Take Advantage of Your Future Speak with Our Harrisburg Life Care Planning Attorney
When dealing with senior-related legal matters, it is crucial to seek the expertise of a specialized elder law attorney. These professionals provide legal services related to guardianship issues and can offer valuable guidance tailored to the needs of seniors.
What is Elder Law?
Elder law is a specialized area of law that focuses on the unique legal needs of older adults and their families. Elder law attorneys, like those at our law firm, provide legal services that help clients navigate the complexities of aging, including estate planning, long-term care planning, and Medicaid planning. Our elder law attorneys understand the importance of protecting assets, ensuring quality of life, and addressing the specific needs of older adults.
Elder law encompasses a wide range of legal issues, including:
- Estate planning and administration
- Long-term care planning and Medicaid eligibility
- Advance health care directives and living wills
- Health care power of attorney and medical treatment decisions
- Asset protection and preservation
- Elder abuse and exploitation prevention
Our law firm is dedicated to providing comprehensive legal services to older adults and their families, helping them navigate the complex legal landscape and achieve their goals. Whether you need assistance with creating a living will, establishing a health care directive, or protecting your assets, our experienced elder law attorneys are here to guide you every step of the way.
Life Care Planning: Making Informed Decisions for Your Future
Pennsylvania has a growing number of seniors with chronic illnesses and disabilities. This can be challenging for them and their families. There are important decisions to make about living arrangements, long-term care financing, and who will make decisions on their behalf. A life care planning attorney can help seniors and their families make these decisions and prepare for the future.
Proactive estate planning, including the preparation of estate planning documents such as wills and trusts, is essential for effective management and can be updated to reflect changes in one’s financial situation or family status.
Life care planning can be difficult and confusing, especially without help. At Keystone Elder Law, P.C., our dedicated team of professional Harrisburg elder law attorneys will assist you with life care planning. We meet each client with dignity and foresight, providing comprehensive and personalized plans to protect assets and ensure well-being. Our legal expertise, empathy, and understanding of the Harrisburg community will help you make informed decisions about the future. When you’re ready to begin the process of life care planning, Keystone Elder Law P.C. is here for you.
The Benefits of Life Care Planning
Life care planning is a continuous process of managing the legal, financial, and healthcare needs of a senior. The benefits of life care planning include:
Financial Security and Asset Protection
Life care planning can help you secure your financial future. Estate planning tools, such as wills, trusts, and tailored legal strategies, are essential for asset protection and adapting to the specific needs of families and individuals. By carefully planning and managing your money, you can ensure you have enough to cover the cost of long-term care if you need it. There are many things you can do, such as setting up trusts and exploring Medicaid options. This will help you protect your assets and make sure that you can get the care you need without running out of money.
Ensuring Access to Quality Care with an Advanced Health Care Directive
Life care planning helps individuals get the care they need and want. By planning ahead, they can tell others what they want for their living arrangements, medical care, and other services. This helps make sure that their wishes are respected, even if they are unable to speak for themselves. Life care planning helps people get the support and care they need, improving their quality of life.
Relieving Burden on Loved Ones
Planning ahead allows an individual to secure their care arrangements without burdening those around them. Family members have the right to petition the court for a guardian when an adult can no longer make decisions or when a child with disabilities reaches adulthood. It can help support harmonious relationships, reduce stress, and make for more confident decisions.
Promoting Peace of Mind
One of the best things about life care planning is that it gives individuals peace of mind. By planning ahead, individuals can deal with potential challenges and uncertainties. This makes them feel more prepared and confident about the future. Knowing that their wishes are documented and that there is a plan in place allows individuals to focus on enjoying the present moment and spending time with loved ones, without worrying about what might happen.
Long-Term Care Planning
Long-term care planning is an essential aspect of elder law, as it helps individuals and families prepare for the potential need for long-term care services, such as nursing home care or in-home care. Our elder law attorneys can help clients develop a comprehensive long-term care plan that addresses their unique needs and goals.
Long-term care planning involves:
- Assessing the individual’s needs and goals
- Evaluating available resources, including insurance and government benefits
- Developing a plan for funding long-term care services
- Creating advance health care directives and living wills
- Designating a health care power of attorney
Our law firm can help clients navigate the complex world of long-term care planning, ensuring that they receive the care and support they need while protecting their assets and preserving their quality of life. By planning ahead, you can make informed decisions about your future care and ensure that your wishes are respected, even if you are unable to speak for yourself.
Medicaid Planning
Medicaid planning is a critical aspect of elder law, as it helps individuals and families qualify for Medicaid benefits to cover the cost of long-term care services. Our elder law attorneys can help clients develop a Medicaid plan that ensures they receive the benefits they need while protecting their assets.
