Immediate annuities can be a useful tool to protect the spouse of a nursing home resident who applies for Medicaid. These types of annuities allow the nursing home resident to spend down assets and give the spouse a guaranteed income. Immediate annuities are an available planning tool in the State of Florida. Medicaid is the…
Comprehensive estate planning is more than your legacy after death, avoiding probate, and saving on taxes. Good estate planning includes a plan in place to manage your affairs if you become incapacitated during your life and can no longer make decisions for yourself. What happens without an incapacity plan? Without a comprehensive incapacity plan in…
Even if you’ve created an estate plan, are you sure you included everything you need to? There are certain provisions that people often forget to put in in a will or estate plan that can have a big impact on your family. 1. Alternate Beneficiaries One of the most important things your estate plan should…
In my last post to this blog, I explained why it is so important to put in place a durable power of attorney. In this post, I want to emphasize why it is important to get that power of attorney in place before you need it. If you wait until you need it, you’ll be…
The benefits of a highly detailed, comprehensive durable power of attorney are numerous. Unfortunately, many powers of attorney are more general in nature and can actually cause more problems than they solve, especially for seniors. This post highlights the benefits of a comprehensive, detailed durable power of attorney, including some of the provisions that should be…
Nursing home discrimination against Medicaid residents is illegal. While it is illegal for a nursing home to discriminate against a Medicaid recipient, it still happens. To prevent such discrimination, nursing home residents and their families need to know their rights and how to fight nursing home discrimination against Medicaid beneficiaries. The potential for discrimination arises…
The cost of long term care continues to rise, even if slightly for 2016 compared to 2015. The median cost of a private nursing home room in the United States has increased slightly to $92,378 a year, up 1.24 percent from 2015, according to Genworth’s 2016 Cost of Care survey, which the insurer conducts annually.…
