Costly medical bills, the potential need for nursing home care, the possibility of dying, and the need to provide security for a surviving spouse are a few important reasons to get financial affairs in order.
Just as people usually get to a point where they need a health care representative to make decisions when they can’t, it’s wise to appoint someone to make financial decisions should that time come.
Planning ahead ensures that family members will be provided for in the manner of your choosing.
An important concern in later years is whether expenses for one spouse will gobble up resources and leave a surviving spouse with not enough money for their own needs.
Medicare
Medicare is the federal government’s insurance program for older adults and those with disabilities. Medicare will pay for limited time in a nursing home provided 24-hour nursing care is required. But people who need long-term assistance and those who need non-medical help such as preparing meals, doing laundry or remembering medications must pay for this care out of their own pockets. This can get very expensive!
Medicaid
Medicaid is the federal government’s program designed for low-income individuals. Sometimes it can be enlisted to pay for extra-care needs. Many people enter a facility as private-pay clients and eventually exhaust all their assets. At that point, they qualify for this program. Medicaid typically covers what Medicare doesn’t. However, choices of facilities are extremely limited when on Medicaid. Qualifying for this low-income program involves specific formulas for countable assets (bank accounts, stock, property) and exempt assets (house, car, belongings).
Long-term care insurance
Lon-term care insurance is an alternative that may help you protect your assets. This form of insurance is designed to pay for skilled and unskilled help for a long period of time. Depending on the terms of your policy, you may receive care in your home, in an assisted-living setting, in a residential care setting, or in a nursing home.
Long-term care insurance is not for everyone, however. It can be very expensive, especially if you are already ill. Unfortunately, the best time to enroll in long-term care insurance is while you are relatively healthy. Age is also a factor. The younger you are, the lower the premiums, but the longer you will likely be paying them. If you would qualify for Medicaid within six months to a year of paying for services on your own, long-term care insurance is generally not considered a worthwhile investment.
Long-term care insurance typically has many restrictions. Shop around carefully for a policy that meets your projected needs. It is not unheard of that a family has paid premiums for years, only to find that the particular circumstances of the condition are not covered by their policy.
Each state has a State Health Insurance Assistance Program that can offer tips and advice about the purchase of long-term care insurance. Contact the federal Eldercare Locator program toll free at 1-800-677-1116 to find the State Health Insurance Assistance office closest to you.
Power of Attorney: Someone to handle your finances, just in case
During the course of an illness, it may become difficult to get to the bank, file taxes, go to the assessor’s office, or balance the checkbook. Yet to protect you, most financial institutions will not discuss your finances with anyone who is not listed on your account. These circumstances can become a significant problem if you become homebound or bedridden. To alleviate this quandary, consider choosing a trustworthy person to be your “durable power of attorney.” Once you have made your choice, legally all you need to do is fill out a durable power of attorney form available at any stationary store. Be sure to find out if it must be notarized to be valid.
Giving someone power of attorney means that person has the right to make financial decisions in your place. For this reason, you must choose the person with care. If you have any doubts about the individual you have in mind, hold off on making a final decision.
Giving someone power of attorney, however, does not mean you lose control of your finances. You can continue to make all decisions and carry out all your transactions as usual. But if something happens to you and you become incapacitated, the person who has durable power of attorney may act in your stead. You have the option of limiting the person’s rights to managing your banking, taxes, or specific accounts.
You may also revoke durable power of attorney at any time. Simply send a written notice to each of your financial institutions and consultants. (The word “durable” does not mean “forever.” It simply means that if you become mentally incapacitated, e.g., from a stroke or Alzheimer’s disease, the person may continue to make financial decisions for you.) Until a durable power of attorney is revoked, it remains valid as long as you are alive. At such point that you pass on, however, the person serving as your durable power of attorney will no longer have access to your assets or decision-making rights regarding your finances.
