Does DOMA being Struck-down Affect Medicaid for LGBT Elders?

Alina and Carol are married and reside in Maryland, where same-sex marriage is recognized. Alina recently had a stroke and may need nursing home in the not so distant future. How does the DOMA ruling affect Medicaid eligibility requirements for LGBT married couples and others in states that have not legalized LGBT marriage?

The answer is, it depends. Many states that have marriage equality did not treat same-sex married couples as married for many Medicaid programs, although several states have already been recognizing marriages between same-sex spouses for Medicaid purposes.

• If your state recognizes LGBT marriage: Now that the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) has been ruled unconstitutional, every state that recognizes marriages between same-sex couples will recognize their marriages for all Medicaid purposes. So, Alina and Carol in our example would be affected.
• If you are in a civil union or registered domestic partnership and your state recognizes your relationship: You may be treated as married for Medicaid purposes. We do not yet know if you will file federal taxes jointly with your partner. But if you do file taxes jointly, both of your incomes will be considered for most Medicaid income eligibility calculations, which could make you ineligible.  See CNN Money’s article on “Same-sex Marriage Ruling- Financial Impact” for more details.
• If you live in a state that doesn’t recognize your relationship: You will probably not be recognized as married for Medicaid purposes, although some states may decide to provide hardship protections to a partner of a person in long term care.

For additional details, read the The Supreme Court Ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act: What It Means Fact Sheet.

Nursing homes in Northern Virginia cost $12,000 - $15,000 per month. Life Care Planning and Medicaid Asset Protection is the process of protecting you from having to go broke to pay for nursing home care, while also helping ensure that you get the best possible care and maintain the highest possible quality of life, whether at home, in an assisted living facility, or in a nursing home. We here at The Fairfax LGBT Law Firm of Evan H. Farr, P.C. have strategies in place to help LGBT couples. With advance planning, each person, regardless of sexual orientation, can retain the benefit of the money, income and assets it has taken a lifetime to accumulate. Visit http://www.LGBTElderLaw.com for more details, and call 703-691-1888 to make an appointment for a no-cost consultation.

 

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Certified Elder Law Attorney and Best-Selling Author Evan Farr Hits #1 on Amazon Best Seller List for the Second Time

Evan H. Farr, CELA, Medicaid Asset Protection expert and Living Trust Plus^TMcreator, hit #1 on Amazon.com best-seller list with “How to Protect Your Assets From Probate PLUS Lawsuits PLUS Nursing Home Expenses with the Living Trust Plus” book, on the first day of the book’s official release.                 

 

* Screenshot above is from 6/21/13 at 12:52 p.m. Complete title of the book was cut off so screenshot would fit in this post.

                                                             

Fairfax, Va. – June 25, 2013 – Certified Elder Law Attorney Evan H. Farr officially released his latest book, How to Protect Your Assets From Probate PLUS Lawsuits PLUS Nursing Home Expenses with the Living Trust Plus™, on June 21, 2013. On the first day of its official release, amid a much-celebrated launch, the book surged to #1 on the Amazon Best-Seller List, “Elder Law” category. The book also reached the top five in the “Health and Medical Law” category.

The potentially devastating costs of a nursing home can be catastrophic to most families, who have worked their entire lives to earn the assets that they have. In this book, Evan H. Farr, CELA, a nationally-renowned best-selling author and frequent educator of attorneys across the U.S., provides incredibly valuable information and guidance to consumers on how to protect their hard earned assets from lawsuits, divorce, and nursing home are using his proprietary Living Trust PlusTM Asset Protection Trust.

The Living Trust PlusTM  is a special type of asset protection trust that functions very much like a revocable living trust but is the only self-settled asset protection trust that protects a family’s assets from probate PLUS lawsuits PLUS nursing home expenses. Mr. Farr created the Living Trust Plus™ in 2007 and it is now used by dozens of exceptional estate planning and elder law attorneys throughout the country. According to Mr. Farr, “although a revocable living trust does a terrific job of avoiding probate, what most people don’t realize is that a revocable living trust does not protect your assets from creditors or from the expenses of long-term care.”

Mr. Farr offers readers expert advice on how to use the Living Trust Plus™ to avoid the problems of probate and the risks of lawsuits and nursing home care. He examines why Wills are not a good solution, and discusses in detail living trusts – both the regular living trust (i.e., the revocable living trust designed primarily to protect your assets from probate) and more importantly, the Living Trust Plus™, designed to protect your assets from probate PLUS lawsuits PLUS nursing home expenses.

