1 mile west of the Chicago Premium Outlet Mall (800) 810 3100
By Rick Law of Law Elder Law LLP, providing Solutions For Estate Planning, Guardianship, Nursing Home Care, and Elder Abuse Financial Recovery Kerry Peck, Esq., renowned partner of Peck Bloom and Diana Law, Esq., partner of Law Elder Law were recently tapped by the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education (IICLE) to present on the subject of “Ethical Issues in Guardianships.”  They were joined by the Honorable Jane Louise Stuart, Circuit Judge, Probate Division, Circuit Court of Cook County, Chicago. Kerry and Diana have been working tirelessly to focus their practices by litigating tough guardianship and disputed trust and estate administration cases.  Their recent presentation covered a number of topics:
  • Alternatives to Guardianship:  An overview of factors which give rise to the need for a guardianship, and when an attorney should recommend to the client to see other remedies.
  • Guardian’s Obligations to Property:  An overview of the knotty and difficult role of fiduciary relationship and the high standard and obligation of the guardian to safeguard the estate.
  • Guardian’s Obligations with Regard to the Person
  • Obligation to Insure the Ward Lives in the Least Restrictive Environment
  • Sterilization and the Illinois Guardianship Act
  • Factors to Consider Regarding a Ward’s Medical Treatment
  • Communication and Decision Making Obligations
  • Best Interest vs. Substituted Judgment Standard
  • Informed Consent
  • Obligation to Terminate or Limit the Guardianship
  • Consultations with Family and Others
  • End of Life Decisions
If you or one of your loved ones needs help with a tough guardianship problem in the Chicago metropolitan area, Diana Law of Law Elder Law welcomes you to call and find out your options.  With her experienced guardianship team, you can rest assured you’re in good hands.  Or, if you’d like to find out how to avoid guardianship in the future, give our office a call at 630-585-5200. Sincerely, Rick L. Law, Attorney, Estate Planner for Retirees Rick was named the #1 Illinois elder law estate planning attorney by Leading Lawyer Magazine. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, AARP Magazine, TheStreet.com, and numerous newspapers and articles. Rick is the lead attorney for Law Elder Law, LLP, focusing in Estate Planning, Guardianship, and Nursing Home Solutions. His goal is to give retirees an informed edge when it comes to dealing with an uncertain future.  Get flexible retirement strategies that work during good times and bad, plus information on how you can save your home and assets from being used to pay for long term care.  Call 800-310-3100 for your free consultation now!
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By Rick Law, Elder Care Attorney And Senior Advocate In West Suburban Chicago, IL In the classic Disney movie Bambi, when spring arrives, the adolescent Bambi notices that all of his male friends are becoming enchanted by young females of the same species. When Bambi asks the wise old owl what is wrong with them, he is gruffly told, “They are twitterpated!” In our law firm, we serve seniors and those who love them, and we have observed that adults of all ages can become “twitterpated.” When seniors come to see us for premarital legal counseling, they are rarely interested in our left-brained, analytical advice regarding senior dating, partnership and marriage. So, here is some cautionary information that we give to our senior clients regarding marriage and remarriage. It is important to understand that, as we age, it becomes highly likely that the health condition of the two partners will diverge. Young married couples moving through their twenties and onward towards their sixties can usually count on relatively good health. But as the famous actor Jimmy Stewart once said, “After 70, it’s just patch, patch, patch.” Chicagoland seniors who are getting married need to understand that when they say, “I do,” they also are giving an implied and legally enforceable promise that says, “I will be obligated for your medical expenses.”  It is very important to understand that neither medical providers nor the State of Illinois are barred by prenuptial agreements from proceeding to collect for unpaid medical bills and/or reimbursement for Medicaid expenditures. Are you and your spouse (or spouse-to-be) protected from losing everything you have due to the costs of illness and long-term care?  If you need help building a fortress around your estate to protect it from creditors, predators, and the cost of chronic disease, give our office a call at 800-310-3100 or 620-585-5200.  Your first consultation is absolutely free.  We’ll let you know what steps you need to take, right now, to protect yourself and your family.  Call now, because when you’re out of money, you’re out of options! Sincerely, Rick L. Law, Attorney, Estate Planner for Retirees. Rick was named the #1 Illinois elder law estate planning attorney by Leading Lawyer Magazine. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, AARP Magazine, TheStreet.com, and numerous newspapers and articles. Rick is the lead attorney for Law Elder Law, LLP, focusing in Estate Planning, Guardianship, and Nursing Home Solutions. His goal is to give retirees an informed edge when it comes to dealing with an uncertain future.  Get flexible retirement strategies that work during good times and bad, plus information on how you can save your home and assets from being used to pay for long term care.  Call 800-310-3100 for your free consultation now!
