Some couples approach their estate planning lawyer seeking advice on creating a joint will. Generally, the estates lawyer will frown upon such a suggestion because in practice, joint wills are fraught with problems. A joint will can be created by a married couple and is a single will. A joint…
Articles Posted in Elder Law
What are Long-Term Care Hospitals?
Despite the prevalence of aggressive, life-prolonging medical procedures, such as feeding tubes, ventilators, and dialysis, once a patient enters a long-term care hospital, L.T.C.H. for short, more than one-third of them will never return home. According to the New York Times, the median survival for such patients is 8.3 months.…
Caring for Parents with Dementia: Legal Considerations
Parents with dementia and other memory loss disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, present extraordinary challenges for the parent and adult children tasked with assisting them. Drafting a will, making health care decisions, and taking care of legal and financial matters are just some of the items that must…
Opioid Crisis at Home: Rise in Elder Abuse Tied to Opioid Epidemic
This is the second post in a two-part series on the opioid crisis at home. Addiction, the subject of our first post, is not the only opioid-related impact on older adults. The following post will examine the rise in elder abuse tied to the opioid epidemic. I assisted a client…
Preventing Deed Fraud and Mortgage Scams
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a group of bills intended to increase consumer homeowner protections. By press release, the Governor’s office announced three important improvements in an effort to strengthen homeowner safeguards and close loopholes to prevent deed fraud and mortgage scams. Unbeknownst to the homeowner, deed fraud…
Affording Long Term Health Care
Millions of people find themselves in a middle class bind as they enter the midpoint of their retirement period. A good eight (8) to ten (10) years into retirement, many individuals are able to physically continue to live in their home and afford the upkeep and maintenance of their home…
Medigap changes coming next year for future 65-year-olds
Beginning in 2020, Medicare supplement insurance policies, known as Medigap plans, will offer fewer choices to individuals who reach age 65 after January 1, 2020. Individuals who turn age 65 before 2020 will not be affected by these changes. The ABCs of Medigap plains Medigap plans, which are sold…
Study Finds Widely Prescribed Class of Meds Might Raise Dementia Risk
My doctors always advise me that medications are meant to help me live better not longer. I always walk away from the experience scratching my head a bit because most of my medications have made me live longer but worse than before. The worst part of taking medication daily is…
More Good Reasons to Add a Trust to Your Estate Plan
Trusts are an excellent way to pass and preserve wealth privately. Two of the main benefits of using a trust to pass your assets – timeliness and cost – were explored in our previous post. Unlike the probate process that accompanies the settlement of an estate by will, a trust…
Adding a Trust to Your Estate Plan
Trusts are an excellent method for individuals with substantial assets to pass their wishes and wealth to others or a charitable organization when they pass. The key to an effective trust begins and ends with documentation. The proper documents, when drafted carefully by a qualified attorney, ensures your beneficiaries will…