Category Archives: Parkinson’s disease Walnut Creek

When Can The State Recover Medi-Cal Payments?

If you die after having been on Medi-Cal, the state will want to recover from your estate. They will want to recover what they paid for your nursing home care while you were on Medi-Cal. If there is nothing in your estate when you die, there will have nothing in your estate for them to […]

You Can Spend Down Resources for Medi-Cal Eligibility

For eligibility for Medi-Cal, you cannot have more than $2,000 in non-qualified assets in your name by the end of the month that you want to be eligible. So, if you apply for Medi-Cal on April 1, 2016, you must be down to $2,000 in assets by April 30, 2016. In addition to the $2,000, […]

Medi-Cal and Life Insurance Recovery

If you die after having been on Medi-Cal, the state can only recover what is left in your estate at the time of your death. Whatever is in your revocable living trust when you die, is recoverable by Medi-Cal because that is part of your estate. That is why we reserve powers in the revocable […]

Do-It-Yourself Estate Plans

If you do an on-line search, you will immediately find websites that will help you create estate planning documents like revocable living trusts and wills. The selling point of these websites is that you will save on legal fees. Accordingly, you do not receive legal representation from these web sites. But, are you being “penny […]

Changes Are Coming For VA A&A Qualification

New changes are in the works which may make it more difficult to qualify for the VA Aid & Attendance Pension Benefit. This benefit, for older war time veterans or their surviving spouses, has been very helpful for some of our clients, to help them pay for their long term care costs. A single veteran […]

How Much Does The Surviving Spouse Receive In Social Security Benefits?

In a previous post, we discussed what you should do about Social Security benefits after someone dies. But with regard to married couples, how much will the surviving spouse receive? Generally speaking, the surviving spouse will receive 100% of the deceased spouse’s Social Security benefit, as long as that amount is greater than the surviving spouse’s […]

Plan For Incapacity Now

Planning for incapacity should take place now, while you still have good mental capacity. If you lose mental capacity, you will not be able to make good decisions regarding your financial and personal affairs. For seniors, incapacity can occur for instance, as the result of a head trauma, dementia or as a consequence of Alzheimer’s […]

What To Do About Social Security Benefits After Someone Dies

We are often asked what should be done about Social Security benefits after someone dies. When a social security recipient dies, the Social Security Administration must be notified as soon as possible. The funeral home will usually make the notification to Social Security.  If the funeral home does not provide this service, then another family […]

Beware of Arbitration Clauses

The New York Times has examined, in a series of articles, the problems with mandatory arbitration agreements in consumer contracts. The articles examine “… how clauses buried in tens of thousands of contracts have deprived Americans of one of their most fundamental constitutional rights: their day in court.” The NY Times series discusses how consumers […]

Be On The Lookout For Sweepstakes Fraud

There are thousands of companies that use sweepstakes offers in an effort to lure people into sending them money. This has been reported by the Office of the Attorney General in California. The report says that many of these companies have been prosecuted by the California Attorney  General, attorneys general in other states, by the […]