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Correcting Your Estate Plan on the Eldercare Journey

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May 24, 2019

- Alzheimer's Care, Asset Protection, Blog, Chicago, Chicago area, Chicago Elder Law, Chicago Elder law attorney, Chicago Illinois Hospice Care, Chicago Suburban Elder Law Attormey, Chicago Suburban Elder Law Attorney, Chicago Suburbs, Chicagoland Elder Law, Elder Law Articles, Eldercare Attorney, Estate Planning, Estate Planning Attorney, Guardianships, Medicaid and Paying for Nursing Home Care, Medicaid spend down planning, Nursing Home Admissions, Nursing Home Contracts, Probate, Estate, and Trust Administration, senior estate planning

Why is it necessary to correct your estate plan on the eldercare journey?
Because most people’s estate plans plan for death. Most attorneys will draft these plans well and accomplish the goals of asset transferring upon death. However when you’re on the eldercare journey, and death is not imminent but you face long-term care and the costs of $5,000 to $15,000 a month (in a facility located in Chicago and the surrounding Chicago suburbs and Chicago metropolitan area in general), estate planning documents that serve you well at death may not serve you so well when the healthy spouse may unexpectedly may die before an ill spouse who is residing in an Illinois nursing facility.
 
So the question remains how do we correct your estate planning documents when you begin the eldercare journey?
First we make sure that upon death assets do not go directly from the predeceasing spouse to the surviving spouse. Rather, upon death, assets are transferred from the predeceasing spouse to supplemental needs trust (SNT) for the benefit of the surviving spouse. Please note that the supplemental needs trusts for spouses must be found in the will of the predeceasing spouse. So instead of doing pour- over wills where assets controlled by the will pour -over to the trust, we do the reverse: assets controlled in the trust pour – back to the will, where the supplemental needs trust are found for the benefit of the surviving spouse.
 
Why is it advisable to do this as couples age?
Because if at the time of the death of the predeceasing spouse, the surviving spouse finds themselves either in a long-term care facility or soon to enter a long-term care facility, we are not enriching the surviving spouse directly and causing more potential costly spenddown. Rather, we are leaving assets in a supplemental needs trust for the surviving spouse so the surviving spouse can apply for governmental benefits to cover the devastating cost of long-term care ( $5000 to $15,000 per month in Chicago and the Chicagoland metropolitan area and in other parts of Illinois as well), while at the same time having the benefit of the assets and the inheritance left by the predeceasing spouse to be found in supplemental needs trusts left for their benefit.
 
Don’t fall into two traps of erroneous thinking!
First, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that if one spouse becomes ill, the couple can leave assets directly to the children. This is a formula for disaster because it may create immediate ineligibility for any governmental benefits related to long-term care under the Medicaid rules. Medicaid will not permit you to do this.
 
Second, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that if one spouse becomes ill, we must completely disinherit that spouse or watch a complete spend-down without any assets being left for the surviving spouse. That is not true either. The reason is spouses are allowed to leave assets for each other in supplemental needs trusts (SNTs) as described above. Thus, there is no need to completely disinherit your loved one, you can leave them assets (in an SNT) that will improve the quality of their life if they need institutional care but at the same time allow them to remain eligible and qualify financially for governmental benefits because the assets that you left for them are not left directly in their ownership, but rather in a special needs trusts that I described above, which is perfectly permissible under the Medicaid rules.
 
Sounds complicated?
It is not complicated. It’s just different than what you have most likely done with your “traditional” estate planning in the past. As we start approaching our senior years at around age 60-65, in addition to looking into Social Security and Medicare and other related topics for seniors, couples that are concerned about the devastating cost of long-term care you should consider correcting their estate documents so that assets are not left directly from one spouse to the other, but rather, transferred to supplemental needs trusts as described above. This type of planning can save assets by properly relying on rules left for the benefit of aging spouses by Congress in its legislation of the current Medicaid laws that have provisions intended specifically to help avoid this type of spousal impoverishment.
 
 
Conclusion
Take advantage of these generous Medicaid provisions and correct your estate plan documents as you begin the eldercare journey around age 60 to 65. Note: If there is a diagnosis of illness prior to age 60 sometimes it is prudent to do this type of planning even earlier.
 
