Speak to a Top Pennsylvania Estate Planning Lawyer Today
At Keystone Elder Law P.C., our Pennsylvania estate planning lawyers are knowledgeable, experienced, and committed to helping people and families find the best solution for their specific situation. Every adult should have a comprehensive, customized estate plan in place. Our team handles the full range of estate planning matters. If you have any specific questions or concerns about estate planning, we are here to help. Contact us today for a fully confidential, no-obligation initial consultation with a top-tier Pennsylvania estate planning attorney.
What is Estate Planning and Why is it Important?
Although aging is not always comfortable to think about, it is something we all need to be prepared to take on. Estate planning is the process of organizing and preparing for the management and transfer of your assets in the event of your death or temporary/permanent incapacity. A typical estate plan includes a wide range of legal documents, such as wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives. Every adult in Pennsylvania should have a comprehensive estate plan in place. Here are some of the reasons why proactive estate planning is so important:
- Maintain Control Over Your Assets: Estate planning allows you to decide who will receive your property and how it will be distributed. No estate plan means no direct control.
- Plan for Incapacity: With tools like powers of attorney and advanced healthcare directives, you ensure trusted people can make decisions on your behalf if you are unable.
- Protect Your Loved Ones: A well-crafted estate plan ensures your family is financially secure and protected after your death. You can use your estate plan to provide support.
- Minimize Disputes: Proper planning helps avoid probate complications and reduces the risk of conflicts among heirs. You do not want to leave your family with confusion or conflict.
We Provide a Full Range of Estate Planning Services in Pennsylvania
Keystone Elder Law P.C. is a boutique estate planning and elder law firm that is committed to shielding middle-class families in Pennsylvania from the cost of aging. We help people put together a personalized estate plan that most effectively protects themselves, their family, and their best interests. We handle all types of estate planning issues. Along with other estate planning matters in Pennsylvania, our attorneys are prepared to help you with:
- Wills: A will is the foundation of your estate plan. It is a legal document that you can use to clarify how your assets should be distributed after you pass away. You can also use your will to name beneficiaries, appoint an executor, and, if needed, nominate guardians for minor children. Without a valid will, Pennsylvania law determines how your assets are divided.
- Trusts: A will is important, but it is not always the best tool to transfer assets. A trust is a legal arrangement in which one person (the trustee) holds and manages assets for the benefit of another (the beneficiary). Trusts can serve many purposes, including avoiding probate, protecting assets, and managing property for minor or disabled beneficiaries. Our Pennsylvania estate planning lawyers help people with a wide range of trusts.
- Asset Protection: Asset protection is an important part of estate planning. It is the process of legally structuring property and finances to minimize risk and preserve wealth. The right approach to asset protection can help protect assets from creditors, lawsuits, and long-term care expenses. Some strategies may include creating trusts, titling assets in specific ways, and using exemptions allowed under Pennsylvania law. Our Pennsylvania estate planning lawyers help middle-class families protect their hard-earned wealth.
- Medicaid Planning: Long-term care is extremely expensive. Medicaid planning helps individuals and families prepare for the possibility of long-term care and the costs that come with it. In Pennsylvania, Medicaid may cover nursing home care. With that being said, eligibility rules are complex and include strict income and asset limits. We help people and families develop a proactive, effective Medicaid care plan.
- Power of Attorney: A power of attorney is a legal document that allows a person to appoint someone else to make decisions on their behalf. In Pennsylvania, powers of attorney can cover financial matters, legal affairs, or healthcare decisions. It is a tool that is especially important if someone becomes incapacitated or unable to manage their own affairs.
- Living Will: You may hear a living will referred to as an advance health directive. It is a document that you can use to outline your preferences for medical treatment if you become unable to communicate your wishes. A living will may be used to address end-of-life decisions, such as the use of life-sustaining treatment, artificial nutrition, or resuscitation.
How Our Pennsylvania Estate Planning Attorney Can Help
One of the challenges of estate planning is knowing where to get started. It can be a complicated, even overwhelming process. You do not have to develop an estate plan on your own. The founder of Keystone Elder Law P.C., Patrick Cawley is an experienced Pennsylvania estate planning lawyer. Our firm was formed with a commitment to protecting the rights and interests of middle-class families in our region. We are always ready to invest time, resources, and attention to detail. Along with other things, our Pennsylvania estate planning attorney is prepared to:
- Conduct a comprehensive and confidential review of your case;
- Answer any questions that you have about estate planning;
- Gather and organize all supporting documents, records, and information;
- Handle the estate planning paperwork; and
- Create a personalized estate plan that is narrowly tailored to best achieve your goals.
Contact Our Pennsylvania Estate Planning Lawyer Today
At Keystone Elder Law P.C., our Pennsylvania estate planning attorneys are standing by, ready to review your case and help you find the best solution. We believe in proactive, personalized guidance and support. If you have any questions or concerns about estate planning, please do not hesitate to give us a call now or contact us online to arrange your fully confidential, no obligation initial consultation. Our firm provides estate planning services across 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.
What an amazing team you have!!! Taking charge and getting things done, but also being so understanding and compassionate