Articles Posted in Aid & Attendance

Are you residing in Macomb, Oakland, Wayne, Ottawa or Kent County and need assistance with long-term care planning to provide in home care, assisted living, or, nursing home care for yourself or for a loved one?

Often times, we can use veteran’s benefits like aid and attendance or Medicaid to provide solutions to provide you with the best quality of care for the lowest cost possible. Although the solution for most seniors that need home care or assisted living benefits is through veteran’s benefits under aid and attendance, long term care planning can still be accomplished through astute elder law planning using the assets that are available to a senior. Using retirement assets and equity in a home can provide another source to supplement an individual’s regular monthly income to provide for the cost of care that he or she needs.

Families that need a solution to the long-term care problem often overlook retirement assets. Assets like 401(k)s, IRAs, and 403(b)s (known collectively as “qualified assets”)can be used to provide for the cost of in home and/or assisted living care. Qualified assets are taxable at the time money is withdrawn and used by an individual. Despite the tax treatment of distributions, sometimes it is wise to use qualified assets to supplement a retired person’s income to provide for his or her care.

Serafini, Michalowski, Derkacz and Associates, P.C. can provide seniors, veterans and their families with long-term care and benefit planning. Moving into the West Michigan area in order to assist families and seniors with their care-giving needs, the firm will provide expert legal advice to sole elder law and other legal problems.

Most effective planning begins with estate planning. The key to creating eligibility for aid and attendance, homebound pension, and Medicaid benefits begins with creating “elder law friendly” power of attorney documents. An elder law friendly power of attorney has specific planning clauses that allow a nominated agent to create irrevocable divestment trusts; and, to allow divestment strategies, to protect and preserve assets to supplement the quality of a loved one’s care while preserving eligibility for benefits.

If you are a senior and have existing power of attorney documents, it is important to make sure that they are “elder law friendly” and that they comply with new Michigan law. New Michigan law, effective in May of this year, provides new power of attorney rules that will affect you and your estate planning. If you haven’t had your documents and estate plan recently reviewed, it is crucial that you do it now.

Veterans and their families living in Grand Rapids, Zeeland, Holland or West Michigan that need assistance with long-term care planning, for assisted living, nursing home and home care now have planning options available.

Our firm now offers legal services to the communities of West Michigan through our office in downtown Zeeland, Michigan. Offering expertise in elder law, long-term care planning, Medicaid planning, and, estate planning, our firm has solutions for families struggling to deal with a loved one that can no longer live independently at home.

Through effective planning, veteran’s can use non-service connected pension benefits like aid and attendance, the homebound pension, and, improved pension benefits to help fund the care that they need to improve the quality of their lives. Planning can not only preserve and protect a family’s estate; it can also provide someone suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s or other catastrophic illnesses with additional income to provide much needed care.

Following the recent topic of discussion regarding proposed Senate Bill S.3270 and Veteran Benefits, I have more thoughts on the proposed divestment penalty for veteran benefits.

As an elder law attorney working with veterans in the Detroit area, we strive to keep veterans informed of changes to federal law that may affect their benefits. This new bill will impact future claims for improved pension benefits, including aid and attendance (A&A) benefits.

The proposed bill will change an important aspect of benefit planning known as the “look-back” period. Current law only provides that transfers made prior to application must be disclosed if the transfers will retain ownership or income rights to the applicant. New law will strictly enforce a “divestment penalty” for all transfers made prior to application.

As an elder law attorney in Macomb County Michigan, not only am I concerned about developments with state law, I also keep an eye on developments with federal law. One area of particular interest remains with VA and Va benefits for wartime veterans. Recent developments in federal legislation will affect Michigan seniors that are veterans with their potential eligibility for VA benefits as part of long term care planning.

It is clear that the VA and the Senate will adopt a new lookback period in order to make it more difficult to become eligible for benefits; and, indirectly, to make sure that seniors that are otherwise eligible to receive benefits work with accredited attorneys and knowledgable elder law attorneys.

