Walnut Creek Elder Law Blog

A lot of us Baby Boomers have either helped take care of our elderly parents, or are presently doing so. The process of taking care of an older person who is ill can be difficult, and the circumstances never become easier. We must remember though to always slow down, and to maintain our patience with our older loved ones while in our care roles.

 I remember when I was a teenager with my driver learner’s permit, at age 15 ½, I was driving with my father in his car. I stopped at a stop sign, and I expressed exasperation about an older man who was slowly crossing the street with his cane, and holding up a long line of cars. My father scolded me, pointed toward the old man and said, “Michael, that man is you, very soon!” At the time it was difficult for me to relate to my father’s comment, but I will never forget it.

 As Baby Boomers, we are extremely busy with our lives. We are usually operating at warp speed and are always multi tasking. Our demeanor and our speech often reflect our impatience with the lack of swiftness at which the world around us is responding to our expectations. In order to be good care givers when dealing with our older loved ones, we must substantially slow down.

 Communications can be difficult, but do not need to be so. When we are speaking with our older loved ones, we must be in the moment with them. As difficult as this may sound, the cell phone should be turned off and put away. We need to listen carefully and respectfully to what our older loved ones are saying and what they are asking. If they become angry, do not react with anger. Try to envision yourself at their age and in their circumstances. As my father would say, “That person is you.”     

 At the Law Offices of Michael J. Young, www.WalnutCreekElderLaw, 925-256-0298, lawyoung1@gmail.com we practice Elder Law. We help families through the Elder Law minefield, and have been helping family members to better communicate with each other. We help families with long-term care planning, asset-protection plans, comprehensive estate planning, wills, trusts and powers of attorney. We also help families get their ducks in a row in order help them qualify for Medi-Cal and the VA Aid & Attendance Improved Pension benefit.

 This information is not to be taken as legal advice, and you are encouraged to see your elder law attorney regarding any planning.

Term Life Insurance: You can have any amount of term life insurance and still qualify for Medi-Cal to help pay for your nursing home costs.  For example, lets say that you have a $100,000 term life insurance policy that provides for a distribution of $100,000 to your wife when you die. You can apply for Medi-Cal and still be eligible with this policy. When you die, the $100,000 passes to your wife.

 Elder Law Planning Issue: However, there are planning issues to take into account regarding term life insurance policies. What happens if your wife becomes ill first, and she qualifies for Medi-Cal. If you die while your wife is on Medi-Cal, the distribution from your life insurance policy will pass to your wife and most likely make her ineligible for Medi-Cal. A remedy for this situation, which should be part of your Medi-Cal pre-planning with your elder law attorney, is to change the beneficiary designation on your life insurance policy to another person, like a child. If you have lost mental capacity, this may not be possible unless you have special powers in your financial durable power of attorney to make beneficiary designation changes on your life insurance policies. You should not assume that just because you have a financial durable power of attorney, that it includes powers for your fiduciary to change the beneficiary of your life insurance policy. Pre-planning with your elder law attorney will help you to determine this and to plan accordingly.

 Whole Life Insurance: You can qualify for Medi-Cal if you have a whole life insurance policy, provided that the face value, or cash in value of the policy, does not exceed $1,500. Any amounts over the $1,500 is counted toward the $2,000 cash reserve that you are allowed to keep under the Medi-Cal qualification regulations. As a result, if the cash value of your policy takes you over the $2,000 cash reserve, you will not be eligible for Medi-Cal unless you reduce the cash value of the policy and transfer or gift the excess amounts to your spouse or to another person. You should be able to do this through the life insurance company, provided that you have sufficient mental capacity to do so. If you do not have sufficient mental capacity, your fiduciary must rely on the powers in your durable financial power of attorney.  Unless your Medi-Cal qualification attorney has prepared your financial durable power of attorney, it will most likely not have gifting powers for asset protection and Medi-Cal qualification.

 Pre-planning With Your Elder Law Attorney: Pre-planning for your long term care and asset preservation should be accomplished as soon as possible, through your Medi-Cal qualification attorney. The language that is used for asset protection in the revocable living trust and financial durable powers of attorney is indeed different from regular estate planning documents. Your Medi-Cal qualification attorney can help you get your ducks in a row for qualification for Medi-Cal and the VA Aid & Attendance Pension benefit, and for preservation of your assets for your spouse and your loved ones.

Michael J. Young, your Medi-Cal qualification attorney in Walnut Creek, CA can help you get your ducks in a row for government benefits planning and for asset protection. You should accomplish your long term care planning as soon as possible, because if you lose your mental capacity, long term care planning and asset protection becomes much more difficult. You should not assume that the provisions in your existing revocable living trust and financial durable power of attorney will help you to qualify for Medi-Cal or the VA Aid and Attendance Pension Benefit if you lose capacity.

