From the category archives:

Pre-Planning for Long Term Care

Tougher estate recovery coming to Michigan?

by Jerrold Bartholomew November 20, 2008

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has apparently rejected Michigan’s proposed estate recovery program. Michigan’s proposed legislation was unique not only for being last in the union to be enacted, but also for being exceptionally lenient. It is therefore reasonable to assume that Michigan will be required to enact a more aggressive approach [...]

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Getting the most from veterans’ benefits

by Jerrold Bartholomew September 19, 2008

Many veterans are unaware of the Aid and Attendance Pension that is available to help them with their medical expenses, which include the cost of assisted living. Some veterans are simply unaware of this benefit. Others have been told that they do not qualify based on “having too much money.” It is important to understand [...]

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Caregiver Stress, Compensation, and Medicaid Qualification

by Jerrold Bartholomew July 12, 2008

Any adult caregiver who has control over a parent’s assets (such as by power of attorney, as a trustee, or through joint bank accounts) can be in a very dangerous position for several reasons.
First, adult caregivers who receive compensation are vulnerable to charges of undue influence, constructive trust and other damaging allegations. How do these [...]

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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 [...]

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Medicaid Pre-Planning: How Is It Possible?

by Jerrold Bartholomew June 13, 2008

There are two apparently contradictory themes running throughout this blog and indeed the field of elder law in general. On the one hand, one is regularly advised to plan ahead for long-term care needs with asset protection trusts and similar techniques. On the other hand, the law changes so rapidly in Medicaid qualification that pre-planning [...]

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Revoking an Irrevocable Trust

by Jerrold Bartholomew June 3, 2008

There are a variety of reasons why one may wish to rescind an irrevocable trust, even if only in part. For instance, it may be the case that an irrevocable trust was established in order to shield assets from the cost of long term care, but long term care is needed before the five year [...]

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Increasing the Community Spouse Resource Allowance

by Jerrold Bartholomew May 3, 2008

When one spouse requires long-term care in Michigan, the Department of Human Services will do an assessment of the couple’s total resources. Without any planning or asset positioning, the spouse at home will be permitted to keep 1/2 of the couple’s assets as of the date the spouse needing long-term care entered either the hospital [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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. [...]

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