Some people choose to open a joint checking account with the trusted person, which is a less-formal arrangement than durable power of attorney. This enables the cosigner to write checks after the death has occurred, which can simplify tasks such as bill paying. This setup does not allow the person to sign your taxes or conduct other legal transactions for you. If you decide you want to change the arrangement, however, it may be a little more difficult to revoke shared access to a joint account than it would be to revoke a power of attorney. Plus, unpaid debts of either of the co-signers could impact the credit of the other.
A durable power of attorney can only be granted while the individual who is ill is still mentally sound. If you have a terminal illness, there will likely come a time when you will not be able to make decisions for yourself. Without a durable power of attorney in place, especially if you are not married and you become mentally incapacitated, the courts will need to appoint a guardian to make financial decisions for you. This person might be a family member or a professional guardian.
Wills and living trusts: In the event of your death
The need to protect your partner is a key reason to get your financial papers in order. You will want to be sure that he or she is not left high and dry, especially if you are living with someone without being married. Inheritance laws do not acknowledge unmarried couples; thus, you must specifically stipulate your wishes regarding your house or other assets. This is particularly true for same-sex partners because surviving family members may not be aware of the partnership or may be unwilling to respect the union.
Everyone over age 18 should have a document that designates whom they want their assets to go to in the case of their death. Generally called a “will”, such papers also can describe who are to be the guardians of minor children in your custody. If you do not have a will, state law will divide your property according to its own formulas. It will even appoint a guardian for your children if their other parent is not able to care for them.
To be legal, a will must meet these requirements:
You must be mentally capable at the time that you create it.
The document must state specifically that it is your will.
You must sign and date the will in the presence of as many as three witnesses.
The witnesses must sign the will. They are not required to read the document. Their signatures simply affirm that they know it is you signing the will and that you were of sound mind when you created it. The people you choose to be witnesses should not be people who will be receiving assets from your estate.
It is advisable that you choose someone to be your estate’s executor—the person who will manage the distribution of your assets. Give a copy of your will to this individual and keep a copy at home and perhaps one in a safe deposit box.
After death, a person’s estate usually goes into probate, which can involve inheritance taxes and other expenses. It will also take time to distribute all the person’s assets. To spare survivors this ordeal as well as save on taxes, some people choose to make a revocable living trust. This document is similar to a will in that you can determine who receives what after you die. However, it is quite different than a will because you remove your name from your property while you are still alive and put all your assets into the trust.
The laws governing living trusts are very complicated; composing a living trust that truly meets your needs requires the skills of a lawyer. Not surprisingly, living trusts can be expensive. (Beware that there are many online living-trust scams that offer low-cost kits or paperwork. A trust really does need the personalization only an attorney can provide.) One advantage of a living trust is that you spend the money and devote the time to setting it up before you die or are incapacitated, thus sparing your survivors these expenditures. If your estate is not very large, however, a living may not be worth the expense.
To help you learn more about financial decisions and estate planning, Nolo Press, an organization dedicated to “putting the law in plain English,” also has an online encyclopedia with free articles explaining wills, trusts and estates.
Jennifer and Caregiving Corner are a trusted resource for senior care. Jennifer has a wealth of knowledge and will give you honest, unbiased advice in planning for the care of your loved one. Investing in her services is money well spent.
Jennifer and the Team at Caregiving Corner are patient, kind, courteous and generous with their time and their efforts. I would trust them implicitly with my family's best interest. Jennifer's willingness to provide support and guidance is second to none! Highly, highly recommend her services. Amazing advocate for her clients. She truly, truly cares and has their best interests at heart.
