The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the 2014 federal guidelines for how much money the spouses of institutionalized Medicaid recipients may keep and the limit on how much a home can be worth for its owner to still qualify for Medicaid.
Admitting a loved one to a nursing home can be very stressful. In addition to dealing with a sick family member and managing all the details involved with the move, you must decide whether to sign all the papers the nursing home is giving you. Nursing home admission agreements can be complicated and confusing, so what do you do?
So on a given day, I may be asked to speak with a family member and schedule a time to visit a client in their home to help determine needs and more effectively offer resource information. I then communicate with the legal team to coordinate next steps, ensuring that the best plan for that particular individual is executed, with essential legal documents in place.
Strohschein Law Group strives to counsel their clients to manage their independence as long as possible. Meeting with Linda Strohschein to discuss options and design a plan that best suits your needs or the needs of a loved one will give everyone involved the peace of mind to enjoy life to its potential.
Once a loved one passes, several tasks come to hand for the family. The majority of these tasks involve expenses and they quickly add up. First and foremost is the task of laying your loved one to rest. The average cost of a funeral is between $8,000 – $12,000. Perhaps the loved one set up a pre-paid funeral arrangement or had a life insurance policy that could cover these expenses and outstanding debts. Probate is the process to collect assets, pay bills and issue distribution to the beneficiaries. Please enjoy this article provided to us from Elder Law Answers on paying debt from an Estate.
Planning ahead for your own disability is a difficult step to take because no one wants to believe it can happen to them; but it can happen. Take a look at the following article we found on Forbes.com. Know your options and put a plan in place. Strohschein Law Group is hosting a FREE one hour Lunch&Learn workshop – “Life Care Planning – Getting and Paying for Good Care When You Need It” on Tuesday, June 18th starting at Noon. It’s better to prepare for what your options can include before getting in the tangled web of bureaucracy explained below.
If you plan ahead for the care which many of us will need at some point, 100% impoverishment need not be the only option. We help families everyday get through the maze of long term care planning.
How will programs that seniors rely on be affected? The good news is that big chunks of the budget are exempt from the sequester’s cuts, including Social Security, Medicaid, and veterans’ programs. But while there should be no change in benefits for these programs, the federal workforce that administers them would be slashed, leading to delays and frustration.
How common is financial elder abuse? If you detect any sudden changes in a loved one’s financial situation which may indicate exploitation, you should be very concerned and consider getting involved.
If you know of a relative, or even a friend offering care to a loved one, it sometimes helps just to have an understanding of what resources are available. Some options are more appropriate than others depending on the individual needs.