To learn more about Evan Farr, creator of the Living Trust Plus™ Asset Protection Trust, and to learn how you can legally and ethically protect you or your client’s assets from nursing home expenses, visit the Living Trust Plus™ Web site at http://www.LivingTrustPlus.com or the Fairfax Elder Law Firm of Evan H. Farr, P.C. website at http://www.FarrLawFirm.com, or call Toll-Free 1-800-399-FARR.

To order a copy of the book, please click here. 

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Contact:
Renee Eder
Director of Public Relations
The Law Firm of Evan H. Farr, P.C.
renee@farrlawfirm.com
703-691-1888

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Only-Children: Caregiving without Siblings

Jamie lives on the same street as her parents, who are in their 80’s, and still reside in the house in which she grew up.  Her father, Sid, is diabetic and has had a hip replacement; her mother, Mary, survived breast cancer and last year underwent heart valve surgery. She takes her mother grocery shopping, but otherwise they haven’t required much assistance at all. Yet, Jamie is frightened. She is an only child. What would happen to her parents if something happened to her?

Jamie feels overwhelmed and worried about what’s to come. What if it turns out to be too much of a weight on her shoulders to handle it all alone? She wishes she had siblings to help. What she doesn’t realize is that sometimes, when there are siblings, they are not always on the same page. This can cause fighting and hostility. Sometimes they get along fine and agree on what’s best for their loved ones. Which is the harder road: Shouldering a sometimes crushing responsibility on your own? Or battling with siblings at a time when working together is crucial?

One advantage to the larger family is that siblings can manage to overcome their antagonisms. Troubled families may require a neutral third party — a family therapist, a geriatric care manager, a social worker, or a mediator in order to work together. Read our recent blog post about dealing with siblings in planning for a loved one’s care for more details.

When people think of only-children they think of having no one to turn to, but that’s not usually the case.  If you are an only child like Jamie, it can be done. She could find camaraderie in a caregiver support group, or seek help from a counselor. She could look to her spouse or partner, and friends. Only-children usually cultivate strong bonds with friends and others, so they don’t have to go it alone. They’re used to reaching out.

The following are tips for only-children caregivers. They work for those with siblings, too, as well as long-distance family caregivers:

• Seek help from your support system. Friends, spouses and your own children can help with Grandma (even if it’s just phone calls).
• Don’t try to go it alone. Ask docs and other caregivers for advice  and resources. Reminder: Many caregivers try to do everything themselves and get sick. No one can afford that, especially an only child.
• Hire a “sibling.” A professional geriatric care manager will be able to guide you, hook you up with programs, agencies and specific needs. She will be able to steer you to volunteer transportation initiatives, for instance, a bookkeeper, or in-home aide. Use our list of trusted referrals for resources and professionals that we have found to be helpful to many of our clients.

What would happen if nursing home care becomes necessary for one of both of Jamie’s parents? Nursing homes in Northern Virginia cost $12,000 - $15,000 per month. Life Care Planning and Medicaid Asset Protection is the process of protecting you from having to go broke to pay for nursing home care, while also helping ensure that you get the best possible care and maintain the highest possible quality of life, whether at home, in an assisted living facility, or in a nursing home. Learn more at The Fairfax Elder Law Firm of Evan H. Farr, P.C. website. Call 703-691-1888 to make an appointment for a no-cost consultation.

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Medicare Blue Button Information Can be Accessed Using a Smartphone App

What happens when your dad who lives 1,000 miles away comes for a visit, gets sick, and needs medical care? How can local doctors access his medical information?

MyMedicare.gov's Medicare Blue Button is a computer program that allows patients on Medicare to download their medical history into a simple text file on their personal computers. Now, seniors can get the same Medicare data on their smartphones.

Blue Button downloads three years of medical history and the Humetrix iBlueButton, a smartphone app, translates and displays the information in a simple-to-understand way on your mobile device. The file includes names, phone numbers and addresses of physicians as well as diagnoses, lab tests, imaging studies, and medications. The Blue Button service is available from the federal government for veterans as well as Medicare beneficiaries. More similar apps are in the development phases and will become available within the next twelve months.

So, now when you take your dad who is visiting in for medical care, he can hand over his smartphone and provide his medical history to the doctor.

There are privacy concerns, however, about electronic health records and this type of information being shared on smartphones. Federal Trade Commission rules don't extend to medical information on a smartphone. Medical information on a smartphone app is not going to be protected beyond what's in the privacy policy for the app or what's the privacy policy for the social networking site. So be aware before you share!

Did you know that, like medical records, your Advance Medical Directives can be stored electronically and available when they are needed most (on computers, but not via smartphone apps, yet)? These documents include your Living Will, Health Care Power of Attorney, HIPAA Release, Organ Donor Form, Funeral Arrangements, and all other Advance Directives. At The Fairfax Elder Law Firm of Evan H. Farr, P.C., we offer a service called DocuBank to ensure that that important legal documents will be there when you need them most, such as when you are hospitalized. If you haven’t done so already, plan for your Advance Medical Directives, and take advantage of this great service soon! Call us at 703-691-1888 to make an appointment for a no-cost consultation.