And once again, this is not the kind of drafting that one will try on their own, rather you need to seek elder law counsel to draft these documents because these documents will be closely scrutinized by governmental agencies.
 
Best to you and your loved ones,
 
Anthony B. Ferraro
 
 
PS: in the month of May 2019 we have presented at least six times to various audiences on the issues pertaining to Elder law and Elder care. Please contact our offices if you would like to become aware of future speaking engagements that you may wish to attend.
 
Also please be aware that it is our practice that before clients retain us that we offer them a free 15 minute telephone consultation before they even have to come into our office. If this will help you or one of your loved ones please feel free to take advantage of it by calling our offices.
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Asset Inventories: More than Meets the Eye

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May 6, 2019

- Alzheimer's Care, Asset Protection, Chicago area, Chicago Elder Law, Chicago Elder law attorney, Chicago Illinois Hospice Care, Chicago Suburban Elder Law Attormey, Chicago Suburban Elder Law Attorney, Chicago Suburbs, Chicagoland Elder Law, Elder Law Articles, Eldercare Attorney, Estate Planning, Estate Planning Attorney, Guardianships, Medicaid and Paying for Nursing Home Care, Nursing Home Admissions, Nursing Home Contracts, Probate, Estate, and Trust Administration, senior estate planning

In most people’s experience the creation of an asset inventory is nothing more than creating a list of assets, account numbers and account balances as of a beginning date.
 
It is a good practice to maintain an asset inventory for yourself and update it periodically.
 
Some Issues that can Complicate Your Asset Inventory
 
When someone is ill, and we are looking to establish eligibility for Medicaid for long-term care in either a supportive living facility or a skilled nursing facility, asset inventory issues become complicated in some cases.
 
In ALL cases:
 
1.  In cases involving individuals who are applying for Medicaid, their asset level must be down to $2,000 of assets as described above. Quite often the easiest way to get to those lower asset limits is to liquidate assets and convert to cash. However, in doing so, various issues arise that we will describe below.
 
2.  First, please recall that any liquidation of any tax qualified retirement account such as a tax qualified annuity, 401(k), IRA etc. will trigger tax, except for a few exceptions.
 
3.  In the payment of debts prior to the filing of the Medicaid application care, must be given regarding the order in which debts are paid. Sometimes certain creditors have priorities over other creditors.
 
4.  In the liquidation of assets, sometimes there are penalties associated with liquidation , depending on the time that you liquidate. For example, annuities can have early withdrawal penalties and surrender charges.
 
5.  Payment of outstanding debt such as credit card debt, mortgages and HELOC (home-equity) loans, may become an important part of your overall strategic spend-down plan when you’re seeking governmental benefits.
 
6.  Long Term Care Insurance: This can and should be considered an asset and income source for certain governmental benefits, but make sure when and where the policy terms will make payment available.
 
7.  Prior transfers or gifts and other uncompensated transfers of cash or property that were made before the date of filing a Medicaid application, to individuals or charities, in the past 5 years can be a liability when you look for Medicaid eligibility for long-term care.
 
8.  Homes unless occupied by certain allowable individuals such as adult disabled children, spouses, or minor children, may need to be listed for sale when an individual seeks Medicaid eligibility. Business assets may also need to be listed for sale.
 
In SPOUSAL cases : 
 
1.  As stated above, any liquidation of any tax qualified retirement accounts such as a tax qualified annuity, 401(k), IRA etc. will trigger tax except for a few exceptions. In a spousal case,  if we are going to apply for Medicaid for an ill spouse, then the ill spouse may have to liquidate or change the form of ownership of certain tax qualified assets such as IRAs and 401k.
 
Note: In order to accomplish this, it is sometimes necessary to open a limited guardianship proceeding in court. However, with IRA’s and other tax qualified retirement accounts we do not want to trigger the payment of taxes sooner than is necessary since the ill spouse may still be residing either at home or in a facility that does not take Medicaid or where no Medicaid eligibility is possible. Thus, why pay tax to the IRS earlier than you need to? Eventually however you may begin the process of transferring the IRA from the ill spouse to the healthy spouse with the assistance of the guardianship court and suffer the triggering of the tax (for example say, 20%) in order to save the bulk of the IRA account for the healthy spouse who is likely still living in the community.
 
