Basic Estate Planning
Basic estate planning is an essential part of the practice of elder law. Basic estate planning covers tasks such as making a will, creating health care directives, forming trusts, establishing a durable power of attorney , and other tasks. The purpose of basic estate planning is to form a legal plan for caring for your loved ones and your estate following your death. Basic estate planning is crucial to ensuring that your estate is taken care of in the way you desire.
Long-Term Care Planning and Life Care Planning
Long-term care planning and life care planning at Carney Elder Law includes advising clients regarding their potential use of and the eligibility rules of public benefits, such as Medi-Cal, In-Home Support Services (IHSS), and Veteran’s Aid & Attendance (A&A). These public benefits help to pay for at-home care, assisted living facility care, or skilled nursing facility care. Our legal services include assisting clients to plan for eligibility for these benefits, applying for the benefits when ready, and planning to avoid recovery claims where needed.
While estate planning pertains to planning for one’s death, long-term care planning and life care planning pertain to planning an extended period of care. Locating the appropriate type of care for each elder and then paying for that care are major concerns of our clients and their families, especially when there is already a chronically ill elder involved. At Carney Elder Law, we help clients coordinate private and public resources to finance the cost of care when needed, while working to ensure the quality of the care for the elder.
As part of the practice of elder law, we also recognize that many elderly clients have grave concerns about the future of their children and grandchildren and desperately wish to protect their estate in order to leave it to their family when they pass on. Therefore, when asked, we counsel clients on asset protection techniques that are both legal and ethical aspects of long-term care planning and life care planning.
Dealing with the incapacity of elders, especially those suffering from dementia, often requires us to seek protective legal proceedings, such as conservatorships, over vulnerable seniors whose personal and/or financial safety is at risk. We also often file for other court orders in order to accomplish the elder’s goals when incapacity prevents them from meeting those goals on their own.
Carney Elder Law Will Help You Plan for the Future
When we do any planning in our offices, we ensure that every elder who has capacity takes care of the documentation necessary for a durable power of attorney for property management and an advance health care directive. These two extremely important documents, when properly drafted, make sure that if the elder loses capacity, someone will have the legal authority to take care of their financial affairs, as well as make health and personal care decisions. These documents allow you to accomplish these things without the necessity of a costly and intrusive court proceeding.
As members of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), the attorneys and staff at Carney Elder Law strive to provide our clients with the best quality elder-centered legal services available in Silicon Valley, while adhering to the highest standards of professionalism and ethical behavior in all of our cases.
If you would like a consultation with an elder law attorney, we invite you to call our offices at (408) 659-2098 or contact us using our online contact form.
