What Can Seniors and Their Families To Legally Protect Themselves In These Dire Times?





It feels like the sky is falling. Every week a client is coming telling us of a job loss or home loss. Medicaid has cut back on funding. The local senior service agencies have three to six month waiting lists for home health care services. The Visiting Nurses are telling us that Medicare has changed how it pays for home care after a hospital stay as well. It looks like quite a few people will be losing services. So what can you do to legally protect yourself in these dire economic times?

First make sure your legal house is in order. Being pro-active and preparing for the potential need for services can save you thousands of dollars and protect your family from bearing the cost of your care. Have you picked someone to help take care of you if you can’t take care of yourself? Have you legally authorized them so they actually can take care of you if needed? You do this by signing a Durable Power of Attorney for finances and a Heath Care Power of Attorney. If you don’t have these and something happens and you can’t take care of yourself then your family will have to go into the Probate court and get legal authority to take care of you through a guardianship process. A guardian proceeding often costs at least two thousand dollars. A Durable Power of Attorney and Health Care Power of Attorney cost only a few hundred dollars.

Next educate your self about all of the government benefit programs that you may need in the future. Most people have heard about the five year look back period but few people understand how it works. Most people haven’t heard of the Veteran’s Aid and Attendance benefit. There are ways to protect your home from a Medicaid lien if you need nursing home care. There are at least three ways to protect your home from a Medicaid lien that do not have a five year penalty period. There are also several others that do incur a five year penalty period. After you educate yourself you can make wise choices and prepare yourself in case you need benefits. If you wait until you need the services it will probably be too late. You worked hard to accumulate what you have. Now more than ever you need those funds to take care of yourself and your family.



If you have any questions or would like a free consultation call us toll free at 1 800 879 0984 or send us a message through our website by clicking here and we'll be certain to respond.

Elder Law Offices of Shields and Boris
109 VIP Drive
Suite 200
Wexford, PA 15090
Phone: (724) 934-5044
Toll Free: (800) 879-0984

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