Category Archives: Elder Law
Effective Asset Protection Strategies During The Medicaid Look-Back Period
When a Westchester County resident is seeking long-term care from Medicaid, too often they simply apply for care without planning properly, which can lead to many of their assets winding up in Medicaid’s hands instead of with their chosen beneficiaries. The far better option is to plan before the need for care arises –… Read More »
Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts
When a person starts Medicaid planning, it can sometimes be a shock to realize that the program has very strict income and asset limits – for example, in 2024, New York Medicaid required a single program participant to have no more than $1,732 per month in income, and $31,175 in assets. However, with proper… Read More »
Planning For End-Of-Life Care In New York
We all know that no one wants to think about needing end-of-life care. However, discussing that possibility is an essential step in protecting yourself and your family as you age. In addition to signing a trust or a last will and testament, it is strongly recommended that you have what are known “advance directives.”… Read More »
Guardianship For Elderly Relatives In New York State
Watching your loved ones age and become elderly can cause anxiety for everyone, especially if they are becoming less able to take care of themselves. It can feel as though there is no right answer for this problem, or at least no answer that allows them autonomy in their lives. However, in the right… Read More »
What Is A New York Healthcare Proxy?
When a person is not in a place to make their own healthcare decisions, the law allows them to designate a person to make those decisions instead. New York and all other U.S. states allow a person to name a healthcare proxy, and invest them with the power to make those difficult choices. However,… Read More »
“Spending Down” To Qualify For Medicaid Legally
When an elderly person is at a point in their life where they may require nursing home care, they may simply have too many assets in their possession to qualify for Medicaid. However, they cannot simply give assets away all at once in order to meet the Medicaid means test – doing so is… Read More »
Crisis Planning For Your Elderly Loved One
Estate planning has become more and more popular in recent years in Westchester County, as people are living longer and longer. However, sometimes life simply happens, and the need for sudden nursing home or hospice care can leave a family reeling if no plan has been put in place. If this has happened to… Read More »
Will Medicaid Cover Assisted Living Care?
Providing an elderly person meets certain financial qualifications, Medicaid will help them cover long-term medical care. Most of the time, families use this for nursing home care – but it is also possible, in certain situations, for Medicaid to cover assisted living care as well. Assisted living facilities (ALFs) provide a high level of… Read More »
Explaining The Medicaid “Lookback” Period
The majority of nursing home residents in the U.S. receive some kind of Medicaid assistance to help cover the cost of care. However, in order to receive that assistance, Medicaid recipients must pass a means test – in other words, they must not have income or assets over a certain level. This threshold can… Read More »
What Steps Should I Take Now For Medicaid Planning?
Nobody wants to think about needing to rely on Medicaid to cover long-term care in old age. However, it is critical for Mahopac residents to know that, statistically, it is more than possible that long-term care will be necessary at some point, even if it is for a limited amount of time. Indeed, according… Read More »