Many people think of Alzheimer's as strictly a memory-stealing ailment. But as a caregiver, you know that it may also unleash difficult-to manage behaviors. We can help you addresses frequently asked questions on troubling Alzheimer's behaviors. For example: What happens when an Alzheimer's patient becomes overwhelmed? What environmental changes can trigger a negative reaction? As a caregiver, what can you do to minimize catastrophic incidents? How can you safely manage a patient who becomes physically aggressive? Should you ever use physical force to deal with a behavior problem? What causes vocalizations, such as yelling or constantly calling out? What are the…
With growing numbers of baby boomers entering retirement age and thousands of US, there is a mounting need for long-term planning for heath and continuing care benefits. Our clients depend on us to help them ease their tax burdens, preserve their assets and safeguard their futures. The cost of long-term care can consume a person’s assets if an effective estate and asset plan is not in place. Keeping up with critical developments in elder law and providing real solutions to the unique problems seniors face can be difficult. Through continuing education and experience, our Attorneys and staff offer an effective…
A mistake in elder-law estate planning is failure to regularly review the plan. At a minimum, each client's estate plan should be reviewed every three years to determine whether changes in the client's personal life, such as health, assets or family history (births, deaths, marriages, divorces, etc.) might require changes to the plan. Similarly, changes in the law may lead to changes in the plan. It is unrealistic to expect a plan established today to be effective 10, 20, 30 or more years in the future. Over time, clients may want to change their backup trustees or plan of distribution….
The biggest rise [in poverty] occurred among people aged 65 and older who are being driven into poverty by out-of-pocket medical expenses, including premiums and co-pays from the federal government's Medicare program for the elderly. It’s been fairly clear that medical expenses were becoming an immense financial drain on the elderly. If you are elderly or have an elderly loved one, then this is a given, as supported by recent census data. As reported in Reuters, the number of poor persons hit a record high in 2010, and poverty rates among the elderly have had the steepest gain. In fact,…
Whenever making loans — to anyone — there should be a written promissory note that spells out the amount borrowed, whether interest is being charged and how repayments are to be made. It’s fine if it’s merely a demand loan and there’s no repayment schedule. But parents should also specify, in their wills or trusts, how the loan should be handled after they die. Require it to be repaid? Forgive the loan? Offset it with interest? Without interest? A loan is not a gift; if you’ve spoken with a bank representative or a particularly pennywise relative. We talk a lot…
Are you (or a loved one) a Medicare beneficiary? If yes, then likely you already know that it doesn’t always cover all the costs in a time of crisis. That’s why there are Medigap policies. Unfortunately, Medigap policies might just be the next thing to get Congress’s unwanted attentions according to a recent article through the Kaiser Health News. A Medigap policy is actually a private, supplemental form of insurance to cover medical bills Medicare doesn’t cover. Medigap is especially important in a crisis, since it can kick in for hospital visits that otherwise would go uncovered. Accordingly, this can…
Have you heard the news? It seems the grand experiment failed. The Congressional supercommittee, charged with doing what the Congress at large could not do, has run out of time. And, by running out of time, failed in its mission to come up with budget cuts. What does that mean for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries? As Reuters reports, in the event the supercommittee should fail, as it has, then automatic and sweeping cuts go into effect. For Medicare, that means a two percent cut across the board, or about $123 billion over the next decade. However, it might have been…
As baby boomers age — and economic upheaval keeps people in the workforce longer — the issue of how to deal with employees with dementia and cognitive impairment will continue to be kicked around the nation’s courtrooms and boardrooms. Do you have a loved one with dementia? If the statistics hold, many more of us will have loved ones with dementia in the future. Unfortunately, with workers (who still have employment) staying on the job well into retirement, that means we will have many co-workers with dementia, too. A recent story out of DeKalb County (i.e., Atlanta) illustrates this coming…
Moving between hospitals or into rehabilitation and other care centers can be a stressful time, especially for an elderly loved one. Unfortunately, too, these “care transitions” can create far greater problems than stress, as they also are prone to creating problems with the patient’s care. Potentially, these problems can have long-term affects. Care transitions are not a recent concern of health professionals, but been on their radar screen for some time. In fact, a recent study is the subject of a recent post on the New York Times’s blog series, “The New Old Age.” According to the study, a very…
Sometimes the biggest mistakes are also the most mundane, and those can make for an awful headache for even the best of us. The maxim proves itself once again in the case of Anthony Olivo, and Forbes’s recent re-telling of that story, where even a tax lawyer neglected proper record keeping of his services to his loved ones – both care-giving and estate-planning services – and the IRS had little sympathy. Anthony had been a tax lawyer for nearly two decades, even opening his own practice, until the needs of his aging parents grew too great. Anthony turned to become…
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