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By Rick Law, Elder Law Attorney in Suburban Chicagoland, Illinois. I can’t say this enough… long-term care insurance should be considered not only for its ability to pay for care services, but more so to protect and preserve assets. Long-term care insurance protects assets, avoids dependency on others and retains the insured person’s freedom of choice. It is something that everyone needs to consider in the overall asset protection plan. Even though an individual may have a long-term care insurance policy, there are certain requirements that must be met in order to trigger the benefits from a plan.  Most long-term care insurance policies will require that the policy holder either: • Needs continual assistance with a certain number of activities of daily living (ADL), or • Needs continual supervision due to a cognitive impairment Activities of daily living (ADLs) include dressing, toileting, continence, transferring, bathing and feeding. “Cognitive impairment” is defined as the deterioration or loss of intellectual capacity that is evidenced by memory loss, disorientation and/or the ability to reason. It is often caused by Alzheimer’s disease or similar forms of senility or irreversible dementia,  When someone is unsafe in a normal environment, he/she is in need of full time assistance in a protected environment. Long-term care insurance can mean the difference between choosing the type of care that your loved one desires and deserves, or being forced to spend down assets in order to qualify for Medicaid. We work to find the best possible outcome for Chicago metro area seniors.  We also help our Illinois families find the resources they need outside of the law firm. If you’re ready to start getting your estate in order and secure your assets for the “worst-case” scenario, please give our office a call at 800-310-3100 or 620-585-5200. Your first consultation is absolutely free.  We’ll let you know what steps you need to take, right now, to protect yourself and your family.  Call now. Sincerely, Rick L. Law, Attorney, Estate Planner for Retirees.  Rick was named the #1 Illinois elder law estate planning attorney by Leading Lawyer Magazine. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, AARP Magazine, TheStreet.com, and numerous newspapers and articles. Rick is the lead attorney for Law Elder Law, LLP, focusing in Estate Planning, Guardianship, and Nursing Home Solutions. His goal is to give retirees an informed edge when it comes to dealing with an uncertain future.  Get flexible retirement strategies that work during good times and bad, plus information on how you can save your home and assets from being used to pay for long term care.   Call 800-310-3100 for your free consultation now!  
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By Rick Law, Elder Law and Estate Planning Attorney In Western Suburban Aurora, IL When planning for the unexpected, long-term care insurance should not be overlooked.  This type of protection should be considered not only for its ability to pay for care services, but more so to protect and preserve assets.  Long-term care insurance protects assets, avoids dependency on others and retains the insured person’s freedom of choice. It is something that everyone needs to consider in the overall asset protection plan. The benefits of owning a long-term care insurance policy include: • Asset and estate preservation • Independence and integrity • Flexibility and choice • Easier access to care Long-term care insurance can mean the difference between choosing the type of care that you or your loved one desires and deserves, or being forced to spend down assets in order to qualify for Medicaid.  Over the years there have been many changes and upgrades to long-term care insurance policies. However, at its most basic level, the design of a long-term care plan follows several parameters, and these factors also help to determine the premium cost of the policy. These factors include: • Applicant’s age – Long-term care insurance policies are priced based on the applicant’s age. Sometimes this can be the actual age that the applicant is on the day that they complete the policy application for coverage, while other policies consider the applicant’s age to be whatever their age is on their closest birthday. • Dollar amount of coverage – Most long-term care insurance policies are built around a daily dollar amount of coverage for care. This amount can be determined based on the applicant’s income and expenses, as well as the approximate cost of care. It is important to determine how much income that the applicant has coming in, as well as how much of that income he or she plans to put toward the actual daily expenses for the care that they receive. As an example, if the average cost of care in a skilled nursing facility in an applicant’s area is $200 per day, then the applicant may decide to insure for the entire amount of $200 per day, or they may decide to only insure for $100 per day of coverage and pay the other $100 per day out-of-pocket. Insuring for a lower daily dollar amount will keep the policy premium lower. • Inflation Protection – In addition to the daily dollar amount of coverage, the applicant also has the choice of leaving the dollar amount steady or increasing it each year. There are two choices for increasing the daily dollar amount of care. These are equal benefit increases or compound benefit increases. Both are typically increased in increments of 5 percent. What this means is that equal benefit increases will allow the original daily dollar amount chosen to increase by 5 percent of that amount each year. For example, if an applicant chooses a daily dollar amount of $100 per day, and they choose to have equal benefit increases, then their daily dollar