My first job as an attorney was working for an attorney who concentrated on elder law and estate planning.
A family member introduced him to me– and now, I cannot imagine doing any other type of law.
I love meeting with families and helping them when they are in difficult situations. It is incredibly rewarding to be able to help someone through a crisis, and come up with solutions that enable them to preserve their dignity and protect their assets.
The truth is, nursing homes are full of people who did not want to be there and whose families thought they never would.
As an elder law attorney, I often hear: “My mother will never end up in a nursing home,” or “I would never put my dad in a nursing home.”
It is all nice in theory. No one (myself included) wants to see their parents in a nursing home but, in most cases, the reasoning behind the decision is either financially driven or care-driven.
Recently, we resolved a case regarding a Medicaid nursing home application for a 62-year-old woman, Jane, who suffered a severe stroke in 2011. A healthy woman otherwise, Jane had no health issues prior to suffering the stroke. Unfortunately, she also had no advance directives (health care proxy or durable power of attorney).
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Everyone has their niche.
Financial advisors have a certain field of expertise, and most are very good at what they do. However, when it comes to elder law, Medicaid and estate planning, there is no substitute for sound legal advice.
Case study:
A retiree originally made an appointment with a law firm specializing in estate planning and elder law – but, a family friend was a financial advisor. He decided to work with his friend and canceled his appointment with the law firm.
*This article has been re-posted from AccountingToday.com with permission from the author, Henry Montag. Click here to see the source article.
As your clients’ most trusted adviser, how can you protect them from the financial threat and high costs of long-term care?
You basically have two initial choices. Let’s assume your client is under age 75, relatively healthy and understands that an unexpected, unreimbursed long-term care expense is a real threat that can unravel their and their spouse’s retirement plans and lifestyle. You can talk about “what if” scenarios, including the purchase of a long-term care insurance policy. Or you can avoid the fact that costs for care at home or in an assisted living community are in the $60,000 to $75,000 range, and that costs in a skilled nursing facility are in the $125,000 to $175,000 range and are both increasing by 4 percent annually.
Should you have this unpleasant, difficult conversation with your clients? Since the odds of this problem affecting a client over age 80 is approximately 70 percent, it could make a great deal of sense to get your clients thinking about a solution to a problem they may one day likely face. Where will the necessary funds come from to pay for these costs? Is there a readily accessible source of sufficient funds that will not trigger a large unnecessary taxable event when liquidated? Should the client self-insure against this threat or would it make more economic sense to purchase a long-term care insurance contract from one of the major insurers?
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