Remember also that because many IRAs are structured as an “IRA annuity” by your financial adviser, there may be penalties and surrender charges on the transferring of such IRA annuity or the cashing out of such an IRA annuity
 
2.  Illinois Medicaid regulations provide that if the community spouse can remain living in the family home, then the community spouse is entitled to retain $109,560 of the couple’s nonexempt assets in addition to the family home, an automobile, personal and household effects, and Medicaid compliant prepaid burial arrangements. Because of these asset limitations, which can be exceeded with careful planning that is authorized under the Medicaid regulations, it is crucial that you be thoughtful in transferring assets from one spouse to the other and be careful about the timing of such transfers.
 
Conclusion: 
 
As we indicated at the outset, the task of preparing an asset inventory should not in and of itself be that complicated. The difficulties come in when one seeks to re-position or transfer certain assets that are found in your inventory. Many assets have contractual constraints, deferred tax implications built into them, or problems with access before the assets can be freely used for the benefit of you and your loved one.
 
Be complete and seek guidance if you must to deal with any complicated assets in your asset inventory while you are on the eldercare or long- term care journey.
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Diminished Mental Capacity: How it Affects Your Patient, Resident, Client or Loved One on the Elder Care Journey

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May 1, 2019

- Alzheimer's Care, Asset Protection, Chicago area, Chicago Elder Law, Chicago Elder law attorney, Chicago Illinois Hospice Care, Chicago Suburban Elder Law Attormey, Chicago Suburban Elder Law Attorney, Chicago Suburbs, Chicagoland Elder Law, Elder Law Articles, Eldercare Attorney, Estate Planning, Estate Planning Attorney, Guardianships, Medicaid and Paying for Nursing Home Care, Nursing Home Admissions, Nursing Home Contracts, Probate, Estate, and Trust Administration, senior estate planning

In the previous installment we mentioned how important it is to begin senior estate planning or traditional estate planning with the execution of powers of attorney for both property and healthcare matters. Quite often we take for granted the notion that these documents will be something that are easy to have signed.
 
However with diminished mental capacity, sometimes it is difficult and sometimes impossible to have such documents executed by a patient, resident, loved one or client due to the fact that they no longer possess the required cognitive capability to legally and ethically sign documents.
 
This is an impediment, even if we know that the documents would be good for them to have. But because cognitive capacity may not exist, the documents cannot be signed, legally or ethically, even if the individual is capable of going through the physical motion of signing their name. This is because even though they may be able to sign their name, they may not understand what it is that they are signing.
 
Sometimes circumstances are very clear-cut as to whether mental capacity exists, but sometimes the facts surrounding the behavior of a loved one are not so clear or not so well understood.
 
What can be done then?
 
In situations where it is not clear as to whether or not your loved one has mental capacity, the attorney involved may need to seek consultation from a medical professional or mental health expert.
 
If a formal assessment is desired, the attorney usually attempts to obtain the consent and cooperation of the client, if that is possible. Sometimes this can be upsetting or embarrassing to a client. Nevertheless, the determination of mental capacity is something that must be established before other matters that are encountered on the Elder Care Journey are confronted.
 
Assuming that either the consent of the client is obtained, or perhaps the client cannot consent, then who does the lawyer look to as a referral for consultation on matters of diminished mental capacity?
 
If the patient, resident, loved one or client is fortunate enough to have a physician regularly attending to them, then reaching out to that physician may be the first order of business. Sometimes however, primary care physicians may decline as they may feel that they are not trained sufficiently to administer psychiatric and psychological assessment tests.
 
If the attending physician will not undertake the assessment, you may look to other geriatric assessment professionals that can often take a multidisciplinary approach to determining mental capacity.
 
Keep in mind that the determination of mental capacity is sometimes complicated by the fact that mental capacity can vary from day to day and can often be task specific. This means that an individual can have the capacity for one type of task, for example, the execution of a power of attorney for healthcare, but may not have sufficient capacity for the execution of a power of attorney for property that has gifting and asset repositioning authorizations written into the document.
 
