Elder Law

June 24, 2024

5 Ways an Elder Law Attorney Can Help You Plan for Long-Term Care

The practice of elder law is a little different than most other legal niches. As opposed to being defined by the type of legal issues they handle, elder law attorneys are more often defined by the individuals they help – primarily older persons.

Elder law attorneys work with this population and their families or representatives to advocate and address legal issues related to elder care such as health and long-term care planning, caregiving, navigating government benefits, financial elder exploitation, estate planning, legal capacity counsel, retirement planning, aging in place, and the like.

An elder law attorney offers knowledge, understanding, and guidance when it comes to the ins and outs of long-term care planning. In an ever more costly and changing care environment, they can help evaluate options and develop strategies for paying for long-term care costs and examine and advise on interrelated issues and concerns.

May 29, 2024

Take Charge of Your Healthcare Choices With Advanced Directives

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

What happens when you lose your capacity to make decisions about your medical care?

The news depicts stories about people on life support and their family members fighting over whether brain dead means something different than dead. What if you were the one on life support? What would you choose?

Ideally, you would have already chosen, and your wishes would be clearly spelled out in your Advance Healthcare Directives. Unfortunately, only about 30% of Americans have made their wishes known.

May 16, 2024

Medicaid Planning: Avoid These 4 Things

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

by Carmine Perri

You want to apply for Medicaid – a complicated process – but you’ve heard that hiring an attorney specializing in Medicaid planning is expensive.

So why not use one of those services that say they’ll do the same thing for less?

But do they really do the same thing? Continue reading

April 17, 2024

4 Things You Should Know About Today’s Nursing Homes

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

Currently there are more than 1.1 million Americans residing in nursing homes (over 19,000 in Connecticut) and it is estimated that more than 3,000 new nursing homes could need to be built to keep up with demand.

Among the factors leading to the need for increased high-quality nursing home facilities and care are industry-wide staffing shortages, rising costs, and an aging (baby boomer) population.

Consider these expected population trends and the nursing facility numbers in Connecticut and nationwide:

February 19, 2024

Owning an RV Can Affect SSI and Medicaid Benefits

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

An RV (recreational vehicle) is a home away from home on wheels that gives you the ability to enjoy a romantic lifestyle of freedom and adventure on the open road. It’s a fabulous way to see the country, and often a cost-effective way to travel.

It is also, however, a potential liability when it comes to qualifying for critical SSI (Supplemental Security Income) and Medicaid.

February 12, 2024

Geriatric Care Managers: Who They Are, What They Do and How to Find One

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

Being a caregiver to an aging parent is both an act of love and a journey of challenge. Even if your parent doesn’t have any major health issues, you will likely face a variety of situations that are entirely unfamiliar.

It’s easy to end up feeling overwhelmed, out of your depth, and at a loss about how to make the right choices. And if there is a health issue or crisis, the stakes are that much higher, and the scenarios that much more complex.

If you have the means to pay out of pocket for supplemental support, a geriatric care manager can help alleviate your anxiety, cover gaps in your knowledge, and even manage coordinating family engagement with caretaking.

December 29, 2023

Don’t Let Your Parents’ Money Run Out: Key Ways to Protect Seniors’ Assets

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

As your parents age, their ability to take care of themselves will inevitably deteriorate over time. The changes may seem drastic, especially if you don’t see them often. How can you help them make their savings last and get the care they need where they want it – in their own home? A good plan with the help of an estate planning and elder law attorney can make all the difference.

Does this sound familiar?

There’s no place like home for the holidays. But now that the dishes are put away after the annual Thanksgiving feast, you begin to notice that Mom and Dad’s house is a little more chaotic than you remember.

You check in on them often by phone, but living several hours away from their home in Connecticut you don’t have much time for visits, except around the holidays.

Now, it’s pretty obvious that things are going downhill. Dad’s fine. Mom – the rock of the family – says she’s fine, too, but she has had a few falls recently and is having trouble Continue reading

December 4, 2023

Who Exactly is Eligible for Social Security Survivor Benefits?

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

In most cases, the Social Security benefits of a deceased spouse do pass to the surviving spouse, but there are some specific considerations to keep in mind when it comes to who is entitled to which benefits and how to apply for them.

People are often unaware that they may be able to collect Social Security benefits from their deceased spouse — called survivor benefits — but it’s important to investigate the options as part of your financial planning.

In addition to the surviving spouse, other family members — including certain children/dependents and parents of the deceased — may also be eligible. But for the purposes of this article, we will focus on spousal benefits.

September 12, 2023

Buyer Beware: Choose Your Medicaid Application Support Wisely

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

No one looks forward to applying for Medicaid. It’s a complex and grueling process, the rules are always changing, and there are so many things that can go wrong.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, there are companies that are only too willing to take advantage of this situation. These companies claim to be able to process your Medicaid application at a low cost. But these non-attorneys may cause their customers great harm – putting Medicaid applicants at risk for a number of serious issues including denial of eligibility, severe tax liability, loss of spousal assets and other situations that may threaten the client’s life savings and other assets.

Often it is a nursing home that refers Medicaid applicants to these companies, so there is the very real possibility of a conflict of interest.

May 15, 2023

Medicare versus Medicaid – What You Need to Know

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

Elder law attorneys are often asked by clients about the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. While the names of these government-sponsored programs sound very similar, each has a distinct purpose and serves a specific audience.

MEDICARE is a federal health insurance program. No matter what your income is, you can obtain Medicare benefits if you are 65 and over, or have a qualifying disability. The program is not free – you must pay part of the costs through deductibles for hospital stays and you must pay monthly premiums for coverage.

MEDICAID is a federal and state financial assistance program for people over 65, people with disabilities, children, pregnant women and parents of eligible children. To be eligible for Medicaid benefits, individuals from these groups must also have low income. Because it is run jointly by the state and the federal government, rules and eligibility requirements vary state by state.