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Nearly one in two women and one in four men find themselves in nursing homes at some point in their lives. Unfortunately, nursing home care is very expensive, averaging anywhere between $5,000 and $9,000 per month depending on where you reside in Florida. Sadly, but not so surprisingly given these statistics, two out of three families run out of money within the first year of a prolonged nursing home stay.
So are you destined to go broke if you need nursing home care? Not at all! At the Estate Planning and Legacy Law Center, we can help you qualify for assistance from Medicaid, without spending down all your income or giving up most, if not all, of your assets. In addition, we can put powerful legal tools to work on your behalf to prepare in advance for a nursing home stay, such as promissory notes, life estates, annuities, trusts and many more.
The services we provide include:
- Determining if your medical needs are such as to require institutional care
- Analyzing all monthly income, of any type to see if income test is met
- Giving counsel on pre-application status and developing a written action plan
- Designing an irrevocable qualified income trust (“Miller Trust”) when needed
- Assisting you with the formal Medicaid application process
- Attending and representing you at the Fair Hearing
- Appealing a denial of benefits rulings
- Educating you on Florida Medicaid regulations
A Medicaid Crisis
At the Estate Planning and Legacy Law Center, we define a Medicaid crisis as a situation in which a person has already been admitted to a nursing home (or will be placed in one in the near future) and has been told that they have too many assets to qualify for Medicaid assistance. If you or someone you love is currently facing a Medicaid crisis situation, please contact us as soon as possible to learn how we may be able to help. We can show you a number of ways to protect your life savings by obtaining assistance from Medicaid.
Non-crisis Medicaid Planning
Non-crisis Medicaid planning is for those who are currently healthy but want to ensure they will be prepared and able to protect their life savings should they become incapacitated in the future. We have created numerous estate plans that allow individuals and families to protect their assets and adequately manage their personal and financial affairs in the event of incapacity. Please note: having a firm that focuses on elder law prepare your plan is extremely important. This not only ensures you will be well cared for if you become incapacitated, it can help you enjoy greater peace of mind.
To learn more about Medicaid planning and eligibility for Medicaid assistance contact us for an initial consultation — the sooner, the better.
Special Needs Planning
Disability and other special needs often limit a child’s capacity to become independent and financially secure as an adult, which is why planning for your special needs child’s future is so important. This is particularly true today, with government entitlements declining and the cost of care rising. At the Estate Planning and Legacy Law Center, we can help ease your financial burdens now, by making the best use of government programs currently available, and use strategies such as special needs trusts to protect your special needs child after you are gone. Considering the fact that accident or illness can strike a loved one at any time, resulting in disability at any age, every good Estate Plan should include standby phrasing for such contingencies.
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