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By Estate Planning Attorney Rick Law, Senior Advocate at the Estate Planning Center at Law Elder Law in Aurora in Chicagoland in Illinois. As soon as it is discovered that you or a loved one has Alzheimer’s, it is time to examine the current estate plan. If the individual has a well-drafted power of attorney or living will, then they’re usually in good shape. However, it is often the case that people are not well prepared for the unexpected and many people do not have a power of attorney or living will. In these situations, your lawyer may need to turn to a guardianship. Mental capacity is not an all-or-nothing concept. Capacity runs along a continuum and may vary according to several factors, such as the time of day, the task presented, and life stressors. Document conversations with a memo to the file. In cases in which there is likely to be a question about the capacity of an individual, lawyers should write a memorandum to the file as soon as possible to document the conversations with the individual, generally focusing on surrounding events, current events, and things of that nature. Even when a person has Alzheimer’s, they may still have valid preferences when they apparently cannot think clearly about complicated matters. If an individual is determined to be incompetent, another hearing will be held and the court will appoint a conservator to handle the individual’s financial affairs and/or a guardian will be appointed to tend to the individual’s personal and health-care needs. It is important to keep in mind that even though an individual has Alzheimer’s, that individual’s abilities and wishes should be honored as long as possible. Just because the individual is diagnosed with dementia does not mean that the individual loses all rights at the point of diagnosis. The individual’s competency may need to be determined, but a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s does not instantly signal that a person is totally incapacitated. Dementia, like some other mental disorders, is progressive and degenerative. Professional evaluation is necessary to determine a person’s competencies as they change over the trajectory of the disease. When individuals with Alzheimer’s do lose the ability to make decisions for themselves, it will be absolutely necessary to have a guardian to legally make the decisions for the individual if the proper planning was not put in place earlier. If your loved one has memory problems and you’re afraid of the consequences that may bring, give our office a call today 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 Elder Lawyer Rick Law.  Managing Partner at the Estate Planning Center at Law Elder Law.  Senior Advocates in Western Chicagoland in Aurora, Illinois just off of the Farnsworth exit of the I-88 tollway. One of the key practices of an elder law lawyer is to bring in clinical professionals when their “gut” tells them something is not quite right with a client. Many people think they understand dementia, but often we really need a clinical assessment. It is not unusual for clients with dementia to fool their family into thinking they have capacity because they can be socially appropriate. They can work their way through a situation and look totally normal, but if a lawyer asks the right questions and they don’t have the mental flexibility to answer them perfectly, then a bona fide doubt exists. The best lawyers utilize all available resources to totally understand their client and the type of problem that may be affecting their client. When stating the reasons a guardian is needed for a person with disabilities, the petitioner needs to be sure that the allegations as stated on the petition conform to the statutory definition of a “disabled person” (i.e., mental deterioration, physical incapacity, mental illness, or development disability that renders a person incapable of making personal or financial decisions). There are several definitions of “disability” and lawyers need to know how their state defines the term. For example, a severe loss in memory—brought on by Alzheimer’s— can support a finding that an individual is disabled and unable to manage personal affairs in many states. In Illinois, “disability” is defined as a person’s inability to manage one’s person or estate due to “mental deterioration or physical incapacity.” In most states, an individual may be judged to have a disability by a court after a competency hearing. If the individual is determined to be disabled in Illinois, the court will appoint a guardian to promote the well-being of the disabled individual, to protect the individual, and to “encourage development of his maximum self-reliance and independence.” If your loved one has memory problems and you’re afraid of the consequences that may bring, give our office a call today 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, senior advocate and elder law and estate planning attorney for seniors who want to plan for the unknown.  Protect your family and your assets, and have your wishes adhered to if you become ill or incapacitated.  Call the Estate Planning Center at Law Elder Law in Aurora for your free consultation at (800) 310-3100. A guardian is someone appointed by the court to serve as a representative of the person with a legal disability, such as Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia. A court-appointed guardian has the authority to make decisions for the person with Alzheimer’s without judicial involvement, provided the decisions are consistent with the procedures and requirements of the governing statutes or regulations of that state. Guardians typically are required to provide periodic accounting to the court. Disability must be assessed according to statutory definitions and “cannot be inferred merely from old age.” Age, by itself, is not a disability. Some people are the subject of guardianship proceedings because their conduct is somewhat contrary to our natural norms of society. A 96-year-old man wanted to go to Las Vegas and marry his caregiver. Some of his family members questioned whether he was competent and started a guardianship proceeding to try to stop him. The judge did find that although he, too, thought it was a stupid decision to marry the caregiver, this man was competent to make those stupid decisions. The man did not need a guardian and was free to make bad personal decisions. One of my peers, attorney Kerry Peck, notes that, “Competent people are able to make stupid decisions, and we hear judges say that on a pretty regular basis.” An experienced elder law attorney knows it is a good idea to ask “orientation questions” when dealing with potential clients who may come in for an estate plan or ask for a lawyer to defend them against a guardianship action, and always when they ask a lawyer to act in the role of guardian ad litem. Orientation questions are simply questions to see if clients can understand the time and the place they are in, who they are, and what’s going on currently in the world. Basic orientation questions would involve asking individuals their address, how many children they have, their age, their name, and, if they are old enough, about their grandchildren. Of course, lawyers are going on the collaboration of your family or the family of the potential ward as to whether these answers are correct. It is also good to ask about current events, e.g.: Is there a presidential election coming up? Who are the candidates? Is there some major world event, such as a hurricane, that has occurred? Where did it occur? The answers to the orientation questions will give everyone involved a good jumping-off point, but they will need a medical expert to examine the individual to be absolutely sure when it comes to issues of dementia. If your loved one has memory problems and you’re afraid of the consequences that may bring, give our office a call today 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, senior advocate, co-founder of Alzheimer’s Hope, and estate planning elder law attorney in Aurora, Illinois in Western Chicagoland. Dr. William Thies is the chief medical and scientific officer for the Alzheimer’s Association. Before joining the Alzheimer’s Association, Dr. Thies worked at the American Heart Association. Prior to that, he held faculty positions at Indiana University in Bloomington and the University of Pittsburgh. Q: Dr. Thies, From your point of view, what are some of the most important things that we need to understand? A: The worst part of Alzheimer’s disease is the later stages of the disease, and if we actually found ways to keep people from getting into those late stages, we would save an immense amount of human suffering, because people’s quality of life goes to zero, plus the fact that their family is devastated by it and it can rob them of all of their resources at the same time. This disease is costing billions of dollars, and it’s one of the major cost drivers in a health-care system that is becoming a major cost driver for our whole economy—and we’ve got to find ways to lighten the load or it’s going to wreck the whole economy. Q: What factors are observable to be able to say, “I think Chris or Mary may be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease”? A: Changes in behavior—that is the biggest thing to look for. For example, losing interest in hobbies—the guy who always got the newspaper first thing in the morning so he could do the crossword, and now he doesn’t do it anymore. Look for changes in sleeping patterns. The person who was always up early and worked all day in one way or the other, and now all of a sudden they’re sleeping a lot during the day.  Drinking—certainly whether that’s a cause or an effect, I think is open to debate—but somebody who never drank and all of a sudden is drinking a significant amount. Those sorts of changes are markers of something different going on.  If they have a spouse, they’re going to be driving that spouse crazy because they have become totally undependable. They’re driving them crazy asking them about 150 times from about 3:30 to 5:30, “What’s for dinner?” That’s really significant. If your loved one has memory problems and you’re afraid of the consequences that may bring, give our office a call today 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 Law and Medicaid Crisis Planning Attorney at the Estate Planning Center of Law Elder Law, Kane County Senior Advocates in Illinois. One of the most common myths of gifting is that the recipient of the gift pays taxes. It is counterintuitive that the person making a gift may be responsible for gift taxes on the amount gifted. Individuals can give away money, and if they don’t go beyond the lifetime limit, they are likely to have no gift tax issues, but they will certainly have Medicaid problems if they need nursing home care within five years of the date of the gift. The fact that people don’t have gift tax issues does not mean they are home free. Medicaid and the IRS don’t agree on the issue of gifting. With five years of records under scrutiny and all transfers being aggregated and brought forward to the date that the applicant is otherwise eligible, penalty periods will be imposed and the individual will have no way to pay for care. The total amount of the non-allowable transfers will be divided by either the state-specific divisor or (in Illinois) by the client’s semiprivate room rate in the facility. Thus, if an individual has transferred $60,000 over a five-year period and these transfers are deemed non-allowable (not for fair market value) transfers, and the client has a divisor of $6,000, the penalty period, or period of ineligibility, is 10 months. The 10-month period will not start until the client is down to the asset limit and receiving an institutionalized level of care. So, who will pay? The person needing assistance is out of money. Too many families needlessly lose everything they have.  Don’t let that be you.  If you need help paying the overwhelming cost of long term care, 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, 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, author of ‘Cruising Through Retirement – Avoiding the Potholes’, Elder Law attorney at the Estate Planning Center at Law Elder Law in Aurora, IL. If a spouse has Alzheimer’s and needs to qualify for Medicaid but the assets are too high, that person cannot simply give away assets until reaching the maximum figure. “Spending down” has to be done within the Medicaid regulations. An Elder Lawyer knows to keep in mind that there is a five-year look-back period when it comes to assets and qualifying for Medicaid. That means if the client has Alzheimer’s and needs to qualify for Medicaid, any gifts the client made in the last five years can, and probably will, be scrutinized. When a person needs to qualify for Medicaid, it is very difficult to prove that gifts made in the last five years were not made to qualify for Medicaid. The general rule is that money transferred between generations will be presumed to have been given to qualify for nursing home Medicaid. The presumption is that if the person gave away money within five years of needing nursing home Medicaid, the giving was done in order to qualify for nursing home Medicaid. If you cannot rebut this presumption, the person will earn a penalty period of ineligibility. Too many families needlessly lose everything they have.  Don’t let that be you.  If you need help paying the overwhelming cost of long term care, 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, 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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