Why the difference?
 
The reason is: The former task (executing a power of attorney for healthcare) has a lower cognitive capacity standard or threshold that must be met in order to establish capacity. The latter task (executing a power of attorney for property) has a higher cognitive capacity standard that must be met, which standard is, for example, closer to the standard that must be met to knowingly execute a contract.
 
These varying degrees of capacity are why it’s important to select professionals that are trained to parse the levels of capacity needed based on the specific tasks that are being contemplated. As you can see this can become complicated.
 
The Takeaway: Obtain and sign powers of attorney for healthcare and powers of attorney for property, as well as any other estate planning documents that you need for either senior estate planning or traditional estate planning, as soon as possible. Waiting till one reaches the later stages in life creates the risk that in those later stages, you may not have the requisite mental capacity to execute the documents that you need.
 
The problem that arises: If you do not have the requisite mental capacity to legally and ethically execute documents, it may be necessary to engage in a protective action such as a expensive guardianship proceeding in the State of Illinois. Let’s assume the senior resides in the City of Chicago, at this time, in the Circuit Court of the County, the waiting period for a hearing on a guardianship petition can take as long as 4 to 6 weeks due to tremendous case backlog in Cook County. This creates unnecessary expense and time delay that can be avoided with the timely execution of estate planning documents such as powers of attorney for property and powers of attorney for healthcare.
 
In our office we recommend people execute powers of attorney when they are 18 years of age! Obviously the type of power of attorney that an 18-year-old may need will be quite different than that of a 88-year-old, but the point is you need to get these documents in place sooner rather than later.
 
Don’t fall into the trap of helplessness that diminished mental capacity can create, and possibly be permanently locked out of your constitutional right to self determination, regarding your own health needs, property matters, estate plan, and other related matters.
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Navigating the Long-Term Care Journey with Parents and Seniors

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April 29, 2019

- Alzheimer's Care, Asset Protection, Chicago area, Chicago Elder Law, Chicago Elder law attorney, Chicago Illinois Hospice Care, Chicago Suburban Elder Law Attormey, Chicago Suburban Elder Law Attorney, Chicago Suburbs, Chicagoland Elder Law, Elder Law Articles, Eldercare Attorney, Estate Planning, Estate Planning Attorney, Guardianships, Medicaid and Paying for Nursing Home Care, Nursing Home Admissions, Nursing Home Contracts, Probate, Estate, and Trust Administration, senior estate planning

Do you have powers of attorney in place?
 
I know it sounds simplistic, and we have all heard this before, but perhaps the most important document that you can have upon beginning the long term care journey is the power of attorney. This is the first matter we suggest to our clients in the Chicago and Park Ridge metropolitan areas who are on the long term care journey.
 
Why is the power of attorney so important?
 
Because a power of attorney is a legal document where one person called the “principal” legally authorizes another person called the “agent” to act on their behalf with regard to either financial or health related decisions.
 
Without these powers of attorney in place, no one has the legal authority to act on another’s behalf and therefore we may have to resort to a court guardianship proceeding where a person appointed by the court, usually a family member, called the “guardian” has the power to make personal decisions for another usually called the “ward”. Guardianship’s are expensive, require the testimony of physicians, the appointment of a Guardian “ad litem” to investigate and protect the ward’s interest, and many other formalities have to be observed, all in the interests of protecting the ward.
 
These court efforts are all well and good, but if you can avoid all of this by simply having created valid powers of attorney for property and finance and healthcare matters (this may not be possible in all cases), you can streamline matters during your long-term care journey, later on.
 
How many different types of powers of attorney are there?
 
In Illinois we have two types of powers of attorney one for health and one for property (and financial matters). Sometimes these documents are called statutory powers of attorney and at other times these documents are called durable powers of attorney. The difference lies in the type of form selected to draft the power of attorney. Most of the time we recommend you stick to the statutory form power of attorney because this is the one the doctors, other health providers, nursing homes, assisted living facilities banks and financial institutions most readily recognize.
 
Can I create my own powers of attorney?
 
