Elder Law

Joint tenancy is a form of legal ownership where the property passes automatically at the death of one of the owners to the remaining joint tenants. Typically, there are two joint tenants, though [...]

Medicaid law provides special protections for the spouses of Medicaid applicants to make sure the spouses have the minimum support needed to continue to live in the community.

Most low- and middle-income Americans qualify for free online tax preparation software, but do not take advantage of it. And anyone over age 60 can use the IRS’s Tax Counseling for the Elderly [...]

As baby boomers age, more and more millennials are becoming caregivers. Many are taking on this role while just getting started in their own lives, leading to difficult decisions about [...]

Recognizing the huge problems caused by opioid addiction in the United States, Medicare is adding a new outpatient opioid treatment benefit, paying for methadone and related treatment in [...]

A spending bill signed into law by the President contains major changes to retirement plans. The bipartisan legislation is designed to provide more incentives to save for retirement, but it [...]

Medicare does not offer much in the way of dental benefits, but advocates for Medicare beneficiaries are arguing for that to change. 

The federal government has released the 2020 federal guidelines for how much money the spouses of Medicaid recipients may keep, as well as related Medicaid figures.

Nursing home residents do not automatically have to sell their homes in order to qualify for Medicaid, but that doesn't mean the house is completely protected.

After small or no increases the past couple of years, Medicare’s Part B premium will rise sharply in 2020. The basic monthly premium will increase $9.10, from $135.50 a month to $144.60. 

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced the amount taxpayers can deduct from their 2020 income as a result of buying long-term care insurance.

When it comes to long-term care costs, the charges for home care are now rising faster than those for nursing home care, according to Genworth's 2019 Cost of Care survey.

Medicare's Open Enrollment Period, during which you can freely enroll in or switch plans, runs from October 15 to December 7. Don't let this period slip by without shopping around to see [...]

Being appointed guardian of a loved one is a serious responsibility. As guardian, you are in charge of your loved one's well-being and you have a duty to act in his or her best interest.  

Under Medicaid law, following the death of the Medicaid recipient a state must attempt to recover from his or her estate whatever benefits it paid for the recipient's care.

With careful Medicaid planning, you may be able to preserve some of your estate for your children or other heirs while meeting the Medicaid asset limit.

Reports of elder financial abuse continue to increase, and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to scams or to financial abuse by family members in need of money.

A new report finds that almost no retirees are making financially optimal decisions about when to take Social Security and are losing out on an average of more than $100,000 per household in [...]

An annuity can be a useful tool for long-term care planning, but annuities are also complex financial products that are hard to understand. If purchasing an annuity, you need to consider your [...]

In order to be eligible for Medicaid, you cannot have transferred assets recently. Congress does not want you to move into a nursing home on Monday, give all your money to your children (or [...]

If you move to a different state or split your time between one or more states, you should make sure your advance directive is valid in all the states you frequent.

Raising a grandchild can be tough financially, but grandparents in this situation should be aware that there is a tax credit available that could help them. 

While you generally do not have to sell your home in order to qualify for Medicaid coverage of nursing home care, it is possible the state can file a claim against your house after you die, so [...]

The Trump administration is officially rolling back a ban on the use of arbitration agreements by nursing homes, once again allowing nursing facilities to ask families to give up their right [...]

Older Americans with a life insurance policy that they no longer need have the option to sell the policy to investors. These transactions, called "life settlements," can bring in needed cash, [...]

There are circumstances in which transferring a house will not result in a Medicaid penalty period, and one of those is if the Medicaid applicant transfers the house to a "caretaker child."  

Federal law requires that beginning on April 1 of the year after you reach age 70 1/2, you must begin withdrawing a minimum amount
from your non-Roth individual retirement account (IRA) [...]

Parents want their children to be taken care of after they die. But children with disabilities have increased financial and care needs, so ensuring their long-term welfare can be tricky.

Here are some issues grandparents should consider before making gifts to grandchildren or other family members.

Paying for day care is one of the biggest expenses faced by working adults with young children, a dependent parent, or a child with a disability, but there is a tax credit available to help [...]

The federal government has released the 2019 federal guidelines for how much money the spouses of Medicaid recipients may keep, as well as related Medicaid figures..

If you are paying for your own insurance, you may think you do not need to sign up for Medicare when you turn 65. However, not signing up for Medicare Part B right away can cost you down the [...]

With the aging population becoming increasingly tech savvy, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has moved a lot of services online. From applying for Social Security benefits to replacing [...]