Medicaid planning involves:
- Evaluating the individual’s eligibility for Medicaid benefits
- Developing a plan to qualify for Medicaid benefits
- Creating a comprehensive estate plan that includes Medicaid planning
- Designating a power of attorney to manage Medicaid benefits
Our law firm can help clients navigate the complex Medicaid system, ensuring that they receive the benefits they need while protecting their assets and preserving their quality of life. With a well-crafted Medicaid plan, you can secure the financial support necessary for long-term care without depleting your hard-earned savings. Our experienced elder law attorneys are here to provide the guidance and support you need to achieve peace of mind.
Contact a Harrisburg Elder Law Life Care Planning Attorney Today
If you have found yourself putting off essential decisions, now is the moment to proactively reach out to your Harrisburg life care planning attorney. By taking the step of consulting with Keystone Elder Law, P.C., you can access the vital support and guidance you need to make a plan that is right for you and your family. Don’t postpone securing the peace of mind that comes with a well-crafted life care plan. Act now.
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REGISTER HERE for LONG-TERM CARE PLANNINGPower of Attorney
A Power of Attorney can be used to give another person the right to sell a car, home, or other property in the place of the maker of the Power of Attorney. A Power of Attorney might be used to allow another person to sign a contract for the maker of the Power of Attorney (the person who makes a power of attorney is called the “principal”). It can be used to give another person the authority to make health care decisions, do financial transactions, or sign legal documents that the principal cannot do for one reason or another. With few exceptions, Powers of Attorney can give others the right to do any legal acts that the makers of the Powers of Attorney could do them themselves. A General Power of Attorney gives the “power of attorney Agent” or simply “Agent” (the legal name of the person who is authorized to act for the principal) very broad powers to do almost every legal act that the principal can do. When Elder Law Attorneys draft general Powers of Attorney, they still list the types of things the Agent can do but these powers are very broad. People often do general Powers of Attorney to plan ahead for the day when they may not be able to take care of things themselves. By doing the General Power of Attorney, they designate someone who can do these things for them.
Normal Powers of Attorney terminate if and when the principal becomes incompetent. Yet many people do Powers of Attorney for the sole purpose of designating someone else to act for them if they cannot act for themselves. It is precisely when persons can no longer do for themselves that a Power of Attorney is most valuable. To remedy this inconsistency, the law created a Durable Power of Attorney that remains effective even if a person becomes incompetent. The only thing that distinguishes a Durable Power of Attorney from a regular Power of Attorney is special wording that states that the power survives the principal’s incapacity. Even a Durable Power of Attorney, however, may be terminated under certain circumstances if court proceedings are filed. Most Powers of Attorney done today are durable.
Yes. At the time the Power of Attorney is signed, the principal must be capable of understanding the document. Although a Power of Attorney is still valid if and when a person becomes incompetent, the principal must understand what he or she is signing at the moment of execution. That means a person can be suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease or be otherwise incompetent sometimes but as long as they have a lucid moment and are competent at the moment they sign the Power of Attorney, it is valid even if they do not remember signing it at a later date. At the time it is signed, the principal must know what the Power of Attorney does, whom they are giving the Power of Attorney to, and what property may be affected by the Power of Attorney.
Any competent person eighteen years of age and older can serve as an agent. Certain financial institutions can also serve. There is no course of education that agent must complete or any test that Agent must pass. Because a Power of Attorney is such a potentially powerful document, agents should be chosen for reliability and trustworthiness. In the wrong hands, a Power of Attorney can be a license to steal. It can be a big responsibility to serve as an agent.
For Medicaid
Medicare is health insurance and covers medical services such as physician appointments, therapy, blood tests, x rays, medical procedures and hospitalization. Medicare will sometime pay for rehabilitation in a long-term care facility for a period of 20 to 100 days, but not longer. In long-term care, Medicaid covers the cost of ongoing support services for daily functioning, such as room and board in a nursing home.
Medicaid is a federal program that is overseen by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In Pennsylvania, Medicaid is called Medical Assistance and is administered by the Department of Human Services (DHS).
In Pennsylvania, Medicaid funds are not available to pay for assisted living or personal care.
For Medicaid to pay for care in a nursing home, an individual recipient must be determined to need a nursing home level of care by a physician and the local Office of Aging. An individual whose income is not greater than three times the poverty level may keep up to $8,000 of total resources, but may otherwise keep only $2,400. The cash value of life insurance counts as a resource, but one car and a residential home does not count as a resource.
What an amazing team you have!!! Taking charge and getting things done, but also being so understanding and compassionate