amount of coverage will increase by $5 each year ($100 x 5 percent). The compound benefit increase means that the daily dollar amount will be compounded by 5 percent each year. In this case, each year the applicant’s coverage will increase by 5 percent over the amount from the prior year. This option allows an applicant’s daily amount to increase to larger amounts over the years. Usually the amount of coverage will continue to increase even after the insured person begins receiving benefits from the policy. • Elimanation Period – Another pricing factor in long-term care insurance policies has to do with the elimination period. This is the number of days that a policy owner must fund the care cost to him or herself before the insurance benefits begin paying for their care. This can be compared to the deductible in an auto insurance policy. There is not necessarily any set formula for determining the proper elimination period. It really depends upon how much of the care costs that the policy owner wishes to fund before the insurance benefits begin to take effect. Some policies offer a 0-day elimination period, meaning that the insurance benefits will start on the first day of care that is received. Other choices can include 30-days, 60-days, 90-days, 100-days or even 365-days. • Duration of Benefits – Another factor in designing a long-term care plan for Illinois seniors is the duration of benefits. Most long-term care policies offer a lifetime benefit option. This means that benefits will continue literally through the duration of the policy owner’s life. An applicant can also choose a certain number of years for their care coverage. Benefit duration options include one year, two years, three years, five years, six years or 10 years. Since one of the primary purposes of long-term care insurance is to protect against catastrophic illness, longer benefit periods should be considered. However, the amount of other income that the policy holder has to use toward paying for care will also factor into this determination. Too many Chicagoland families needlessly lose everything they have.  Don’t let that be you.  If you need help building a fortress around your estate to protect it from creditors, predators, and the cost of chronic disease, give our office a call at 800-310-3100.  Your first consultation is absolutely free.  We’ll let you know what steps you need to take, right now, to protect yourself and your family.  Call now, because when you’re out of money, you’re out of options! Sincerely, Rick L. Law, Attorney and Estate Planner for Retirees. Rick was named the #1 Illinois elder law estate planning attorney by Leading Lawyer Magazine. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, AARP Magazine, TheStreet.com, and numerous newspapers and articles. Rick is the lead attorney for Law Elder Law, LLP, focusing in Estate Planning, Guardianship, and Nursing Home Solutions. His goal is to give retirees an informed edge when it comes to dealing with an uncertain future.  Get flexible retirement strategies that work during good times and bad, plus information on how you can save your home and assets from being used to pay for long term care.  Call 800-310-3100 for your free consultation now!  
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By Rick Law Senior Estate Planning Attorney In Aurora, Illinois. No one likes to sit around and think about all of the worst case scenarios in life.  This is part and parcel to what makes contingency planning so difficult.   But if you fail to plan, the need for long-term health care will leave you with few choices of means to pay for it. These choices include: • Your family can provide the necessary care informally (if they are able). However, doing so can come with serious costs to not just finances, but also to emotional and physical health for all those involved. • You can pay for care from an income stream. This, however, can come at a high cost to both lifestyle and your ability to meet continuing financial commitments – especially if there is a healthy spouse still responsible for regular household and other living expenses at home. • You can pay for it with investments. If the illness or need for care lasts long enough, there could be a need to liquidate assets, potentially creating tax liabilities and jeopardizing the financial viability of the surviving spouse as well as children who may be depending upon an inheritance. As care planners and elder law attorneys, we may be able to help you avoid theses three scenarios.  A comprehensive estate plan designed around your unique goals and means could save you more than just money.  We hope to help save you the heartache… the physical and emotional toll that is often accompanied when a crisis strikes and there’s not an adequate estate plan in place. If you’re ready to start getting your estate in order and secure your assets for the “worst-case” scenario, please give our office a call at 800-310-3100. Your first consultation is absolutely free.  We’ll let you know what steps you need to take, right now, to protect yourself and your family.  Call now. Sincerely, Rick L. Law, Attorney, Estate Planner for Retirees Rick was named the #1 Illinois elder law estate planning attorney by Leading Lawyer Magazine. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, AARP Magazine, TheStreet.com, and numerous newspapers and articles. Rick is the lead attorney for Law Elder Law, LLP, focusing in Estate Planning, Guardianship, and Nursing Home Solutions. His goal is to give retirees an informed edge when it comes to dealing with an uncertain future.  Get flexible retirement strategies that work during good times and bad, plus information on how you can save your home and assets from being used to pay for long term care.  Call 800-310-3100 for your free consultation now!
