Get Help From a Top Elder Lawyer in Pennsylvania
At Keystone Elder Law P.C., our Pennsylvania elder law attorney is a compassionate, experienced advocate for people and families. With a deep understanding of the challenges that are associated with aging, we provide solutions-focused elder law representation. Our firm handles the full range of elder law matters. We dedicate our practice to serving senior citizens and adults with aging parents. If you have any specific questions about your rights or your options, please do not hesitate to contact us for a fully confidential consultation with a top Pennsylvania elder law attorney.
An Overview of Elder Law Services We Provide in Pennsylvania
Elder law is a specialized legal practice area that is focused on the unique needs of older adults. It includes a wide range of different issues, from long-term care to estate planning. A core goal of an elder law strategy is to help seniors protect their assets, access all available government benefits, and make important decisions about healthcare and housing. Keystone Elder Law P.C. is a boutique Pennsylvania elder law firm that is committed to providing personalized, solutions-focused guidance and support to clients. We protect middle-class families in Pennsylvania from the financial and legal risks that come with aging. You and your loved ones need a comprehensive plan. Along with other elder law issues, our Pennsylvania attorneys have experience with:
- Estate Planning: Estate planning is the process of organizing your affairs. Every adult in Pennsylvania should have a comprehensive estate plan in place. The older you are, the more crucial estate planning becomes. An estate plan may involve a will, trusts, powers of attorney, and advance healthcare directives. A well-prepared estate plan not only helps to achieve your goals, but it can also ensure that your family is protected. Our Pennsylvania estate planning lawyers help people create customized plans.
- Special Needs Planning: Special needs planning helps families make financial and legal arrangements for a loved one with a disability. It often includes establishing a special needs trust to preserve eligibility for public benefits such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid. Planning may also address guardianship, housing, and long-term care. Our Pennsylvania elder law attorneys have extensive experience with special needs planning.
- Trust Administration: Trust administration refers to the process of managing and distributing assets held in a trust according to the terms set by the trust creator. A trustee is responsible for carrying out the duties of the trust, which may include paying expenses, making distributions, and maintaining records. To be effective, a trust must comply with all of the requirements of Pennsylvania law. Our Pennsylvania elder lawyers help people and families set up all types of trusts.
- Long-Term Care Planning: Long-term care planning involves evaluating future health care and personal care needs and making financial and legal preparations to address them. Among other things, it can include planning for nursing home care, assisted living, or in-home support. Proactive long-term care planning also considers how to pay for care while protecting family assets when possible. If you have any questions about long-term care planning, our Pennsylvania elder lawyers are here as a legal resource.
- Medicaid Planning and Asset Protection: The cost of long-term care is almost unfathomably high. A semi-private room in a nursing home in the Commonwealth can run well over $100,000 per year. Medicare does not provide coverage. Instead, Medicaid is the government program on which you may be able to rely. The challenge is that Medicaid is strictly means-tested. Medicaid planning and asset protection focus on qualifying for Medicaid to help cover long-term care costs while preserving as many assets as legally possible. Trusts are often the best asset protection tool. Though timing is important. Medicaid has a five-year lookback period for certain asset transfers.
- Life Care Planning: Life care planning takes a comprehensive approach to addressing the medical, legal, and financial needs of older adults as they age. It often combines legal planning with care coordination, case management, and advocacy. A life care plan may help ensure consistent care, manage transitions, and maintain quality of life. Our Pennsylvania elder lawyer has extensive experience with life care planning.
- Probate Law and Estate Administration: Probate law and estate administration involve the legal steps required to settle a person’s estate after they pass away. Along with other things, it can include the validation of the will, the gathering and valuing of assets, and the paying of debts and taxes. Only when all of the requirements of the probate process are satisfied can the assets covered by the estate be distributed to the beneficiaries.
Why Rely On Our Pennsylvania Elder Law Attorney
Elder law is complicated. By its nature, aging comes with a number of different financial and legal risks. It is crucial that you and your family are properly prepared. The founder of Keystone Elder Law P.C., Patrick Cawley is a Pennsylvania elder law attorney with a commitment to providing top-tier legal representation to clients and families. We take a proactive approach to elder law. When you contact us at our Mechanicsburg law office, you will have an opportunity to consult with a Pennsylvania elder law attorney who can:
- Conduct a comprehensive, confidential review and evaluation of your case;
- Answer your questions about elder law and explain your rights/options;
- Help you gather and organize all of the documents and records;
- Guide you through any relevant legal paperwork; and
- Develop a personalized elder law strategy focused on best protecting you and your family.
Contact Our Pennsylvania Elder Lawyer for a Confidential Initial Consultation
At Keystone Elder Law P.C., our Pennsylvania elder law attorney has the knowledge, skills, and experience that you can rely on. If you have any specific questions or concerns about elder law, we are here to help. Give us a call now or contact us online to arrange your fully confidential, no-obligation initial consultation. With an office in Mechanicsburg, we provide elder law representation throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
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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.
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At Keystone Elder Law, we believe that the physical, social, legal, and financial considerations of our clients all intertwine. We utilize an interdisciplinary approach to evaluate each area, which allows for the creation of a plan that addresses the concerns of the individual as a whole as well as the family. To this end, our model of practice includes a Care Coordinator (usually a nurse or social worker), whose expertise complements our team of attorneys.
When the road of life is smooth, decisions about legal and financial matters are easy to push aside for “a rainy day.” Planning ahead, however, will allow for more options as you view the map of where you’ve been and where you want to go. Don’t let a crisis limit your choices or derail your plans.
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