What Is Elder Law?

Elder law is a highly specialized area of law focusing on the legal needs of older adults encompassing more significant issues like long-term health care needs, quality of life, and financial well-being. Specific planning may include estate planning and administration, asset protection planning, Medicaid planning and applications, wills and trusts, probate, advance directives, special needs planning, and guardianships.

Areas of Elder Law

Areas of Elder Law We Provide at Schweizer and Associates:

• Asset Protection
• Long-term care planning
• Decision Making for an Incapacitated Person
• Estate Planning and Settlement
• Disability and Special Needs Planning
• Medicaid Planning

Nursing home care is very expensive. The early you start planning for the potential need for nursing home care, the more you can save your assets. That is where asset protection comes in for you.

Asset Protection

We can help you prepare an asset protection plan. Pre planning asset protection is the best. But, you have to start early.

However, we also offer crisis asset planning protection if you have an imminent need for nursing home care.

Medicaid Planning

As you age, early planning is the key to enjoy a successful, secure, and less stressful lifestyle. Currently, the look-back period for Medicaid nursing home benefit qualifications is five years, and it is 2.5 years for Medicaid home care benefits. Early planning can protect many of your assets and still secure eligibility for government benefits.

Medicaid provides healthcare benefits to low-income adults, pregnant women, elderly adults, children, and individuals with disabilities. Medicaid also covers custodial care, such as long-term care. Currently, more than four million American senior citizens receive Medicaid coverage. Your finances must be below specific asset and income thresholds to be eligible. We can help you qualify for Medicaid without spending down all of your assets so that you can provide for a spouse and protect a significant portion of your family legacy.

Do I need an Elder Law Attorney?

How would you answer the following questions:

• Do you have a will, and has it been updated in the last five years?
• Are your assets protected in the event you require home care or nursing home care?
• Do you have a living will, including a health care proxy and durable power of attorney?
• Is your home protected, perhaps in a trust?
• Are you willing to spend half or even all of your assets on the cost of your elder care?

If your answers are no to any of these questions, it is time to consult with an elder law attorney.

Why Do You Need an Attorney in Garner for Elder Law?

Comprehensively, elder law focuses on legal issues, complex regulations, and laws that vary by state that impact seniors. We at Schweizer & Associates have a unique understanding of the personal impacts aging brings and how it can physically, socially, and financially affect your loved ones, making them vulnerable. We are familiar with the various circumstances and decisions confronting older loved ones and we can help you through this process.

• Early proactive planning will yield the best results to protect your assets and your well-being. 
• Engaging in Medicaid planning and asset protection can ensure you or your loved one will receive the care they need and afford it.
• Medicaid planning can protect a healthy spouse who wishes to remain in your home with the financial resources to do so.
• Proper planning for Medicaid benefits can protect your assets from Medicaid’s estate recovery program, genuine estate liens.
• The concern of elder law is to ensure older adults can live their most healthy, protected, and financially secure lifestyles as they age.
• Planning may include anticipating future medical needs such as long-term care, qualifying for Medicaid without depleting all assets, creating a living will, and legally naming individuals to guide your medical decision-making if you become incapacitated.
• In addition to aging seniors, elder law may also focus on the needs of war veterans and individuals with disabilities and assist with conservatorship or guardianship if needed.

Why Work With Us?

At Schweizer and Associates, we are available to handle the sensitive emotional, physical, and financial planning needs of the aging senior population. Estate planning is not a “set it and forget it” process. New elder law issues regarding family needs and state regulations evolve. Periodic reviews of existing documents will keep your planning up to date in an ever-changing world.

We work with seniors, taking a holistic approach to the legal issues people commonly face as they age. These include matters of housing, physical and financial health, estate planning, and more. There are as many issues as there are seniors, as life circumstances are different for everyone. An attorney who specializes in the host of the problems senior citizens face can be a wise investment.

Compassionate Planning From An Attorney Who Has Been Where You Are

Kristen Mackintosh, The Happy Lawyer, has experienced first hand the value of elder law planning with her dad. Her dad had a stroke at 66 years age, leaving him partially paralyzed and unable to speak. Kristen watched her mother transition into the role of caregiver. Kristen and her family went through the finding suitable in home care and ultimately, nursing home care.

She understands the emotional and financial stress having a loved one need nursing home care. She also understands the “why” it’s important to have a plan in place before you need one.

If you would like to learn more about our elder law services, we’re here to help! Call us today at (919) 792-8745 or fill out the contact form to get started!

Read and Download our New Ebook: Elder Law 101: Understanding Long-Term Care Planning