Elder Law Topic Tuesday: Alzheimer's Legal Survival Guide by Esther Wang, Elder Law Attorney Part 2 of a 3-Part Series for the month of October
PLANNING AHEAD
When the diagnosis is Alzheimer's disease, the ability to manage your own affairs will decrease over time. Making adequate, informed decisions about your personal business and your health care will become more difficult. But, early legal planning lets you choose a person to manage these things for you, according to your wishes.
You can control, in advance the way your affairs will be handled. However, if you don't plan early, a court may eventually appoint a conservator to make these decisions for you. Such a proceeding is far more expensive than planning ahead. Act while you have the capacity to indicate your wishes and to understand an design documents that ensure your wishes will be respected and carried out.
Depending on your specific situation, a host of legal issues related to your condition may arise. After you execute a durable power of attorney, a durable power of attorney for health care decisions, and a health care treatment directive (living will), consider other legal planning.
Simply stated, life care planning helps you understand how to position your resources to best serve your needs and those of persons dear to you. This kind of planning is highly individualized. Some of the issues you and your family may want to discuss with an attorney, include:
REVISING WILLS AND TRUSTS
Whenever a major life event occurs, attorneys recommend that your review your wills and trusts. Your current legal documents may no longer be appropriate. Laws may have changed or you may want to make changes that reflect your new circumstances. A diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is a major life event worthy of this kind of legal review.
CHANGING PROPERTY TITLES
The way real estate and other property is titled is important. In some cases, how your property is held means that selling it will require court intervention. Reviewing property titles is also an important part of planning to ensure that you and your family members are protected if you ever need long term care in a nursing home.
STRATEGIES FOR FINANCIAL OR OTHER GIFTS
Consulting a knowledgeable attorney is especially important before you transfer any property or make gifts. The attorney can help you review your financial situation to determine whether a gifting program or other financial strategy is appropriate for you situation.
Making gifts can protect your family and help save your estate. But, acting improperly can have severe legal implications, and even make you ineligible for government benefits.
LONG TERM CARE STRATEGIES
Now is the time to consider what changes in living arrangements you might need over time. Those arrangements can include independent living, assisted living, an assisted living/nursing home combination for you and your spouse, or nursing home placement.
Check provisions of any long term care insurance you have in effect. (If you don't already have this kind of coverage, you probably won't be able to qualify for it once you've been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Still, it may be an option for your spouse.) You'll want to review this and other possible strategies with your legal advisor.
VA BENEFIT PLANNING
If your or your spouse is a wartime veteran, you may be eligible to receive up to $2200 per month from the VA to help pay for assisted living or home caregiver costs.
In order to qualify to receive this special pension benefit, you must be financially and medically eligible. Even if you are not currently qualified to receive benefit, a VA Accredited Attorney can help you to qualify for the benefit.
This special pension, along with your existing income, will help you to pay for the care you need in an assisted living facility or to pay for the home caregiver that you hire, or even your own child or relative who takes care of you on a regular basis.
LEGAL RIGHTS OF A NURSING HOME RESIDENT
Each nursing home resident has a right to personal and appropriate care, which is guided by the resident's care plan. The care plan is a contract created by a "team", that includes you, the nursing home staff and anyone else you want to involve.
The plan should detail your current medical, psychological and social needs and spell out what will be done to maintain or, when possible, improve your health. Because the care plan creates a contract, getting legal assistance with this document is advisable.
SEEKING LEGAL HELP
When a person is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, family members face unique legal issues, including asset distribution, property disposition, Social Security, durable power of attorney, establishing conservatorship, etc.
CONSERVATOR FOR HEALTH CARE AND CONSERVATOR FOR ESTATE
By the time you need nursing home care, if ever, you'll likely be unable to make decisions about financial matters or health care. If you have not executed a durable power of attorney and a durable power of attorney for health care decisions, you'll need a court appointed a conservator for health care and a conservator for the estate to handle your finance.
The conservator for the estate will manage your financial business, while the conservator for health care will make personal and medical decisions for you. You can have one person who act as both conservator for the estate and conservator for health care.
This concludes Part 2 of our 3 Part Series. Next week, we will finish the other issues to discuss with your attorney. The keys to memory loss are to be proactive with your estate planning. We can help. Call our law firm today to speak with one of our staff about your situation. Our consultations are free and our staff is friendly! We look forward to hearing from you today. Reach us today, 909-888-7100.