Children who are concerned about their aging parents’ well-being are increasingly turning to assisted living to help them. However, assisted living requires diligent planning to ensure that parents are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve. By recognizing the exact needs of your parents, and taking prudent steps to manage their estates, families can rest easy knowing that their loved ones are being cared for. The estate planning attorneys of Seder & Chandler, LLP are here to support you in making the best choices for your parents.
Do My Parents Need An Assisted Living Facility?
One of the most difficult things to accept as our parents age is that they are no longer as independent as they once were. Physical and cognitive limitations cause real concerns for their ability to care for themselves. The financial consequences of aging can also not be overlooked. You may have begun to notice evidence that your parents need assistance with such matters as:
- Driving themselves to various places to meet their daily needs
- Personal care, which may include meal preparation, hygiene, and dressing
- Balance, walking, coordination, and mobility
- Managing their own healthcare by attending doctor appointments and taking medications
- Making wise financial decisions and handling money, investments, and property
- Recognizing and avoiding financial scams and predatory individuals and businesses
- Staying safe by locking doors, not leaving appliances running, and avoiding other dangerous situations
- Cognitive decline as evidenced by confusion and memory loss
Resources For Finding the Right Assisted Living Facility
Because you want to make sure your aging parents are properly cared for, you will need to do some research before deciding which assisted living facility is best suited to their needs. We recommend that you start this process by checking with respected agencies and organizations such as:
- AARP
- Aging Services Access Points (ASAPs)
- Alzheimer’s Association Massachusetts Chapter
- Councils on Aging (COAs)
- Massachusetts Council on Aging
- Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs
- Meals on Wheels
- Senior Care Options (SCO)
Several of these groups also provide support services to older individuals, many of which are free, and may be available at their home to support aging in place, if that is preferred.
Financial Planning Tips For Your Parents’ Care
Our legal team can help you explore various tools for funding the assisted living lifestyle your aging parents will need. Some examples include:
- Reverse mortgages
- Life settlements (which convert life insurance policies into liquid funds)
- Asset management and protection (which include establishing trusts)
- Gift and loan strategies
Maintaining Medicaid Eligibility
Medicaid can potentially pay for at least some of the costs of your parents’ assisted living facility. To be eligible, the value of your parents’ estate must be lowered. This can be done by creating:
- Irrevocable trusts
- Life estate deeds
- Annuities
- Spend downs
- Gifting to the tax limit
- Spousal protections
It should be stressed that careful planning requires that you use these and other tools sooner rather than later. Medicaid uses what is known as a five-year lookback window by which the government will review the five years immediately preceding the Medicaid application to determine whether your parents liquidated their assets for the purpose of falling below the program’s limits. Medicaid may deny your parents’ application if they did not properly reduce the total value of their estates in time. This has the effect of denying Medicaid benefits for long-term care for a period of time based on the value of the assets transferred and can require parties to pay privately if care is required during that time period.
We’re Here To Help You Provide For Your Parents
You do not want to be caught in an avoidable situation, such as failing the Medicaid five-year lookback window, which could have provided the funds needed to pay for your parents’ assisted living care. Regardless, our legal team is ready to help you make the right choices for your parents’ long-term care. Give Seder & Chandler, LLP a call today to get started.