Aging gracefully and planning to preserve your family’s estate

With more people living into their 80’s, 90’s and longer, the likelihood of needing long-term care increases. However, waiting until the care is needed requires crisis planning to get Medi-Cal to cover the cost (Medi-Cal is the government program that pays for long-term care in California if you qualify).  You may not qualify for it if you haven’t planned properly.  Long-term care can include assisted living, in home health care, and skilled nursing home stays. Long-term care is just one component of planning for later in life, but it is an important one.  Elder Law includes estate planning, asset protection, Medi-Cal planning, VA pension benefits, advanced health care directives, and more. Breunig Law has the experience and the expertise to help avoid the financial devastation associated with the high cost of long-term care.

There are three options for paying for long term skilling nursing care:

1. Private pay. Quickly drains savings and resources by up to $12,000 per month.
2. Long-term Care Insurance. Costly, but great if you can get it.
3. Medi-Cal. You paid for this program during your working years but qualifying can be tricky if you have disqualifying assets.

The cost of long-term care continues to go up every year. Planning for long-term care is now becoming critically important for middle-class seniors and their families. Lower income families will qualify for Medi-Cal more easily.  Wealthy families typically don’t worry as much about long-term care. Unfortunately, it’s the rest of us with a house and savings that are forced to pay out of our own pockets if we haven’t planned for it.

The cost of long-term care could be as much as $12,000 a month.  If you may be a candidate for Medi-Cal at some time in the future, we can help you to organize your assets and your estate planning documents to qualify in advance before the care is needed.

Types of questions we are typically asked:

• How can I qualify for Medi-Cal so it will pay for nursing home care?
• How do I protect the family house and assets, but still qualify for covering the care needed?
• How do I make sure my spouse or family will have money left after all my care expenses are paid?
• What happens if an adult child needs to become their parent’s guardian or conservator?
• After I pass away, will Medi-Cal try to get money from my estate for the medical bills they paid and cause problems for my spouse or kids?

Breunig Law can answer these questions and help you plan to avoid or prepare for these challenges.

There are two types of planning:

• Proactive planning (while you are healthy)
• Crisis planning (when you are about to go into a nursing home)

It makes sense to start planning while you are healthy, even if it is just 3 years prior, especially if there is a history of health problems in your family. With proper planning your assets, home, investments, and savings can be protected, so your spouse, kids, or grandkids don’t have to worry that your estate and life savings will be wiped out.

Leveraging Medi-Cal benefits is your best bet for covering your long-term care costs, but the rules keep becoming more complex and restrictive. Things like structured gifts and putting assets into trusts are just the beginning of what you can do to shield your assets from counting against Medi-Cal qualification or long-term care costs.

Breunig Law provides compassionate, skilled, and experienced services you can trust such as counseling, drafting, and execution of a well-thought-out estate plan that will protect your assets, prepare you for Medi-Cal coverage for your long-term care needs, and save you and your family money and stress.

• Powers of attorneys, living wills, advanced health care directives
• Estate planning
• Long-term care planning
• Qualifying for public benefits such as Medi-Cal and other programs

Together we can prepare a plan that works best for you and your family and will set you up for Medi-Cal coverage for your long-term care needs. Contact us today for a consultation at 916-672-2042 or info@breuniglaw.com.