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is increasing the amount taxpayers can deduct from their 2019 income as a result of buying long-term care insurance.

You are turning 65 and enrolling in Medicare, but as a healthy senior do you really need to also sign up for Medicare's supplemental coverage? Not signing up initially can be very costly [...]

Technological advances have made it easier to stay connected with loved ones all the time. This has included the ability to install cameras in a loved one's nursing home room. These [...]

Hospital patients who need additional care after being discharged from the hospital are usually sent to either an inpatient rehabilitation facility or a skilled nursing facility. Although [...]

The median cost of a private nursing home room in the United States increased to $100,375 a year in 2018, up 3 percent from 2017, according to Genworth's [...]

Do you have the right Medicare plan? It is fall, which means it is time to think about whether your current plan is still giving you [...]

Trusts designed to aid a person with special needs are commonly known as "special needs trusts."  There are three main types of special needs trusts: the first-party trust, the [...]

When one sibling is named in a power of attorney, there is the potential for disputes with other siblings. No matter which side you [...]

If you have it to give, you certainly can, but there may be consequences should you apply for Medicaid long-term care coverage within [...]

The Department of Veterans Affairs has finalized new rules that make it more difficult to qualify for long-term care benefits. The rules establish an asset limit and asset transfer penalties [...]

Medigap premiums can vary widely depending on the insurance company, according to a new study, so be sure to shop around before [...]

According to court documents, legendary singer Aretha Franklin did not have a will when she died, opening up her estate to public scrutiny and unnecessary costs and uncertainty. 

How much you need for retirement depends a great deal on how long you expect to live. There are now many Web-based calculators that can give you an idea of your life expectancy.

The older you get, the harder it is to qualify for long-term care insurance. If you are interested in buying this insurance, it is [...]

A family's fear of losing their home to Medicaid may have contributed to a severe case of elder abuse. If they had [...]

Medicare is proposing a new flat rate reimbursement system for doctors who treat Medicare patients. Some worry that the plan may cause fewer doctors to accept Medicare.

The federal government has begun mailing new Medicare cards to 59 million Americans. You should keep track of when your new card will arrive and contact Medicare if you don't receive it.

Medicare is extending its offer of relief from penalties for certain Medicare beneficiaries who failed to sign up for Medicare Part B because they had coverage through the individual insurance [...]

There are two main types of employee retirement savings plans: the traditional 401(k) and the Roth 401(k). Distributions from a Roth 401(k) are usually tax-free, but there is a [...]

Although a nursing home cannot require a child to be personally liable for their parent's nursing home bill, there are circumstances in which children can end up having to pay.

Arizona and Florida are the latest states to request a waiver from the requirement that states provide three months of retroactive Medicaid coverage to eligible Medicaid recipients.

Figuring out how much to save for retirement and when you can safely stop working can be difficult. A growing number of online retirement calculators, many of them free, are available to help.

Medicare is mandated to cover your home health benefits with no limit on the time you are covered. Unfortunately, few Medicare beneficiaries get the full level of service to which they are [...]

New rules have been put in place to protect seniors from with brokerage accounts from financial scams that could drain the accounts before anyone notices.

A new study has found that people enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan were more likely to enter a lower-quality nursing home than were people in traditional Medicare.

If your Medicare drug plan denies coverage for a drug you need, you don't have to simply accept it. There are several steps you can take to fight the decision.

A long-term care policyholder has successfully sued her insurance company for breach of contract after the company raised her premiums.

The choice of beneficiary for IRA, SEP, 401(k) or other retirement plans can have significant tax implications.  Here are some of the rules and concerns when designating [...]

The federal government is issuing new Medicare cards to all Medicare beneficiaries. To prevent fraud and fight identity theft, the new cards will no longer have Social Security numbers on them.

Medicaid law imposes a penalty period if you transferred assets within five years of applying, but what if the transfers had nothing to do with Medicaid? How do you prove you made the [...]

A new federal law is designed to address the growing problem of elder abuse. The law supports efforts to better understand, prevent, and combat both financial and physical elder abuse.

Long-term care insurance policyholders were dealt a blow by the Oregon Supreme Court when it ruled that the state's elder financial abuse statute does not apply to their case.

The government is spending billions to fund assisted living services through Medicaid, but government oversight and regulation of assisted living facilities is lacking, according to a new [...]