P.S. For information about senior health and well-being apps, click here for a recent newsletter article. Subscribe to our newsletter.

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What is a Lifestyle Care Plan and Why Do You Need One?

Read more about Lifestyle Care Planning in Evan H. Farr, CELA’s latest book, How to Protect Your Assets From Probate PLUS Lawsuits PLUS Nursing Home Expenses with the Living Trust Plus. It is now available in pre-release on Amazon.com – but don’t buy it yet.  If you wait and buy this new book on Friday, June 21, the official release date, you’ll get $1,250 in special bonuses, detailed below the article

Laurie’s late mother, Judy, and older sister, Cheryl, had dementia. If Laurie suffered the same fate, she wanted to make sure her family would know her needs and wishes. Laurie does not want in-home care -- she wants to be cared for in the same facility that cared for her sister, if possible. Laurie also wants her iPod with her favorite music on it to be available and a daily bag of her favorite indulgence, M&Ms, to be provided to her. To her children, these requests seemed silly at the time she made them, but when her mental capacities did diminish, the instructions were there. No one had to wonder if they should try to take care of Laurie at home and how they would do it. Without guilt or question, they placed her in the facility she requested to take care of her needs. All they had to do was make loving visits, and of course make sure she had her iPod and M&Ms.

Laurie had what is known as a Lifestyle Care Plan, also known as an Advance Care Plan, in place. As we age, our ability to live and care for ourselves will decline. Many of us will require and depend on others to assist and care for us. The Lifestyle Care Plan will take away the guess work from your future caregivers. It will provide the information others need to know in the event you are ever in their care and unable to communicate effectively due to stroke, dementia, accident or illness.

The Lifestyle Care Plan is a document that is created by special software that gathers, organizes, stores and disseminates information provided by you in an interview, in order to guide those who you will depend or for future care. The Lifestyle Care Plan identifies your specific needs, desires, habits and preferences and incorporates all of this information into a document that your future caregiver can use to provide you with the best possible long-term care.

The Lifestyle Care Plan provides a way for you to ensure that this critical information is available to your caregiver when needed, and it provides a total picture of you a person and guides your caregiver in your treatment. Because of the importance of the Lifestyle Care Plan, the Farr Law Firm provides one to all of our clients as part our comprehensive Lifetime Planning services. To learn more about the benefits of having an Advance Care Plan, please click here or visit our Web site at:  www.farrlawfirm.com/advance-care-plan.htm Do you have your incapacity planning documents in place? If not, please call 703-691-1888 to make an appointment at The Fairfax Elder Law Firm of Evan H. Farr, P.C. for a no-cost consultation.

P.S. How to Protect Your Assets From Probate PLUS Lawsuits PLUS Nursing Home Expenses with the Living Trust Plus™ is available now in pre-release on Amazon.com – but don’t buy it yet. If you wait and buy this new book on the June 21 Official Release Date, you’ll get $1,250 in bonuses including:

• Free copy of Evan Farr’s other book released this year: the Nursing Home Survival Guide;
• Free 45-page Special Report: Legal Research Behind the Living Trust Plus™;
• Two $500 Gift Certificates towards legal services from the Farr Law Firm.

This special one-time offer is valid only on Friday, June 21, 2013. Once purchased, simply email your Amazon.com receipt to renee@farrlawfirm.com. Please allow 1-2 weeks to receive bonuses.

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Medicaid Asset Protection Planning—What are the Goals?

This post is excerpted from Evan H. Farr’s book How to Protect Your Assets From Probate PLUS Lawsuits PLUS Nursing Home Expenses with the Living Trust Plus™.  Buy the book on June 21 and get $1,250 in special bonuses.

The goals that families have for doing Medicaid Asset Protection differ from person to person and family to family. However, it is most important to point out that preserving an inheritance for children is most often not the goal. On the contrary, generally for a married couple the most important goal is to ensure that the spouse remaining at home is able to live the remaining years of his or her life in utmost dignity, without having to suffer a drastic reduction in his or her standard of living. For a single or widowed client, the most important goal is typically to be able to enjoy the highest quality of life possible in the event of an extended nursing home stay. When there is an adult child or grandchild who is disabled, the primary goal is typically to protect assets to be used for the benefit of that disabled family member who is often also receiving Medicaid and Social Security Disability benefits.

