Walnut Creek Elder Law Blog

People are living longer and are enjoying healthier lives for longer periods of time. George Burns, who lived to be 100 said, “I’m going to stay in show business until I’m the last one left!” I see attorney friends at the courthouse who are over 80. When I talk to them, I discover that they have no intention of retiring. Mickey Mantle once said, “If I knew I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.” This is a funny line, but by exercising, we can expect to live long and productive lives.

 A report by the American College of Sports Medicine says that by the year 2030, there will be more than 70,000,000 people in this country who are over the age of 65. And, the fastest growing segment of the population will be people who are over age 85! But, we want to be healthy as we grow older.  

 Walking has been reported to be the easiest exercise to do, which also has the greatest benefits. According to a report by the Mayo Clinic, you can literally walk your way to fitness and good health. Several reports say that by merely walking 45 minutes per day, you can maintain a healthy weight, control blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, strengthen your skeletal system and improve your coordination and balance. Walking also helps to elevate your mood.

 You can easily create a walking routine. My wife walks around the Lafayette reservoir with her friends two times a week. They don’t go around the reservoir once, but two times! I am trying to catch up with her with my walking routine, by walking to downtown Walnut Creek and back for lunch every day. If I stretch it, I can have a 45 minute round trip walk. I believe that in the future, I will be one of the attorneys at the court house who is over 80, and in great shape!

 At the Law Offices of Michael J. Young, located in Walnut Creek, Ca, we talk about the Elder Care Journey with our clients, and in our workshops. Over the years, we have helped many families, and we can help you too with long-term care planning, asset protection plans, assistance with Medi-Cal and the VA, comprehensive estate planning, wills, trusts and powers of attorney.

 Michael J. Young, Attorney at Law, is an estate planning attorney and Medi-Cal qualification attorney in Walnut Creek, CA. For additional information, please visit our website at  www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com LawYoung1@Gmail.com Our address is at 1931 San Miguel Dr., Suite 220, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. 925-256-0298. Mr. Young serves Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, including the cities of Alamo, Walnut Creek, Concord, Danville, Pleasant Hill, Brentwood, Antioch, Clayton, etc. Mr. Young advises clients regarding Medi-Cal, Probates, Probates with Real Estate, Medi-Cal, nursing home costs, asset protection, the VA Aid and attendance pension benefit, and long term care planning. Mr. Young is an Elder Law Attorney and Probate Attorney with offices in Walnut Creek, CA. Walnut Creek Elder Law Attorney, Walnut Creek Probate Attorney. Senior Law Attorney. Walnut Creek Medi-Cal attorney. Mr. Young is certified by the VA and is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA).

If you are a resident of a nursing home, you have the right to access your medical records. You can request copies of your medical records, and the nursing home has two business days to give you a copy of your records. Your request should be made in writing. You will have to pay for the cost of the copies to the nursing home if asked, but you cannot be charged more than $.25 per page, or $.50 per page if the records are copied from microfilm. The nursing home can also ask you for a reasonable sum from you for clerical costs. You may also ask for copies of your financial records from the nursing home, with the same copy costs.

In addition, the persons you have designated in your HIPAA statement or in your health care power of attorney may request copies of your nursing home records for you. HIPAA stands for the “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.” You can also sign a release form allowing others the right to request your nursing home records on your behalf. The nursing home may want to delay the process of providing copies of the documents to you, but they must comply under the law, within two working days.

Most nursing homes are cooperative in this regard, but it seems that few people are aware that they may ask for their records. If you are the resident of a nursing home who is asking for your records, your authority is under a Federal Code, and if the request is made by your representative, it would be under a California State Code. The within information is not to be taken as legal advice, but only as general information. You should consult with your Elder Law Attorney or Medi-Cal attorney in Walnut Creek, CA for additional information.

Michael J. Young, Attorney at Law, is an estate planning attorney and Medi-Cal qualification attorney in Walnut Creek, CA. For additional information, please visit our website at  www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com LawYoung1@Gmail.com Our address is at 1931 San Miguel Dr., Suite 220, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. 925-256-0298. Mr. Young serves Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, including the cities of Alamo, Walnut Creek, Concord, Danville, Pleasant Hill, Brentwood, Antioch, Clayton, etc. Mr. Young advises clients regarding Medi-Cal, Probates, Probates with Real Estate, Medi-Cal, nursing home costs, asset protection, the VA Aid and attendance pension benefit, and long term care planning. Mr. Young is an Elder Law Attorney and Probate Attorney with offices in Walnut Creek, CA. Walnut Creek Elder Law Attorney, Walnut Creek Probate Attorney. Senior Law Attorney. Walnut Creek Medi-Cal attorney. Mr. Young is certified by the VA and is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA).