Currently, a bill remains in legislation that will:

I recently wrote about upcoming changes to the laws regarding the Aid and Attendance benefits available for wartime veterans in Michigan. Effectively, the VA is concerned about protecting seniors that are also veterans from the perils of unscrupulous “financial planners.” Although effective financial planning is a part of long term care planning, there are others out there that prey on opportunity and seniors when it comes to long term care planning.

Prior to engaging in any “long term care” plan, involving VA benefits, make sure than you are working under the direction of an accredited attorney even before you engage a financial planner. This is important to avoid: financial planning pitfalls; unforeseen Medicaid consequences; and, disqualification from VA benefits resulting from poor planning.

The Senate Committee on Veteran’s Affairs conducted by the Senate and VA recently made several recommendations. Present at the hearings were representatives from the Natioanl Academy of Elder LAw Attorneys (NAELA). Attached, follows a link to the summary recommended by NAELA to the subcommittee. “Health and Benefits Legislation.”

As some of you may know, our firm is a weekly supporter and guest on the Ask Your Neighbor Radio Show hosted by local Detroit radio legend Bob Allison. Every Friday from 9:00 am to 9:30 am, our firm hosts the Your Legal Matters on Ask Your Neighbor. The Ask Your Neighbor show can be heard daily from 9:00am to 11:00 am, locally, in Macomb, Wayne and Oakland Counties on 690 AM.

Last week the topic of discussion was changes to the law. The changes that we discussed involve VA benefit law; and, Michigan Powers of Attorney.

In my last post, I discussed the Senate hearings regarding VA benefits. Although I work with financial planners to support benefit planning, I often question the motives of planners that will not work with an accredited attorney to “drive” the benefit planning process. Often such “planners” lose sight of the real reason most of us are involved with benefit planning…to help people in need of benefits.

A few bad apples don’t spoil the bushel… Or something like that… As the word spreads about VA benefit planning, unfortunately, the potential of unscrupulous planning also increases. Michigan veterans are enjoying increased access to VA benefits mostly through the hard work of accredited elder law attorneys, accredited agents and Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs).

Benefits like the improved pension benefit, aid and attendance, and the homebound pension benefit, are allowing qualified veterans to receive benefits in order to avoid nursing home placement by supplementing their income to pay for in home care and assisted living. However, the opportunity to use the benefits as a “hook” to sell otherwise non-suitable financial products by “financial planners” is a growing concern of both the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and Congress. As a result, Congress created a special sub committee to investigate ways to reform regulations and practices regarding VA pension benefits in order to protect veterans from unscrupulous activities. A recent press release from NAELA provides more information about these Congressional hearings.

If you are residing in metro Detroit area, Macomb County, Oakland County, or Wayne County, and, have questions call our firm (586) 264-3756. We offer Elder Law Services. Our Attorneys are NAELA members and are accredited with the Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

The Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) provides several different benefits for our veterans. In addition to the better known “service connected” benefits, benefits can be provided to wartime veterans and the surviving spouses of wartime veterans for medical care and expenses incurred while living at home or at a senior residence. Aid and Attendance, is a little known “non-service” connected pension benefit that may be the key to long term care planning for those who may qualify in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne Counties.

Several of our clients living in Macomb County enjoy this benefit and use it to pay for their care at senior assisted living facilities and senior apartments that provide medical assistance and care. Wihtout, the benefit, many of these clients would otherwise be unable to receive the care that they need. Currently, the VA provides monthly amount of up to:

$2,019.00 for a married veteran;
$1,703.00 for a single veteran; and,
$1,094.00 for a surviving spouse.

Yesterday, July 14, 2012 marked an important federal holiday, Flag Day. I tend to view Flag Day as an important federal holiday, just as important as Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day. Flag Day is an important day to honor our country’s flag and its symbolic significance. After all, “[i]t is the flag for which we fight for freedom” – Unknown.