Elder Law News

Qualifying for Medicare hardly means free health care — there are still premiums and deductibles. However, people who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid (called “dual eligibility”) receive help paying their out-of-pocket costs. 

Directed trusts can be a useful estate planning tool, allowing you to place your family’s assets in a trust but benefit from the expertise of an advisor who knows more about the handling of certain trust functions than you may. 

Medicaid long-term care benefits traditionally pay mainly for nursing home care, but the federal government can grant “waivers” to states allowing them to expand Medicaid to include home and community-based services. The downside is that receiving care in a nursing home is an entitlement, while getting care at home is not.  

If we pay a lump sum for a personal care attendant and the senior receiving the care unexpectedly has to enter a nursing home, does the personal care attendant have to transfer the remaining funds to Medicaid?

Thousands of SSI recipients have been falsely accused to owning real estate because of the Social Security Administration’s reliance on a private database that is “riddled with errors,” according to a new report.

The federal government has expanded access to protections for spouses of reverse mortgage holders who are not named in the loan document, allowing more such spouses the ability to stay in their home if the borrowing spouse dies or moves to a care facility. 

I am my mother’s agent under a power of attorney. I have a large SUV that is difficult for her to get in and out of. I want to get a smaller vehicle that would be easier to access, but the loan would need to be in her name. She has dementia, so do I have the right under the power of attorney to sign the loan for her?

A recent court case involving a power of attorney demonstrates the problem with using online estate planning forms instead of hiring an attorney who can make sure your documents are tailored to your needs.  

A new survey has found that motivated in part by the coronavirus pandemic, younger adults are now more likely to have a will than middle-aged adults. Nevertheless, the overall percentage of Americans with a will has dropped over the past several years.  

Medicare prescription drug plans can have a coverage gap—called the “donut hole”–which limits how much Medicare will pay for your drugs until you pay a certain amount out of pocket.