Are you ready for old age? An essential and empowering book addresses the important issues and directs readers to a myriad of resources to help [...]

Older parents are becoming more common, driven in part by changing cultural mores and surrogate motherhood. Steve Martin, Billy Joel, and Janet Jackson are some examples. But [...]

Medicare is supposed to provide up to 35 hours a week of home care to those who qualify, but many Medicare patients with chronic conditions are being wrongly denied such care.

While long-term care insurance costs are up in general, some policies are going down in 2018, according to the 2018 Long Term Care Insurance Price Index, an annual report from the American [...]

A nursing home closure can be traumatic for residents who are forced to move. Although there may not be much that can be done to prevent a closure, residents do have some rights.

While most of the new tax law has to do with reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, some provisions relate to individual taxpayers, including changes to the estate tax [...]

The legal wing of the AARP is suing a California nursing home that refused to readmit a resident whom the nursing home had sent to the hospital. The nursing home's actions are part of [...]

If you will soon turn 65 and be applying for Medicare, you should carefully consider which Medigap policy to enroll in because two of the most popular plans will be ending soon. 

Patients looking for hospice care can now get help from Medicare’s website. The agency’s new Hospice Compare site allows patients to evaluate hospice providers according to [...]

After staying the same for five years, the amount you can give away to any one individual in a particular year without reporting the gift will increase in 2018. Very few taxpayers [...]

The announcement of the 2018 Medicare premium is good news for some beneficiaries and bad news for many others. 

You may be afraid of losing your home if you have to enter a nursing home and apply for Medicaid. While this fear is well-founded, transferring the home to your children is usually not the [...]

Serious problems with the public guardianship system in the United States can lead to elder abuse, according to an in-depth article in The New Yorker. 

The main purpose of a will is to direct where your assets will go after you die, but it can also be used to instruct your heirs how to pay money that you owe.

Whether your spouse has just passed away or you have lost your mom or dad, the emotional trauma of losing a loved one often comes with a bewildering array of financial and legal issues [...]

While it is illegal for a nursing home to discriminate against a Medicaid recipient, it still happens. To prevent such discrimination, nursing home residents and their families need to know [...]

In 2018, Social Security recipients will get their largest cost of living increase in benefits since 2012, but the additional income will likely be largely eaten up by higher Medicare Part B [...]

The recent tragedy in which 12 Florida nursing home residents died when the facility lost power during Hurricane Irma is causing government officials to rethink disaster planning.

The median cost of a private nursing home room in the United States has increased to $97,455 a year, up 5.5 percent from 2016, according to Genworth's 2017 Cost of Care survey.

Are you happy with your current Medicare plan or plans? Now is the time to think about whether you are in the right plan or whether a new plan could save you money. 

What happens if you are a high-income Medicare beneficiary who is paying a surcharge on your premiums and then your income changes? If your circumstances change, you can reverse those [...]

Online bill paying has become a popular way to make paying bills easier, and now you can pay your Medicare premiums online too. 

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced changes to the federal reverse mortgage program that will raise reverse mortgage fees for some borrowers and lower the [...]

Grandparents may be tempted to leave an IRA to a grandchild because children have a low tax rate, but the "kiddie tax" could make doing this less beneficial.

An attorney can help you save money in the long run as well as make sure you are getting the best care for your loved one.

In addition to helping your family after your death, a prepaid funeral contract can be a good way to spend down assets in order to qualify for Medicaid.

Many health care providers are still not aware that Medicare is required to cover skilled nursing and home care even if a patient is not showing improvement.

A new report finds that states have made incremental improvements in providing long-term care, but need to make more improvements in order to meet the needs of the growing number of people who [...]

Medicare benefits start at age 65, but many people continue working past that age, either by choice or need. It is important to understand how Medicare and employer coverage work together.

Medicare is offering relief from penalties for certain Medicare beneficiaries who enrolled in Medicare Part A and had coverage through the individual marketplace. 

Sometimes seniors find themselves owing past-due federal taxes they cannot afford to pay.  Although notices from the IRS can be especially frightening, there are solutions. 

When your child reaches the age of 18, you no longer have the same level of access to or authority over his or her financial, educational and medical information.  You may even be unable [...]

All hospitals must now give Medicare recipients notice when they have not been admitted but are merely under "observation" status. The notice requirement is part of a law enacted in 2015 but [...]

Giving your house to your children can have tax consequences, but there are ways to accomplish it tax-free. The best method to use will depend on your individual circumstances and needs.