The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has updated the way it determines eligibility for VA health care benefits, making it easier for many veterans to get access to the benefits. The VA will no longer use the veteran’s net worth as a factor to determine eligibility and copayments.
In most states, transferring your house to your children (or someone else) may lead to a Medicaid penalty period, which would make you ineligible for Medicaid for a period of time. However, there are circumstances in which transferring a house will not result in a penalty period.
Higher premiums mean that fewer consumers are buying long-term care coverage, and those who are buying are purchasing less protection, says Forbes magazine columnist Howard Gleckman.
There are two ways to better ensure this doesn’t happen to you. The first is to name a health care proxy – a person (or more than one person) who will make medical decisions for you when you can’t. The second strategy, one for patients who are already seriously ill, is an alternative to the advance directive that has emerged in recent years and has been implemented or is being developed in some 40 states: the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST). Read to find out more.
Wartime Veterans over the age of 65 and surviving spouses of wartime Veterans, please read the following article posted by the Elder Counsel. Strohschein Law Group is an active member of this organization and found this information to be valuable to the community. The proposed regulations are open to public comment through March 24, 2015. We hope this article is helpful, and if you have any questions at all please contact our VA accredited attorney, Linda Strohschein at 630-377-3241.
Americans may lose as much as $17 billion every year because of bad financial advice from advisors with conflicts of interest, according to a report by the President’s Council of Economic Advisors. President Obama has proposed new rules to change this and require financial advisors to act in the best interests of their clients. The move is designed to increase the amount investors receive in retirement.
If you’re like most people, you have the best of intentions with regard to how you want your estate distributed when you die or your affairs handled should you become incapacitated. Unfortunately, without proper planning, your best intentions may not be enough. Here are six of the most common estate planning mistakes people make.
The cost of long term care is more than just financial. Our aging loved ones face the challenge of change and the caregivers add more to their plate of responsibility. To lessen financial and emotional stress, Strohschein Law Group can help you maximize private assets, increase access to public benefits, and ultimately enhance quality of life for everyone involved. We can help, we do this everyday for our clients.
If you intend to repay family members or friends for their caregiving work, you need to draw up a formal agreement, especially if you think you will ever apply for Medicaid long-term care benefits. It is important to get help from Linda Strohschein, and her team at Strohschein Law Group, in drafting this type of contract.
Is your family of the “Leave It to Beaver” variety — opposite-gender parents, the first marriage for each, one or more kids, all healthy and thriving? If so, your estate plan will probably be pretty straight forward. But if not, it’s not as simple and you have a lot of company. Strohschein Law Group is aware of family dynamics and variety. We work with sensitive family situations every day. We stay focused on our core values of being approachable, client focused, collaborative, compassionate, and experienced. Your important issues will be heard and we will protect what matters most.