Money that is protected through proper planning can be used to:

• provide a nursing home resident with an enhanced level of care and a better quality of life while in a nursing home and receiving Medicaid benefits.
• to purchase things for the nursing home resident or disabled child that are not covered by Medicaid — such as special medical devices, upgraded wheel chairs, etc.
• can be left to your children or grandchildren, particularly if there is a disabled child or someone who needs special financial help.

An unmarried applicant may have no more than $2,000 in “countable” assets in his or her name in order to be “resource eligible” for Medicaid. Does this mean that if you need Medicaid assistance, you’ll have to spend nearly all of your assets to qualify? No — there are
dozens of Medicaid asset protection strategies that can be employed with the help of a  Certified Elder Law Attorney, such as Evan H. Farr. These strategies are explored in chapters 15 and 16 of Evan H. Farr, CELA’s new book, How to Protect Your Assets From Probate PLUS Lawsuits PLUS Nursing Home Expenses with the Living Trust Plus.™ See below for details about why you should wait until June 21 to buy the book!

To discuss strategies specific to your situation, please call 703-691-1888 to make an appointment for a no-cost consultation at The Fairfax Medicaid Protection Law Firm of Evan H. Farr, P.C.

P.S. How to Protect Your Assets From Probate PLUS Lawsuits PLUS Nursing Home Expenses with the Living Trust Plus™ is available now in pre-release on Amazon.com – but don’t buy it yet.  If you wait and buy this new book on the June 21 Official Release Date, you’ll get $1,250 in bonuses including:

• Free copy of Evan Farr’s other book released this year: the Nursing Home Survival Guide;
• Free 45-page Special Report: Legal Research Behind the Living Trust Plus™;
• Two $500 Gift Certificates towards legal services from the Farr Law Firm.

This special one-time offer is valid only on Friday, June 21, 2013. Once purchased, simply email your Amazon.com receipt to renee@farrlawfirm.com. Please allow 1-2 weeks to receive bonuses.

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Evan Farr Releases New Living Trust Plus Book: Buy it on June 21 and Get $1,250 in bonuses!

Certified Elder Law Attorney and Best-Selling Author Evan Farr Releases New Book:

“How to Protect Your Assets From Probate PLUS Lawsuits PLUS Nursing Home Expenses with the Living Trust Plus."

Mr. Farr’s latest book is now available in pre-release on Amazon.com – but don’t buy it yet.  If you wait and buy this new book on the June 21 Official Release Date, you’ll get $1,250 in special bonuses, detailed below.
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Certified Elder Law Attorney Evan H. Farr will officially release his latest book, How to Protect Your Assets From Probate PLUS Lawsuits PLUS Nursing Home Expenses with the Living Trust Plus™, on June 21, 2013.

The potentially devastating costs of a nursing home can be catastrophic to most families, who have worked their entire lives to earn the assets that they have. In this book, Evan H. Farr, CELA, a nationally-renowned best-selling author and frequent educator of attorneys across the U.S., provides incredibly valuable information and guidance to consumers on how to protect their hard earned assets from lawsuits, divorce, and nursing home are using his proprietary Living Trust PlusTM Asset Protection Trust.

The Living Trust PlusTM  is a special type of asset protection trust that functions very much like a revocable living trust but is the only self-settled asset protection trust that protects a family’s assets from probate PLUS lawsuits PLUS nursing home expenses. Mr. Farr created the Living Trust Plus™ in 2007 and it is now being used by dozens of exceptional estate planning and elder law attorneys throughout the country. According to Mr. Farr, “Although a revocable living trust does a terrific job of avoiding probate, what most people don’t realize is that a revocable living trust does not protect your assets from creditors or from the expenses of long-term care.”

Mr. Farr offers readers expert advice on how to use the Living Trust Plus™ to avoid the problems of probate and the risks of lawsuits and nursing home care. He examines why Wills are not a good solution, and discusses in detail living trusts – both the regular living trust (i.e., the revocable living trust designed primarily to protect your assets from probate) and more importantly, the Living Trust Plus™, designed to protect your assets from probate PLUS lawsuits PLUS nursing home expenses. 

How to Protect Your Assets From Probate PLUS Lawsuits PLUS Nursing Home Expenses with the Living Trust Plus™ is available now in pre-release on Amazon.com – but don’t buy it yet.  If you wait and buy this new book on the June 21 Official Release Date, you’ll get $1,250 in bonuses including:

* Free copy of Evan Farr’s other book released this year: the Nursing Home Survival Guide;
 * Free 45-page Special Report:  Legal Research Behind the Living Trust Plus™;
 * Two $500 Gift Certificates towards legal services from the Farr Law Firm.

This special one-time offer is valid only on Friday, June 21, 2013. Once purchased, simply email your Amazon.com receipt to renee@farrlawfirm.com. Please allow 1-2 weeks to receive bonuses.

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