Most of our clients make it well known in their long term care plans, that if they become ill, they wish to be taken care of at home for as long as possible. My parents made a pact with each other that if either of them had to go to “rehab”  as my mother called it, which is a skilled nursing facility, that they wanted to return home and be taken care of at home. My mother died at home under hospice care. Your elder law attorney can make these desires known in your elder care estate planning documents. In fact, at the Law Offices of Michael J. Young in Walnut Creek CA, we have our clients sign a separate “Intent To Return Home Document,” which states that if they have to go to a nursing home, it is always their intent to return to their home.

Most of our clients also make it known in their long term care planning documents that if they have a terminal illness, and they would only survivie by being hooked up to machines, that they would rather instead, be allowed to die with dignity, and not be hooked up to machines.

Many people do not know that hospice care can take place at home, and that hospice care professionals can come to your home. Hospice is also often paid for by Medicare or private insurance. To qualify for hospice, a physician must confirm that in their opinion, their patient is likely to die within a six month period. This is generally all that is required. I remember how relieved my siblings and I were when my mother was on hospice at home, and various nurses, social workers, doctors, priests and other aides came into my parents home to attend to my mother. All of us benefitted from this process. 

The hospice process allowed my mother, my dad, myself and my siblings to  to appreciate our last days together with my mother, outside of the traditional, more hectic hospital atmosphere.  

For more information about hospice, long term care planning, asset protection, Medi-Cal qualification and the VA Aid & Attendance Pension Benefit, please feel free to contact Michael J. Young at The Law Offices of Michael J. Young in Walnut Creek, CA. www.youngelderlaw.com www.walnutcreekelderlaw.com

Written Michael J. Young, elder law attorney, Medi-Cal attorney, senior law attorney and probate attorney in Walnut Creek, CA and former in-house counsel for title insurance companies. Mr. Young is a Medi-Cal attorney and is VA Certified.  www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com LawYoung1@Gmail.com 1931 San Miguel Dr., Suite 220, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. 925-256-0298. Mr. Young serves Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, including the cities of Walnut Creek, Alamo, Danville, Concord, Brentwood, Pleasant Hill, Antioch, Clayton, etc. Mr. Young advises clients regarding Probates, Probates with Real Estate, Medi-Cal, nursing homes, asset protection, the VA Aid and attendance pension benefit, and long term care planning. Mr. Young is an Elder Law Attorney and Probate Attorney with offices in Walnut Creek, CA. Walnut Creek Elder Law Attorney, Walnut Creek Probate Attorney. Senior Law Attorney

     Does your Financial Durable Power of Attorney (financial DPA) contain asset protection and government benefits qualification language? It probably does not, unless it was prepared by an elder law attorney. If you lose mental capacity, your spouse or children may be prevented from gifting your assets to themselves, in order to help you qualify for Medi-Cal or for the VA Aid & Attendance Pension benefit.

If your financial DPA contains any gifting language at all, it is probably limited to the annual gift tax exclusion amount, which is $13,000 per person this year. This language is usually of little help for Medi-Cal qualification. In addition, the language will probably not allow for gifting to the ”attorney in fact”, who is the person acting for you.  Specialized language is required under the law in order to allow for any gifting to the person acting as the “attorney in fact.” This specialized language usually does not appear in a “regular” financial durable power of attorney.

For instance, the home can easily be established as an exempt asset for Medi-Cal qualification. If the home is in the name of the Medi-Cal applicant who has lost mental capacity, and we want to transfer the home to a child and reserve a life estate to the applicant in order to avoid a Medi-Cal lien, most financial durable powers of attorney will not allow for this. Most financial durable powers of attorney will allow a transfer only upon receipt of consideration from a sale for fair market value of the real property.

To give another example, the Medi-Cal applicant, under the regulations, is allowed to own a life insurance policy, with a pay on death figure in any amount. However, in order to qualify for Medi-Cal, the applicant’s life insurance policy cannot have more than $1500 cash value. If there is a $5,000 cash value, for instance, the Medi-Cal applicant cannot qualify. The remedy is to liquidate the cash from the policy and then gift it out. What do you do however if the Medi-Cal applicant has lost capacity? We need to then look at the powers in the financial durable power of attorney. However, although most financial DPAs may allow for a liquidation of the cash value, they will not allow you to gift the cash out. The Medi-Cal applicant can only retain $2,000 in non qualified accounts, and if the cash from the policy cannot be gifted, it would have to be spent before qualification for Medi-Cal can be obtained.

The financial DPA in an elder law context, is also coordinated with the revocable living trust of the applicant. There should be specialized asset protection language in the trust, which refers to the financial DPA. This specialized language will allow the attorney in fact to “stand in the shoes” of the maker of the trust, for all purposes, including for Medi-Cal qualification. This technique is allowed by law, and provides the greatest amount of flexibility for the family who is helping the older person who has lost capacity, when we are applying for Medi-Cal.