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Recent findings in a survey done by the Society of Actuaries found that almost 63 percent of older Americans reported that they are not confident that they can save enough to handle the healthcare costs in retirement. In fact, nearly two-thirds of those who were surveyed stated that an annual increase in healthcare costs of only 1 percent to 5 percent could be manageable. However, findings from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in October 2010 showed that healthcare costs are actually expected to increase, on average, by 6.3 percent annually until the year 2019.  Those rising costs will bring even more difficulties for senior Americans and could affect their ability to maintain their current standard of living in retirement. Seniors received no cost of living increases in their Social Security checks in 2010 or 2011, even though many costs are still rising – especially costs that affect seniors. Healthcare, nursing home, and assisted living costs are just a few of these expenses. Others include daily necessities like food and utility bills, which are actually rising faster than the moderate rate of general inflation. This could put many seniors in a financial bind. Topping things off are those seniors who have stock accounts, IRAs and 401(k)s who have seen their income drop due to market losses – some for over a decade now. Seniors who depend on interest payments from savings are suffering from historically low interest rates. There’s no denying that seniors’ purchasing power will decline if they are living on a fixed income – especially in light of the fact that their healthcare costs will rise.  And they will be affected even more if they need long-term care. On average, once you reach the age of 65, your chances of needing long-term care at some point are nearly one in two, with the average length of care being two and a half to three years. And if you are diagnosed with certain conditions, there is a good chance you will need care even longer than that. For example, on average, an individual with Alzheimer’s disease could need long-term care for eight years. At an average cost of over $70,000 a year – and rising – it doesn’t take long to see that healthcare costs could wipe out even a large investment portfolio in a very short amount of time. If you’re ready to start getting your estate in order and secure your assets for the “worst-case” scenario, please give our office a call at 800-310-3100. Your first consultation is absolutely free.  We’ll let you know what steps you need to take, right now, to protect yourself and your family.  Call now. Sincerely, Rick L. Law, Attorney, Estate Planner for Retirees. Rick was named the #1 Illinois elder law estate planning attorney by Leading Lawyer Magazine. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, AARP Magazine, TheStreet.com, and numerous newspapers and articles. Rick is the lead attorney for Law Elder Law, LLP, focusing in Estate Planning, Guardianship, and Nursing Home Solutions. His goal is to give retirees an informed edge when it comes to dealing with an uncertain future.  Get flexible retirement strategies that work during good times and bad, plus information on how you can save your home and assets from being used to pay for long term care.  Call 800-310-3100 for your free consultation now!
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By Rick Law, Elder Care Attorney in West Suburban Aurora, IL. As I demonstrated last time, the “Elder Care Journey” is something we all go on. We’re all on a path that will take us down one of two roads – a quick death, or a lingering decline that can be costly unless proper precautions are taken. It’s a continuum of potential care needs that get more intense as the journey progresses. Typically, the journey progresses as follows: • Assisted living facility – A time comes when the senior is unable or unsafe to live at home without assistance throughout the day and night. At this time, even though the senior may not need medical or skilled nursing care, the family will need to consider an assisted living facility where the senior will still maintain a great deal of independence but will have access to care and assistance whenever needed. Here again, these costs are not covered by Medicare or regular health insurance policies. Payment for this type of care requires paying out-of-pocket or using long-term care insurance. (In Illinois, we do have “supportive living facilities” that take Medicaid, but you must meet the financial requirements and pass a screening that shows you require a certain level of care. All “assisted” living facilities are not “supportive” living facilities; and therefore, Medicaid is not an option in the traditional independent or assisted living facility.) With an average monthly cost of $3,000 to $6,000 and an average length of need of two and a half to three years, the annual cost for an assisted living facility is $36,000 to $72,000 per year. Here again, the potential to quickly deplete personal assets is high without some form of pre-planning for this need. • The fragile senior at a nursing home resident – Once the senior’s health deteriorates to a certain level, they will have no choice but to enter a nursing home where they can receive around-the-clock skilled care. Skilled nursing facilities are equipped to handle most conditions, and many even have a special section for patients with Alzheimer’s disease. The average monthly cost of care in a skilled nursing home facility is $4,000 to $9,000, with an average length of stay two to five years. The only real option for payment coverage is private pay; Medicaid – but only if the senior is considered to be at the state’s poverty level,or a long-term care insurance policy. • Death – When the senior has passed away, a whole host of other issues will come into play. This can include survivor care, if the senior was married and is leaving behind a spouse, as well as estate administration. Pre-planning in this area is also essential, as the senior’s estate could be subject to hefty estate taxes, and his/her heirs could end up with nothing to show for a lifetime of work and saving by the senior. If you’re ready to start getting your estate in order and secure your assets for the “worst-case” scenario, please give our office a call at 800-310-3100. Your first consultation is absolutely free. We’ll let you know what steps you need to take, right now, to protect yourself and your family. Call now. Sincerely, Rick L. Law, Attorney, Estate Planner for Retirees. Rick was named the #1 Illinois elder law estate planning attorney by Leading Lawyer Magazine. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, AARP Magazine, TheStreet.com, and numerous newspapers and articles. Rick is the lead attorney for Law Elder Law, LLP, focusing in Estate Planning, Guardianship, and Nursing Home Solutions. His goal is to give retirees an informed edge when it comes to dealing with an uncertain future. Get flexible retirement strategies that work during good times and bad, plus information on how you can save your home and assets from being used to pay for long term care. Conveniently located off I-88 across from the Chicago Premium Outlet Mall. Call 800-310-3100 for your free consultation now!
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