Michael J. Young, Medi-Cal qualification attorney in Walnut Creek, CA is an elder law attorney, senior law attorney, Medi-Cal attorney and probate attorney. Mr. Young is certified by the VA and is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA). 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.

My mother, who was a WWII veteran and the mother of five wild boys and a composed girl, used to tell me that the only thing that she really feared in life was losing her mental capacity. When I was a younger attorney, and my parents were younger, I prepared their estate plan, which was the typical plan designed for what happens when you die. When my parents got older and began to suffer the maladies of older people, I prepared a new estate plan for them, with a focus on not so much what would happen when they died, but on what would happen if they did not die, became ill and needed help with their care. My parents were adamant about having a plan that left something, especially their home, to their six children.

Estate planning and planning for mental capacity issues is very different for the older client. As a baby boomer, and after having helped take care of my aging parents, and after counseling many older clients and their families, my perspective as an estate planning attorney has changed over the years, and is now geared toward setting up a plan for the care of my clients, and protection of their assets, as well as planning for when they die.

Incapacity involves the inability of someone to make decisions regarding their personal and financial affairs. For many of our clients, diseases such as Parkinson’s and  Alzheimer’s have lead to mental incapacity. For other clients, there has been an event causing a brain injury leading to mental capacity. Many of our clients have dementia with no disease related diagnosis. Our recommendation is that anyone who is a baby boomer or older, should have an updated estate plan with an emphasis on asset protection and government benefits planning. You should also plan on how you or your fiduciary can get your ducks in a row to be able to protect your assets, such as your home, and obtain Medi-Cal to pay for your nursing home care, and the VA Aid and Attendance Pension Benefit to help pay the cost of in home care and assisted living facilities if needed.

You will need to decide who will be able to manage your financial affairs if you cannot. These individuals are usually trusted family members, but can also be friends. They can also be professional fiduciaries, who are licensed by California’s professional fiduciary bureau. You will also need to decide on who will make decisions for your regarding your health care, if you cannot do so. One issue to decide is whether you want to be on life support machines if you are in an irreversible condition and are only being kept alive by machines.

Michael J. Young, your elder law attorney in Walnut Creek, CA can help you design a plan to meet your needs as you get older. The plan will involve getting your ducks in a row for asset protection and government benefits planning. There are many options that your senior law attorney can help you with. Keep in mind that if you lose your mental capacity and what to protect assets by way of transferring your assets to your spouse or children, as is allowed under the regulations, you will not be able to do so if you have a traditional estate plan. In that case, we may have to go to court to amend your estate planning documents to provide for asset protection.

The information contained herein is not to be taken as legal advise, and you are advised to see your elder law attorney before attempting any planning or transfers of assets on your own. This article is written by elder law attorney Michael J. Young. Mr. Young, whose office is in Walnut Creek, CA is an elder law attorney, senior law attorney, Medi-Cal attorney and probate attorney whose office is in Walnut Creek, CA. Mr. Young is certified by the VA and is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA). 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.

You should get your ducks in a row long before a crisis occurs, especially where your health and finances are concerned. Many of our clients come to see us when a crisis is occurring. For instance, their spouse or loved one is in the hospital or has just entered a skilled nursing facility. At this stage the planning is usually more difficult, and we may be facing memory issues of the ill person. It may also be more difficult to preserve the home as a legacy for the clients’ beneficiaries. The home is many times our clients’ largest asset.

As part of long term care planning, we plan how various stages of care will be paid for and determine what assets and resources are available. We proceed to get our ducks in a row to protect assets. We also line our ducks up for obtaining Medi-Cal to pay for the skilled nursing facility and the VA Aid & Attendance Pension Benefit to pay for in home care or an assisted living facility. Gifting and spending issues for Medi-Cal and VA are considered. The longer we have to do long term care planning, the easier it is for all concerned. In addition, your peace of mind can be assured earlier on. 

FAMILY DYNAMICS: When we are able to do pre-planning for our clients, we can better take into account issues concerning family dynamics. We need to know which family members are helping the ill person, and who can be relied upon when help is needed. We can offer suggestions for the well spouse for her care for the ill spouse when he comes home. We will be better able to find out if there is serious infighting and resentments among family members. When a crisis occurs, these dynamics become intensified.

LEGAL DOCUMENTS: Are the legal documents up to date? If they are, you are in a tiny minority. If you have not gone to an elder law attorney in the last several years, your documents are probably not up to date. There is specialized language that can be utilized for asset protection and for government benefits planning in the various documents. For instance, if we want to preserve the home and protect it from a Medi-Cal lien, and the ill person has severe memory issues, we may not be able to proceed to transfer the home to the well spouse or a child without going to court. Most revocable living trusts and financial durable powers of attorney do not contain this specialized asset protection language.

Pre-planning will also allow us to discuss any changes that may be needed in the trust, will, financial durable power of attorney and other estate planning documents. Family dynamics are always changing with the occurrence of deaths, divorces, children who are themselves in need of care, second marriages, etc.

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

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.