Yes you can, however they will not contain the necessary language that Elder Law Attorneys put into such documents such as: the power to make gifts to family members and others in order to qualify for Medicaid eligibility, the power to remove and add assets to a trust, and the power to apply for public benefits and then appeal any decision on public benefits. Unfortunately your standard power of attorney forms do not have these provisions built into them. Worse yet, if these additional powers are not built into the power of attorney, then you cannot engage in these powers under the power of attorney. They must be expressly listed in the power of attorney.
 
What’s the take away?
 
Get powers of attorney in place immediately. You could wait until later when you I need them, however if you lose the cognitive capacity to legally and ethically execute documents like these, then you may never be able to have these types of documents and hence we are left pursuing an expensive and complicated guardianship process.
 
Get your powers of attorney in place now.
 
How old should you be when you start executing powers of attorney?
 
18 years of age. Most people don’t realize that at 18 they cannot make either financial or medical decisions for their children. But that is in fact the law, because at 18 children have reached the age of majority and without legal authorization nobody can make decisions for them as they are now adults.
 
Ask your adult children to have their powers of attorney done now, as well.
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Creating a Blueprint – For Asset Protection from Long Term Care

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October 12, 2015

- Alzheimer's Care, Asset Protection, Blog, Chicago, Chicago area, Chicago Elder Law, Chicago Elder law attorney, Chicago Illinois Hospice Care, Chicago Suburban Elder Law Attormey, Chicago Suburban Elder Law Attorney, Chicago Suburbs, Chicagoland Elder Law, Elder Law Articles, Eldercare Attorney, Estate Planning, Estate Planning Attorney, Guardianships, Medicaid and Paying for Nursing Home Care, Medicaid spend down planning, Nursing Home Admissions, Nursing Home Contracts, senior estate planning, Uncategorized

Installment 5 of 10

In Our Series:

“Long Term Care Costs for the Middle Class: 10 Steps to Asset Protection through Medicaid in Illinois, for Middle Class Seniors and Boomers”

 Why create a Blueprint (Medicaid asset protection letter) for your asset protection planning? Just like in building a home, you don’t hire a contractor to start slapping bricks together until you have decided on the number of rooms, type of rooms, location of the rooms, etc. Likewise, many are quick to suggest creating a will, trust, powers of attorney, perhaps an irrevocable trust, or an annuity, etc. This can be very costly and foolish. How can you create a plan consisting of various documents that are supposed to protect you without a design in mind? Mindlessly putting together layers of documents accomplishes nothing except large bills. Before our clients create any legal documents we suggest to them that they do a blueprint, which is in effect a Medicaid asset protection letter. In that letter we outline the following:
  1. Planning strategies that can be done in preplanning mode, or crisis mode, depending on where you are in the long term care journey.
  2. Planning strategies available for single individuals, or the community spouse when an ill spouse is going into a nursing home.
  3. An outline of the current status of the law as it relates to Medicaid eligibility.
  4. Finally, planning recommendations that are broken down into things that you must do immediately and things that you may be able to defer until later.
Below are some examples of our final recommendations in our Blueprint: Immediate Action
  • Creation of powers of attorney for healthcare and powers of attorney for property. However, our powers of attorney have many more powers and are more substantial than the average power of attorney that most people have.
  • Creating wills and trusts that have special needs trusts built into them for a surviving spouse or a minor or adult disabled child. This takes advantage of certain relief that Congress intentionally placed into the Medicaid laws.
Deferred Actions
  • The purchase of a Medicaid compliant annuity or a Medicaid compliant promissory note.
  • Our office files a Medicaid application.
Conclusion As you can see from the above, there are strategies that we rely on that result in the savings of a lot of assets for middle class seniors and boomers who are going into long-term care. However, because these measures are complicated, it makes sense to have a blueprint laid out describing them in detail using your asset and income numbers before actually engaging in these actions. We want our clients to go into strategies and solutions with eyes wide open. The only way that can be accomplished in most cases is to create blueprint that lays out all of the Medicaid asset protection planning strategies in the form of a letter that the client can study, and ask questions about. We usually resolve all of the questions the client may have at our subsequent “Design Meeting.” Make sure you look before you leap.
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