Remember that if existing estate planning documents are not updated before the older person loses capacity, we may have to resort to a court proceeding to modify the language in the documents. This process is expensive and is not always guaranteed. The best approach is to pre-planning, and to have your estate planning documents updated as early as possible by a qualified elder law attorney, who practices full time in this area of the law. 

Written Michael J. Young, elder law attorney in Walnut Creek, CA. www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com mike@WalnutCreekElderLaw.com. 1931 San Miguel Dr., Suite 220, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. 925-256-0298. Mr. Young serves Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, including the cities of Walnut Creek, Alamo, Danville, Concord, Brentwood, Pleasant Hill, Antioch, Clayton, etc. Mr. Young advises clients regarding Medi-Cal, nursing homes, asset protection, the VA Aid and attendance pension benefit, and long term care planning. Mr. Young is a Concord Elder Law Attorney with offices in Walnut Creek, CA.

This is a brief list of exempt assets for Medi-Cal qualification. Your home is generally exempt, and you can take steps to protect your home from a Medi-Cal lien after your death. Your household goods and personal belongs are exempt. You can have an exemption for one car. Term life insurance policies are excluded, but you cannot have more than a total of $1500 cash value in the policies.  You can keep your IRAs and other “qualified accounts.” You can only have $2,000 of non qualified assets. 

This is a brief synopsis of exempt assets, and of course planning and applying for  Medi-Cal is much more complicated than is presented here. In addition, if you are a wartime veteran or the surviving spouse of a wartime veteran, you should consider planning and possibly applying for the VA Aid & Attendance Pension Benefit. Planning for the VA Aid & Attendance Pension Benefit should be coordinated with your planning for Medi-Cal benefits. Your elder law attorney, who is also certified by the VA, can help you with planning for both benefits. 

This blog is written by Michael J. Young, Elder Law Attorney, for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. You should consult an elder law, government benefits and asset protection attorney for your particular case, and before you proceed with any planning.

For additional information you can go to Mr. Young’s website at  www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com . You can send an e-mail to Mr. Young at mike@WalnutCreekElderLaw.com. His address is 1931 San Miguel Dr., Suite 220, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. Phone: (925) 256-0298. Mr. Young has clients in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, including the cities of Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Concord, Antioch, Bay Point, Alamo, Danville, Clayton, etc. Mr. Young advises clients regarding Medi-Cal, nursing homes, asset protection, the VA Aid and attendance pension benefit, and long term care planning. Mr. Young is a member of NAELA.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 5 million people in the U.S., and is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. today. This disease is expensive for the families of Alzheimer’s patients. And, it is the families who absorb much of the cost of care.

There are government resources available to help pay for the cost of care. The VA Aid & Attendance Improved Pension Benefit for wartime veterans and the surviving spouses of wartime veterans can be very helpful to pay for care. For the single veteran, the pension rate can be as much as $1,644 per month or $19,736 per year. For the surviving spouse, the pension rate can be as much as $1,056 per month, or $12,681 per year. This VA benefit can help pay for the costs of in home care, assisted living facilities and board and care homes.

Another government benefit is Medi-Cal, which can pay for skilled nursing facilities for the Alzheimer’s patient.

Qualification for both of these programs, the VA Aid & Attendance Pension Benefit and Medi-Cal, are asset and income based. Planning for these benefits can be done through your elder law attorney. You should pursue your long term care planning goals, including asset protection, through your elder law attorney as early in the process as possible.

Your elder law and asset protection attorney will update the estate planning documents of the Alzheimer’s patient, provided it is not too late, to include asset government benefits planning, and asset protection language. Thereafter, planning steps are made over time for asset protection and for qualification for these programs.

Michael J. Young, who is an elder law attorney in Walnut Creek, CA, helps many clients with Alzheimer’s disease, and their families, with Alzheimer’s Planning. Elder Law is Alzheimer’s Planning.

Mr. Young is an elder law attorney who represents clients in Concord, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Brentwood, Antioch, Clayton, Danville, Alamo and surrounding areas.

This blog is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. You should consult an elder law, asset protection and government benefits planning attorney for your particular case, and before you proceed with any planning.

Written Michael J. Young, elder law attorney in Walnut Creek, CA. www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com mike@WalnutCreekElderLaw.com. 1931 San Miguel Dr., Suite 220, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. 925-256-0298. Mr. Young serves Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, including the cities of Walnut Creek, Alamo, Danville, Concord, Brentwood, Pleasant Hill, Antioch, Clayton, etc. Mr. Young advises clients regarding Medi-Cal, nursing homes, asset protection, the VA Aid and attendance pension benefit, and long term care planning. Mr. Young is a Concord Elder Law Attorney with offices in Walnut Creek, CA.

Through proper planning from an elder law attorney,  disease is not too far advanced, the

Michael J. Young is an elder law attorney in Walnut Creek, CA.