What Happens At The First Appointment With An Attorney?
Meeting With The Attorney When Your Parents Are About To Enter The Nursing Home
It is very important for people to come in and consult with a proper elder law attorney like me, so that I can gather information to see how I can help.
The whole process is obviously very fact specific, so an intake has to be filled out. We need to find out whether or not they are married because they would be certain exemptions allowed between spouses that could help qualify for Medicaid.
We Would Need Information Regarding Assets And Any Trusts etc
We need to know if they have done any planning, do we have a proper power of attorney, do they have a health care proxy, do they have a Medicaid asset protection trust in place, and if so, when was it done.
We need to see what type of assets the person has, and how they are titled and whether there are other exemptions available.
Accommodating Children With Disabilities
We need to also look at whether they have a child who may be on disability. Certain exempt transfers can be made to specific individuals which can be considered exempt transfers and can be done with special need trusts.
This means the person can make those exempt transfers of assets into a special needs or supplemental needs trust without a penalty period in order to qualify a person for Medicaid and or nursing home care; which would be another very important area to explore.
Promissory Notes
We need to know if there is a possibility of doing a promissory note and gift plan where, depending on the particulars like the person’s income, the amount of assets, the age of the individual who is entering the home and the cost of the nursing home, certain calculations can be done so that a promissory note and gift plan are put into place. Ultimately a penalty period could be created, but then that penalty period could be lessened.
In this scenario there is a good possibility that 40% of the assets can be protected as opposed to having to spend down all of the assets; it would be better to save 40% of the family’s assets than lose 100%.
All of these options are very fact specific and obviously have to be explored by someone who is well versed and experienced in Medicaid laws. I can give the correct guidance and can put into place a plan in order to preserve some or all of the family assets.
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An Elder Law Attorney Is Able To Guide You Correctly Based On The Situation
It is very important for a person to come in and meet with us before they place a loved one into a nursing home. We do not want to see people simply go down the rabbit hole; and say they did not know, it is too late or they can’t do anything and end up paying out of pocket because that is what the nursing home told them. We give our clients the proper advice at that meeting, which is why it is so crucial to take that initial step. There are many times where things can be done to protect assets and depending on the facts, there can be different results.
We explore all legal options, don’t just listen to what the nursing home tells you or some social worker or what some home health agency tells you. We have experienced elder law lawyers who can guide you at every step of the way. Our elder law attorneys have been practicing in New York since the last decade and they understand the needs of every client. We also have estate planning attorneys and lawyers who have been practicing all over New York, including Manhattan, White Plains, Bronx, Long Island, Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Queens, NY. Our offices are located in Staten Island, New York, Brooklyn, Bronx, White Plains, Garden City, Melville, New York.
Nursing Homes and home health agencies Will Not Try To Preserve or protect Your Assets Because They Just Want To Get Paid and Don’t Have the Proper Knowledge or Know How to Protect Assets.
The nursing home generally will tell the individual that although they will file their application, it will be denied so the individual will have to private pay the nursing home.
A nursing home is not in a position to preserve the individual’s assets. Their major concern is to get their services paid for and they obviously prefer to get paid from the individual’s private funds.
Generally what happens is a family member enters a nursing home for short term rehab from a hospital, in that scenario the first 100 days Medicare is covering the first 80% of the cost of the rehab.
After that period of time the family member will then be asked to take a meeting with the financial screener at the nursing home. They will then be told that the facility no longer will be paid for rehab by Medicare or the secondary insurer if the family member has one and that they need to be placed in the facility long term or have to leave the facility.
If the individual needs to remain in the facility the family members will then be asked certain questions regarding what type of assets the individual has, whether they are planning to apply for Medicaid or whether they will just private pay the nursing home.
This is generally when individuals then call my office in a panicked state, because by this time the family members are quite concerned about how to pay for this care.
Not Consulting With An Elder law Attorney On A Timely Basis Can Have Catastrophic Results
The results can be catastrophic if you don’t seek the proper legal advice in a timely manner. Contacting an elder law lawyer in New York is very important, and that too at the right time. Usually, this should happen five years before you expect to be needing this service.
My firm can explore the facts to ascertain if the applicant is able to qualify for certain exemptions or if a certain gift and promissory note plan could be put into place in order to save all or some of the assets.
The individual might ultimately end up losing everything if they don’t explore their options and instead just take the advice of the financial screener at a nursing home. The nursing home is not in a position to preserve and protect the individual’s assets. They are just interested in getting paid.
At the end of the day, as an elder law attorney who is well versed in this area of practice, my concern is to do what I can do to advocate for my client, protect their assets and get the person the care they need and get it paid through the Medicaid program and not by their private assets.
It is my job to protect the client’s assets so they can be passed on to the next generation and not spent on the catastrophic cost of the nursing home. Obviously, the most important thing is to really plan ahead but whether or not that was done, it is still very important to come in and speak with me if a loved one is going into a home as soon as possible.
For more information on Protecting Assets From Nursing Home Costs, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you’re seeking by calling (718) 475-9639 today.
Get your questions answered - call me for your free phone consultation (718) 475-9639
