Long Term Care

Irrevocable trusts are a tool commonly used by many who plan in advance to preserve resources if they desire governmental assistance to pay for long-term care costs. Although Americans are living longer resulting in increased need for long-term care, sales of long-term care insurance have...

Elderly client, whose health is declining, owns a trailer and 11 acres that is treated as his homestead presently valued at around $55,000. He also owns 60 acres of undeveloped property where he would prefer to live which is much more valuable. The only other...

Joint bank accounts can be helpful in several ways, but such accounts can also be a trap for the unwary. A couple of the major benefits are as follows: Trusted joint account owner can pay your bills. Probably the most common reason for opening such accounts,...

TRANSFER ON DEATH DEED VOIDED BY COURT The Fort Worth Court of Appeals has recently set aside a Transfer on Death Deed (an instrument that usually avoids court action for real estate to pass to a beneficiary) since a jury determined the deed was signed as...

The House of Representatives, with bipartisan support, passed two bills on October 28 that are important to those impacted by Alzheimer’s disease. The Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (PCHETA) increases the availability and quality of care by creating hospice workforce and palliative...

This story is an illustration of some of the many thoughts that should be considered even if one has a small estate. In this case, the client’s major asset is her home that was deeded to her by her six siblings as it was their...

The Texas Department of Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), which governs the rules regarding long-term care Medicaid eligibility (Medicaid helps pay for some or all nursing home and medication costs, etc. – the present average monthly cost in Texas  for skilled nursing care is around...

Estate planning is not simply protecting your assets or having a Will and a power of attorney. It is a plan whereby you are in control of your assets during your lifetime when you are well and to protect you if you should become disabled...

As we live longer, there is a greater likelihood of disability and the need for long-term care. However, most Americans have inadequate resources or income for such care and also lack long-term care insurance or similar insurance products. As a result, some elderly and disabled...

The Estate of legendary musician, formerly known as Prince, has (for at least the second time) requested the Trump campaign to stop playing Prince’s most famous song, “Purple Rain,” or any of his songs at Trump’s campaign events. The Estate owns all copyrights to the...

Client had created a revocable living trust several years ago prepared by another attorney. The most common reasons for such a trust is to avoid probate (the laws that govern the probate process which is the process to determine if the Will is valid and...

Under our criminal justice system, guilt must be determined “beyond a reasonable doubt” as there is a presumption of innocence. However, if a senior makes a gift within five (5) years and applies for long-term care Medicaid, there is a presumption of guilt since Medicaid...

Long-term care Medicaid helps pay for long-term care costs if certain eligibility requirements such as medical necessity, Medicaid bed availability, “countable” resources being below a $2,000 limit, restrictions on most uncompensated transfers if made within five years of application, etc., are met. In this case the...

Many have the misconception that only the wealthy need or can use trusts for estate planning. In this case, an elderly couple has two children – one of the children has a drug problem and the other is a spendthrift and has creditor issues. The...

A court has ruled an attorney was incompetent for advising his client, who was acting as agent for his brother pursuant to a power of attorney, to transfer assets to himself notwithstanding a lack of authority. Most people think (apparently, including some attorneys) that a...

Parents own homestead as their major asset. Their health is beginning to decline, and neither of them have long-term care insurance or enough income or assets to pay for long-term care. As a result, if either of them needs long-term care, Medicaid is likely to...

On May 24, 2019, a Texas appeals court ruled that if an incapacitated Medicaid applicant does not have a guardian appointed, then the resources of the applicant should be considered unavailable for Medicaid eligibility purposes. Usually, the cost of long-term care (such as a nursing...

Under federal long-term care Medicaid laws, there is a presumption of “guilt” if there is an uncompensated transfer within five (5) years of an application for long-term Medicaid (which helps pay for institutional care, drugs, etc.) since long-term care is “means-tested” In other words, the...