Crisis planning involves an individual who has either already been admitted to a nursing home or is about to be placed in a facility, and they have been told, or assume they will be told, that they have too much money or too many assets to qualify for Medicaid or other assistance.
As a caregiver, trying to manage care for your loved one while also figuring out how it will be paid for is very stressful. While planning ahead is always important, especially regarding long-term care, there are still options when long-term care is needed immediately. Here are some options to help you as you navigate through crisis planning for your loved one:
Meet with an Experienced Elder Law Attorney as Soon as Possible.
An experienced elder law attorney can help develop a plan to pay for the long-term care your loved one needs. It can be tempting to try and do it yourself via the information you find online or receive from family and friends, but more often than not, that information is flat-out wrong. Following that advice can often lead to significant negative consequences. For example, if you try to spend down assets by giving everything to your loved one's children, you will actually delay how quickly your loved one qualifies for Medicaid benefits, not speed it up.
Unless you work in this area, you're likely unaware of the many ways to legally preserve the maximum amount of assets and income and still qualify for Medicaid benefits in the shortest time possible, whether your loved one is single or married. And while pre-planning often leaves them with more options, even in a crisis scenario, several planning options are generally still available.
It can be tempting not to want to pay for the services of an experienced elder law attorney as legal services can seem like a lot of money, but knowing the crisis planning is done right can save you even more money than you paid for the legal services. Also, when working with an experienced elder law attorney to do crisis planning, the cost of those legal services may be able to count as part of your loved one's spend-down plan without counting against your loved one.
Need an experienced elder law attorney?
If you are in need of an elder law attorney to help you navigate crisis planning for your loved one, one of our experienced elder law attorneys and Elder Care Liason would be glad to assist you and your loved one through that process. To get started, call our office at 919-500-7757 or schedule a free needs assessment call via our website.