Downs Law Firm, P.C.
If you have a child or grandchild with disabilities, one of your biggest worries is what will happen when you are no longer around to provide aid.
ABLE accounts are a way for people with disabilities to save and spend money, while protecting their access to public benefits.
A competent elder law or estate attorney can keep the estate process on track, and knows of provisions like family allowances, benefits to prepaying inheritance tax, even where the tax return is not yet complete and a listing of itemized deductions.
Trusts give parents of special-needs children additional options for extending care and financial assistance. However, you might need some expert help.
It is critical that parents and grandparents give careful thought to any gift of money or bequest in an estate plan, when the recipient has special needs.
Amid headlines of COVID-19 infiltrating nursing homes and large senior care facilities, it’s understandable that many Americans would prefer to avoid assisted living environments as they grow older. However, the trend to age in place predates the pandemic. Remaining at home was the first choice for 76% of Americans age 50 and older, according to a 2018 AARP survey.
Estate planning documents often are treated like the photocopied permission slip for a child’s field trip. You fill in your name, include the children’s names and dates of birth, and sign. The document is filed away to be used if needed, but you really never expect it to be used.
Both the state and federal government, administered through the Social Security Administration (SSA) and Medicaid, provide disabled individuals with a variety of life enhancing, and sometimes life sustaining, public benefits.
There’s a fine line between holding on to important financial and medical records … and hoarding.
‘Aging in place’ is what most of us want—to stay home in our comfortable environment as we age and receive care in the home when needed rather than moving to a nursing home or assisted living facility.
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