Elder Law FAQ's for Florida
Elder Law Attorney Provides Answers to FAQs
Jacksonville elder law attorney, C. Randolph Coleman, provides answers to Elder Law FAQs and provides other valuable information about elder law in Florida, including planning for Medicaid spend down to reserve family assets when long term care is needed, how to qualify for Veterans Benefits, including Basic Pension and Aid and Attendance to help pay for long term care, and other legal issues related to the legal rights of the elderly in Florida.
The following information is presented through video responses to various elder law questions, as well as information provided through our blog, “The Florida Estate Planning, Elder Law and Asset Protection Blog.” Our Jacksonville elder law attorney has over 30 years experience working with legal issues involving and affecting the elderly in Florida. The answers to FAQs and other information provided is based on the experience gained over those 30+ years and is designed to help you understand some of the basic issues associated with long term care planning and other provisions of the law affecting elder members of our community.
If you need information or have questions that are not directly addressed in this material, please call our Jacksonville elder law attorney at (904) 448-1060, or toll free at 966-510-9099, or email us at Info@TheColemanLawFirm.com.
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If I Am In a Nursing Home, Is It Too Late to Give Away My Assets and Qualify for Medicaid to Nursing Home Costs?
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Do I Need Help Obtaining Medicaid for Nursing Home Costs?
Getting benefits from Medicaid for nursing home costs may be something that is easy and straightforward for some. For others, those who want to protect assets from nursing home costs, the Medicaid planning process and the application for Medicaid benefits to pay for...
How Much Income Can I Make and Still Qualify for Medicaid?
In Florida, which is an "income cap" state, eligibility for Medicaid benefits is barred if the nursing home resident's gross income from all sources exceeds $2,094 a month (for 2012). However, if the excess income above this amount is paid into a "(d)(4)(a)" qualified...
Must I give away all my assets to keep them from being taken to cover the costs of my spouse’s nursing home care?
If your spouse is required to enter a skilled nursing facility it is not necessary for you to "give away" all of your assets to protect your assets from the cost of your spouse's nursing home care. Assuming that you and your spouse do not have adequate assets, or long...
How can I avoid being impoverished by the high cost of nursing home care?
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How a Qualified Income Trust Can Help You Qualify for Medicaid to Pay for Nursing Home Care
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Proper Long Term Care Planning Helps Ensure Best Care
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Why You Should Not Create a Special Needs Trust
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Veterans Pension Benefits – Aid and Attendance – Housebound Aid
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Wills and Trusts Online Documents Wins ABA eLawyering Award
A Lexington, Kentucky, based law firm, Hargrove Madden, has been named the recipient of the 2012 American Bar Association eLawyering Award, given annually to recognize innovative delivery of personal legal services. Special attention is given by the ABA to firms that...
If I Am In a Nursing Home, Is It Too Late to Give Away My Assets and Qualify for Medicaid to Nursing Home Costs?
In Florida, if you are already in a nursing home, it may be too late to "give away" your assets and still qualify for Medicaid benefits for nursing home care, but that doesn't mean that you can't protect most of your assets and still qualify for Medicaid benefits to...
Do I Need Help Obtaining Medicaid for Nursing Home Costs?
Getting benefits from Medicaid for nursing home costs may be something that is easy and straightforward for some. For others, those who want to protect assets from nursing home costs, the Medicaid planning process and the application for Medicaid benefits to pay for...
How Much Income Can I Make and Still Qualify for Medicaid?
In Florida, which is an "income cap" state, eligibility for Medicaid benefits is barred if the nursing home resident's gross income from all sources exceeds $2,094 a month (for 2012). However, if the excess income above this amount is paid into a "(d)(4)(a)" qualified...
Must I give away all my assets to keep them from being taken to cover the costs of my spouse’s nursing home care?
If your spouse is required to enter a skilled nursing facility it is not necessary for you to "give away" all of your assets to protect your assets from the cost of your spouse's nursing home care. Assuming that you and your spouse do not have adequate assets, or long...
How can I avoid being impoverished by the high cost of nursing home care?
Nursing home care in a skilled nursing home in Northeast Florida now averages about $85,000 per year. If you, or a family member or other loved one, needs skilled nursing home care, there are only three ways to pay for the cost of the nursing home care. The first is...
How a Qualified Income Trust Can Help You Qualify for Medicaid to Pay for Nursing Home Care
Florida is an "Income Cap State" with regard to eligibility for Medicaid benefits to pay for nursing home care. That means that if the nursing home resident's income exceeds the "income cap", he or she will not be able to qualify for Medicaid...
Proper Long Term Care Planning Helps Ensure Best Care
There is no question that long term care for the elderly is expensive. Similarly, there is no question that as the population ages, the cost of long term care will continue to increase if for no reason other than the basic economic propositon that increased...
Why You Should Not Create a Special Needs Trust
Let's say you have a child with "special needs," or a sister, brother, mother or other family member. You have not created a special needs trust as part of your own estate plan. Why not? We know why not. We have heard pretty much all the explanations and excuses. Here...
Veterans Pension Benefits – Aid and Attendance – Housebound Aid
For about the last year I have been an Accredited Attorney with the Veterans Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs. Over that period of time I have been exploring all of the nuances of Veterans Benefits and the situations in which Veterans Benefits can be of...
Aging Boomers Ignorantly Blissful About Long Term Care
Ignorance is bliss! The baby boomers, turning 65 at the rate of 10,000 per day, seem to be fooling themselves into believing they won't need long term care during their lifetime. In a recent study conducted by Genworth Financial (the 2011 Financial Reality Check...
Nursing Home Costs Now $87,000 Annually
MetLIfe has just released its annual survey of long term care costs. Not surprisingly, those costs are rising faster than inflation with the national average cost of a skilled nursing home facility at $87,000. The cost of an assisted living facility rose...