Hiring an elder law attorney is one of the smartest things you can do to help you plan for your parents’ later years. Elder law attorneys can assist with a number of things including health directives, creating guardianships, writing wills, and guiding families through any disagreements related to assets and inheritance
To find an attorney, ask around for referrals and/or visit the National Elder Law Foundation (NELF) website (www.nelf.org), an organization that certifies attorneys specializing in elder and special needs law.
Sometimes paying for expertise is just not possible. Know that plenty of working daughters manage their parents’ finances and long-term care planning on their own. Regardless of whether or not you work with a financial or legal advisor, here are some items you should consider discussing with a lawyer:
- Power of attorney & Guardianship: Your parents may designate you or someone else they trust to be their power of attorney (POA). This designation allows you to handle financial and legal affairs on their behalf. You can help pay bills, talk to insurance agents, and sign legal documents for your parents. Have a lawyer make multiple original copies of your POA paperwork as many institutions require an original copy and you will not want to give away your only one. Different from a POA, a guardian is someone a court appoints to manage another person’s welfare. Some adult children seek guardianship because their parents did not have a POA in place and they are unable to care for themselves or make healthy and safe decisions. The process for securing guardianship varies by state but typically involves filing an application in probate court.
- Financial Considerations: Paying for long-term care The average lifetime cost of long-term care is $172,000 per person and growing! Funding for long-term care typically comes from one or more of four sources: personal savings, insurance, financial support from family, and Medicaid. A parent outliving his or her assets is a very real possibility. Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people aged sixty-five and older, does not cover long-term care, and Medicaid eligibility is based on income level. Many people discover that their parents have too many assets to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to sustain them for many years. And of course, many parents want to protect their assets either for a spouse or to pass on to their children. This is where a professional can be valuable because they can guide your family through the available options. And if you can’t afford to hire a professional to assist you, you can still get help. Business managers at senior living facilities can help with payment options and financing plans. Also check local senior centers and Councils on Aging as many of them offer free legal and financial workshops.
- Wills and estate planning: Without a will, your parents have no say over how their assets are distributed after they die. Instead, the laws of the state where they reside dictate distribution. In most cases property and valuables are given to a surviving spouse, to children, or perhaps to surviving siblings, depending on the state’s laws of succession. Besides a will, other estate planning issues you and your parents may want to consider include naming a guardian for any dependents they may have, providing for family members in need of care, securing life insurance to cover burial costs, and dissolving or selling a family business if they owned one.
Look into public benefits: Your parent may be eligible for aid, either based on his or her income, age, military service, or for a host of other reasons. These benefits, which vary by state, can help with a variety of expenses from medication to food to taxes to utilities. The AARP Foundation offers an overview of benefits and how to access them on their website (www.aarp.org/quicklink). Most municipalities also have a Department of Elder Affairs or a Council on Aging that should be able to help.
For information on Veteran’s benefits and for application forms, visit the Department of Veteran Affairs website (www.va.org). Pro tip: The application for veteran’s benefits is complex, but most municipalities have a veteran’s affairs officer. Contact this person for help filing and completing forms.
Everyday Expenses: Look into your parents’ everyday bills and life maintenance. In addition to some of the complex issues you may need to tackle as a working daughter, there are a number of more mundane, but equally important, pieces of information that you should gather to help you manage your role. Here’s a checklist of information you should have so that you can support your parents:
Bank accounts
List of monthly bills including utilities
Life insurance policies
Homeowner’s insurance policy
Name and number of their insurance agent
Social Security numbers
Information on any pensions or annuities they may have
Safety deposit box (location, number, key)
Mortgages and deeds