From the category archives:

Disability Planning

New book about one family’s eldercare journey

by Jerrold Bartholomew September 16, 2008

Mary Ellen Geist, formerly a high-powered New York radio journalist, has written about her experiences as a caregiver for her father. Her book, Measure of the Heart, tells her story of returning home to Michigan to care for her father suffering from Alzheimer’s. MSNBC recently interviewed Mary (video here) and provided a number of excerpts [...]

Read the full article →

FAQ: I have been turned down for Veterans’ Benefits. What now?

by Jerrold Bartholomew August 1, 2008

Question: I approached my local Veterans’ Administration office for information about the Aid and Attendance Pension. They told me I had too much money to receive the pension. But I have reoccurring medical expenses of more than $1,000.00 per month. Is there anything I can do?
Answer: This is a delicate situation. On the one hand, [...]

Read the full article →

Who Will Make Your Decisions?

by Jerrold Bartholomew July 5, 2008

Perhaps the most important lesson an estate planning attorney can convey to a client is that your end-of-life decisions will be made for you-and possibly expose your estate to significant and unnecessary expense-unless you create legally enforceable estate plan documents. Without a clear expression of your wishes, some of your most important decisions may [...]

Read the full article →

Understanding Medicaid Planning

by Jerrold Bartholomew April 24, 2008

Sue Schiebel has written an excellent article on Medicaid Planning. While her article concerns MassHealth, which is the Massachusetts Medicaid program, the rules and ideas explained are the same in Michigan. She writes:
A lot of middle-aged people don’t realize Medicare, the federal health insurance program, pays for a very limited amount of skilled nursing home [...]

Read the full article →

Learning to Juggle with Your Property

by Jerrold Bartholomew April 24, 2008

Many of my clients are uneasy about placing their assets into a trust as part of an asset protection plan. In order to demystify the process and help you understand why you might consider having a trust drafted for your specific needs, I would like to explain some of the reasons you might consider having [...]

Read the full article →

Retirement Assets and Medicaid Planning

by Jerrold Bartholomew April 7, 2008

Retirement assets (401ks, IRAs, etc) are considered available assets for purposes of Medicaid qualification in Michigan. In simple terms, that means that those funds have to be spent down until the threshold for asset eligibility is met. In the case of a single person, asset eligibility is generally about $2,000.00, with some additional allowances for [...]

Read the full article →

An asset protection plan is vital to a secure retirement

by Jerrold Bartholomew March 31, 2008

Retirement for many people is defined as the time when they are able to live off of the income from their assets combined with Social Security and perhaps a pension. But anything from a car accident to a stay in long-term care can quickly deplete retirement assets and jeopardize the fruits of a lifetime’s work. [...]

Read the full article →

Problems with Small Insurance Policies

by Jerrold Bartholomew March 21, 2008

Yesterday, I learned of a case where a small insurance policy caused an extended period of ineligibility for Long Term Care Medicaid. This means it will be a long time before the nursing home bill gets paid, if ever.

Read the full article →

Free Durable Power of Attorney: Further Thoughts

by Jerrold Bartholomew March 10, 2008

Mr. David Goldman has raised some interesting points regarding the free durable power of attorney posted here and free durable power of attorneys generally. There are many problems with such documents and I have mentioned them in the previous post. Above all, you should certainly understand that any decision you make to use such documents [...]

Read the full article →

Medicaid Application for Long Term Care Assistance

by Jerrold Bartholomew March 7, 2008

The process is of applying for Medicaid long term care assistance can be somewhat difficult. The documentation requirements can be voluminous and the process will typically take at least 45 days. I have seen several recent cases take as long 4 months to be approved.

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries