What to Do When Elderly Parents Refuse Help: 10 Useful Tips and Strategies

Supporting aging parents brings a host of challenges. It may make perfect sense to you that your parent needs help, like with housekeeping or personal care. However, they may refuse help and say no to the idea of a caregiver or senior care community. If your parent dismisses your concerns, you may think they’re being irrational or stubborn, even though you’re just trying to help read more

What is Considered Part of My Estate?

When people hear about others getting help from the best estate planning attorney New York City has to offer, they often assume that the individual is dealing with a large amount of wealth. However, that's not always the case.

Today, the term "estate" conjures up images of sprawling properties housing luxurious mansions full of opulent amenities. In real estate, the term refers to a piece of land and all the improvements. But in finance and law, an "estate" is everything you own.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need massive wealth to have an estate. Everything of value you own right now is part of your estate. That includes your home, income-producing real estate, investments, entitlements and insurance. Even your vehicles, art collection and antique items are part of your estate!

From a legal standpoint, your estate is the total of all your assets minus your liabilities, such as debt.

Why is Your Estate Important?

Knowing what's in your estate and how much it's worth is important. There are a few situations where your estate's value will matter.

The first is if you ever go through bankruptcy. During bankruptcy proceedings, your estate goes through a professional assessment. The process occurs so that you can sell assets and pay debtors.

Hopefully, you never have to go through that experience.

Generally, the value of your estate is most relevant upon your death. Like bankruptcy, death triggers estate assessments. But the purpose of that process, in this case, is to determine what happens to your assets. It's to distribute your assets to heirs.

Understanding Your Estate

While estate matters only seem to arise in unfortunate situations, you must plan for those moments now. That's what estate planning is for.

Estate planning is one of the most important decisions you'll make in your financial life. It's about planning for the future and determining how to divide your estate for your heirs. It's a complex process that involves many legal documents. Therefore, it's wise to go to the best estate planning attorney New York City has to offer for professional guidance.

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What Happens If I Don't Have an Estate Plan?

Having an estate plan means creating directives that determine what happens to your assets and accounts upon your passing, but what happens if you don’t have an estate plan? Who takes care of your property and accounts after you die if you don’t have a will or other documents and directives in place?

Although most elder law estate planning professionals recommend having such a plan in place, not everyone heeds this advice. Here are a few things that could happen if you don’t have an estate plan in place:

Your Estate Goes Through Probate

The probate process is the legal direction of your estate after you pass. If you haven’t worked with an elder law estate planning attorney to put a formal plan in place before you die, a probate court determines where your assets are directed.

A Surviving Spouse or Descendants Receive Your Assets

If you have a surviving spouse or direct descendants, these people will likely be the inheritors of your assets, but this isn’t always the case. Although a spouse is almost always going to be the direct inheritor of your estate, matters can get complicated in blended families and states without community property or common-law marriage laws.

Creating an Estate Plan With an Attorney is Vital

Because dying without an estate plan can mean your estate gets settled in a manner inconsistent with your wishes, now is the time to put a plan in place. Working with an estate planning professional is usually the best route to take.

Although you can draw up your own will and some other legal documents, unless these have been vetted by an attorney, these documents may not stand up in court if challenged. This can result in your surviving family members being drawn into a long court battle, and it can also result in your assets being distributed in ways you don’t intend. An estate planning attorney can help you create advance directives and review existing documents to ensure your wishes are carried out after you die.

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Requirements to Prove You No Longer Need to Be Under a Guardianship

When someone can no longer care for themselves in terms of making sound decisions for their well-being, a court may assign that person a legal guardian. This assignment requires the guardian to act in the best interest of the person being guarded, and these responsibilities are often financial in nature.

While guardianship can be a serious help to someone in need, a guardianship assignment isn’t necessarily a permanent assignment. In cases where circumstances have changed, and a person can now make sound decisions for themselves, the court that assigned guardianship may need to review the case to terminate the guardianship assignment.

Work With an Attorney

In all cases involving legal guardianship, it pays to have an attorney on your side. Your situation is unique to you, and a guardianship lawyer will need to review the facts and history of your case. Your guardianship lawyer can then help you file a petition with the court to have the guardianship assignment revoked.

Proving You No Longer Require Guardianship

Once you and your attorney have filed a petition, you will need to present evidence that demonstrates you no longer require the assistance of a legal guardian. This can be done in several ways, and your attorney will offer counsel for your situation.

For instance, you may need to get your physician or medical team to testify as to your mental fitness, and financial records may also be required to show a history of good financial decisions with any money you have been allowed to manage while under guardianship. Additionally, character witnesses may need to be called into court to testify on your behalf.

Revoking Guardianship of a Minor Child

It can be more difficult to completely revoke guardianship in cases involving minor children. In such cases, the state may assign a guardian if the current guardianship is reversed. A minor child becomes an adult when they reach the age of 18 in the United States. Until that time, a guardian will likely need to be assigned until permanent care can be established if a child’s parents are unavailable to provide such care.

Disclaimer: The above is for informational purposes only. Consult with an attorney to discuss the specifics of your unique case.

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What is a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust?

Medicaid is a life-changing program that allows low-income individuals to get the care they need. With healthcare costs being so high, it's a necessity. Medicaid can also make getting elderly care more manageable, ensuring that people can live comfortably regardless of age.

Despite all the good that comes with Medicaid, there are also many limitations. The most well-known are income restrictions. If you make too much, you won't qualify for the program. But that's only one piece of the puzzle.

Medicaid also considers your assets. Big-ticket assets like your home, vehicle and furnishings don't apply. But what if you have valuable heirlooms and other substantial assets? Those assets aren't bringing you income, but they can severely limit your qualification for Medicaid.

An asset protection lawyer can help you keep those assets while participating in Medicaid programs.

About Asset Protection

Asset protection is nothing new. In estate planning, lawyers use trusts to protect your most valuable items from litigation. Lawsuits can arise anytime, and losing those battles can make you vulnerable. A legal trust is like a protective shield, removing those assets from your direct ownership and into LLCs, corporations and more.

You still own those assets. But in the eyes of the law, you don't. Therefore, you can't lose them if you experience a lawsuit.

Medicaid asset protection works under the same principles.

When you work with an asset protection lawyer, you find ways to remove assets from your estate. Doing so ensures that their value does not impact your Medicaid qualifications. It's a way to keep your most prized possessions safe while getting the life-changing care you need to live comfortably.

No one should have to sell precious items to qualify for health and elderly care. Those assets don't represent your income, so why force yourself to sell? With an asset protection trust, lawyers can create strategies to hold those valuables elsewhere. You can keep them, pass them down to beneficiaries after your death and more.

There are many trust options available. Speak to a lawyer and see what's right for you.

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Steps to Creating an Estate Plan

In the eyes of the law, your estate is defined as all of your belongings and accounts, including credits and debts, that are left behind after you die. Upon your passing, the executor of your estate will need to process your will to ensure that your estate is settled. This means transferring assets and accounts to the entities you’ve chosen and paying debts and collecting credits as needed.

Before your passing, you can engage in estate planning to help those left behind. Estate planning is the process of laying out how you want your assets and accounts to be distributed after death. The goal of estate planning is to make the execution of your will easy and efficient so that you can rest assured that your wishes will be carried out.

Below are the steps needed to create an estate plan:

1. Take an Inventory

The first step in estate planning is to take an inventory of all your assets and accounts. These can include real properties, bank accounts and investments.

2. Decide How You Wish to Distribute Assets

You can then decide how you wish to have your assets and accounts distributed after you pass. You will need to create official documentation for your wishes to be recognized by the legal system in your state. You may also want to establish trusts for certain assets since trusts can provide unique advantages when it comes to transferring ownership of assets.

3. Work With an Attorney

Although you can draft estate planning documents yourself, most legal experts agree that it’s best to work with a local estate planning attorney instead. The reason you want to look for a local attorney is that laws regarding estate settlement differ from state to state.

If, for example, you live in Albany, you would want to look at a New York estate planning law firm for guidance. A New York estate planning law firm will be able to help you navigate the laws about estates and wills in New York, whereas an attorney in another state may not be able to provide the same level of service.

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