as other financial products. There was no information on the "advisors", so there was no way to tell if they were Certified Financial Planners or if they held any other certification or designation.

I just don't think you can be too cautious when it comes to doing research on the folks who are going to help you plan for your retirement. If you need an elder law attorney, you can find one at www.naela.org. If you need a financial planner, you can find one at www.cfp.net. Another resource for a financial planner is the National Association of Personal Financial Planners.

It may be hard spending a little money for the right advice, but in the long run it could save you a bundle.

Medicaid Unplugged

No, I don't know all the answers you might have about Medicaid. I'm just way more tuned into Medicaid now because I'm doing more with Medicaid right now. I'm actually helping clients with their applications (for readers who are these clients, don't fret, I have LOTS of supervision).

Even though I've been listening in on Medicaid consultations for over 2 years, like anything else, you don't really pay attention until you actually need the information. Like now. And Medicaid is really complicated.

I'm also looking at my own family's situation in a new light. I know my Mom is getting really tired of me telling her "If you ever have to apply for Medicaid...", but what I know is that I don't want to have to do her Medicaid application. It will be one of those hard ones, and not just because it's Mom.

I marvel at some of the families I work with when they get the list of all of the documentation that's needed: months worth of bank statements, sometimes from years ago, copies of checks, copies of legal documents, copies of life insurance policies, etc., and then they actually send it to me. I'm not sure I could find all that documentation for myself, much less for my Mom.

Mom announced over the weekend that she had old bank statements that she needed to shred, and I told her "Keep at least 5 year's worth, in case you need to apply for Medicaid". She's keeping 7 year's worth for the IRS; who cares about the IRS?

I guess my point is, Medicaid is such a complicated animal, that if you or a loved one has even an inkling that Medicaid might be needed in the future, it's worth a visit to your friendly, neighborhood Medicaid specialist to learn a little bit about it. I'm thick in the middle of Medicaid every day, and the thought of being on the client side of the table makes my head hurt, and I know about this stuff!

If Katten & Benson is too far away or too difficult to get to, call us anyway, because we can refer you to someone more convenient who we know will do a good job for you.

Happy sorting and filing!

Life Care Planning

I am approaching my second anniversary with Katten & Benson, an elder law firm in Fort Worth. When I came to work here, I had never heard of life care planning in the context of an elder law firm.

Life care planning as I knew it was a concept I was more familiar with in rehabilitation settings. An example is the young person who suffers a spinal cord injury in a car accident. Depending on the exact injury, there are certain medical issues that can be anticipated, such as recurrent urinary tract infections, possible skin breakdown, or shoulder problems if the person is able to transfer independently. There are also known equipment needs: a custom wheelchair and seating system, catheter supplies, a wheelchair van, etc. Even durable equipment like the wheelchair or van will have to be replaced every few years due to normal wear and tear. The life care planner considers all these needs and helps the client manage the settlement so that the goods and services required are paid for by the settlement, for the rest of the client's lifetime.

Life care planning in an elder law firm, it turned out, is not much different. Rather than working with people who have had traumatic injuries, we are working with people who have chronic medical conditions, such as dementia, Parkinson's, diabetes or heart disease, and we try to anticipate the needs and get goods and services in place.

Now, let's think about everything that might happen if you are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. From a legal standpoint, you certainly want to make sure your estate planning is in order. If you've done estate planning, we review it to make sure it's what you want. Powers of attorney are particularly important , because you want to make sure you have identified the people you want to handle financial and medical decisions. You might even want to take the additional step of designating a potential guardian, in the event guardianship is needed as the disease progresses.

A good financial review and Medicaid planning might also be needed. If you have limited income or assets, it's a good idea to know what will need to be done in order to qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid is complicated, and an attorney will best be able to advise you about issues like gifting, estate recovery, and protecting assets for a community spouse.

As an Elder Care Coordinator it's not my job to provide care, but it is my job to help you get care. The options can be overwhelming: Do I need help at home? What kind of help is available, and who pays for it? When do I need to consider assisted living? What will happen to my spouse? Is the doctor listening to me, and do I really understand what the doctor is telling me? These are all things I can help with.

It can be reassuring to know that you have someone you can call and talk to about a variety of topics. Sometimes I'm going to validate your thinking, and other times I will have to tell you it's time to consider something different. And sometimes I'll just sit with you and be supportive, so you know that you're not alone.

Greetings from Cowtown

To quote a friend of a friend, I never thought I'd be hip enough or cool enough to start my own blog. But here I am, starting my own blog. It seems that things have been guiding to me do this, so I finally decided to take the plunge and get started.

I am a social worker, and for almost two years I have worked for Katten & Benson, a law firm in Fort Worth specializing in elder issues. Now, a social worker in a law firm is a rare thing, indeed, but Steve Katten is a pretty rare lawyer. He is one of two Certified Elder Law Attorneys (CELA) in Tarrant County, and as he tells it, he realized some time ago that many of his clients needed more than the legal services he could provide, and that's where I come in.

While I have a title, Elder Care Coordinator, all you social workers out there know that titles in our business don't really mean anything. We do it all, or at least it feels that way many days! I have regular clients that I see through our Life Care Planning program, and I will talk more about that concept in the future. I also field questions from many other clients on issues like choosing nursing homes, or understanding their Medicare benefits.

One of my passions as long as I have worked with older adults is education, and helping people have the knowledge they need to make the best and most well-informed decisions possible, and that's why I decided to start blogging. I hope that as I run into situations and write about them, you will glean a little knowledge and understanding about growing older, caring for aging parents or loved ones, and navigating our crazy health care and public benefits systems. I don't know how often I'll post, but I hope that you'll check back often and see what's going on here in Cowtown.