I'm writing to recommend Care Giving Corner for the best elder care management services I have come across. We were introduced to them for help with our parents' care by the Rev. Lisa Saunders at Christ Episcopal Church in Charlotte, who had known our family for 20 or 30 years. We had worked with a couple of the big national elder-care chains before, but their people seem so limited and their standard of care seemed very "average" at best.We work with Susan Ferone as our case worker/manager and Allyson Cooksy as our RN. They are conscientious, high-caliber, top-flight people. They're the kind of people we'd want to entertain with and be friends with, not just tolerate as hired help.They recently helped my parents identify and move to a retirement community that is a vast improvement over the retirement facility they had been in before. They connected us with services that helped with organizing, packing, moving, unpacking, setting up, and settling in. They even helped my mother find a decorator to help with some fabric choices and paint schemes to suit her new digs. That alone is half the battle - knowing who are the reliable, trustworthy service providers for various ancillary services.Allyson has helped my parents manage medical appointments, keep track of treatments and prescriptions, and devise daily structure that keeps things on track. She has helped identify and get services from therapists, etc. Allyson is amazing and a delight to be around.We live in a time when even those of us who are well-established and well-connected in our communities can feel bewildered by the experience of aging and everything that goes with it. Susan, Allyson, and their colleagues comprise an able and caring resource in an otherwise confusing and dysfunctional elder-care environment.
The folks at Caregiving Corner have been a wonderful resource, are some of the most knowledgeable professionals I've worked with and are great people! Strongly endorse them to help your loved ones!
Jennifer and her team are top-notch and, without question, the best in the business. As an elder law attorney, I routinely refer my clients to Caregiving Corner because I know they will treat my clients like family. Thank you, Jennifer, for building such an incredible business that meets the needs of so many people!
Jennifer Szakaly is a registered guardian with high integrity and ethics. Jennifer goes above and beyond for her clients and she is not afraid to handle difficult cases and family dynamics to ensure her wards receive the best and most appropriate care. I cannot recommend her highly enough and I refer clients the Charlotte area to her very regularly. For any client in need of Aging Life Care Management or a Guardian, Jennifer and Caregiving Corner is the superior choice.
Caregiving Corner is an amazing resource for anyone who is navigating the experience of aging or caring for an aging family member. Jennifer and her team offer such a broad range of services - from helping families choose care facilities and make healthcare decisions to serving as a legal guardian for those who don't have family members (or whose family members are too unreliable). Their collective experience is invaluable, and most importantly, they have a genuine passion for working with older adults and their caregivers, and it shows. I enthusiastically recommend Caregiving Corner to everyone I know who is dealing with the often-challenging situation of caring for an aging loved one.
Since I started Transition With Care in 2009, a senior move management company, I have confidently referred my clients and families in need of care management services to Caregiving Corner. I have never received any negative feedback from my clients and consider Jennifer Szakaly and her team to be a shining example of how to help seniors and families navigate the complexities of caring for an aging loved one.
Our team at The Charlotte Assisted Living Community and Memory Care has had the pleasure of working with Jennifer and the Caregiving Corner Team for the last six months.During what can be some of the most trying and difficult times for their clients and loved ones, the Caregiving Corner team assists in navigating the journey to find a solution.Their compassion and dedication to their clients is above board. They offer a professional and sincere level of care to each family they are assisting. We look forward to our continued partnership.
I’m thankful for the guidance I’ve received from Jennifer Szakaly. She has helped me address current caregiving needs as well as understand options for what’s ahead. Her professionalism and experience is second to none.
I am an elder law attorney who has worked almost exclusively in the field of incompetency/guardianship for folks who no longer have the capacity to care for themselves. This is an extremely sensitive family matter, and the family of the incapacitated elder find themselves in a crisis and a world they do not understand. Caregiving Corner has been a savior to these families and lawyers in this field. Jennifer Szakaly, the founder and owner of Caregiving Corner, has assisted me in many cases, in Mecklenburg and surrounding counties, with evaluating, advocating for and acting as corporate guardian in these unfortunate situations. Caregiving Corner has a staff of professionals who assess the crisis, help find placement for the individual, and care for the individual and act in their best interests in all of their health matters. Jennifer is approved with the Clerks of Court who appoint her company. She is a Board member of affiliated organizations and non-profits. She is nationally certified as a corporate guardian, as well as holds degrees and other certifications in the field of geriatric care. I don't know anyone more qualified in this field or anyone more compassionate for the work she does for others.
Jennifer and her team take outstanding care of their clients and families! They are well-respected as professionals in this industry. Highly recommend Caregiving Corner!