Elder Law and Estate Planning

Article submitted by Kay Ritcher, Attorney at Law.
For more information, she can be reached at 520-318-1301.

Elder Law is the area of law that deals with the needs of older adults. Estate Planning is one facet of this area of law. Every senior should have a Will. The Will states who your estate should go to at your death. Second, it also nominates who shall serve as your Personal Representative or Executor of your estate. Without a Will, state law determines who your estate will go to. Further, you should consider executing a Durable Financial Power of Attorney. This document names who you would like to manage your financial affairs if you are unable to do this yourself. Without a Durable Financial Power of Attorney, you may need a court procedure called a conservatorship.

One type of Durable Power of Attorney springs up when a disabling illness occurs. A second type is a current Durable Power of Attorney, which allows someone to manage your financial affairs now.

A Medical Power of Attorney states who you wish to manage your health care decision making, if you are unable to.
A Living Will is a document that usually states that you do not wish to be on life support systems if the moment of your death is only being prolonged by the life support system.

A revocable living Trust is a document that operates during your lifetime and then again at the time of your death.

During your lifetime, if you are ever disabled, it allows your successor trustee to mange your estate for you, if you have a debilitating illness. It also avoids the court procedure called a conservatorship. At your death all your assets titled in the name of your trust avoid probate, the court procedure when someone dies. Further if you have out of state real estate, you avoid probate in the other estates as well. If someone is challenging the validity of your Will, it is a harder to contest a Trust. If you create a Trust where you are the initial Trustee, or manager, your life is the same with the Trust as without a Trust. You have complete freedom to do anything you wish with your assets. The only difference in your life is that you title your assets in the name of your Trust.

If you and your spouse's estate is over $1,000,000, you need estate tax planning. With a special Trust called an AB you can pass up to$2,000,000 to your children or other people without estate tax until the year 2004. Another advantage of a Trust is that it is private. There are no required court filings. It also simplifies the procedure when you die. At that time, generally your successor trustee pays your taxes and bills and distributes the estate.

Another area that seniors should plan for is long term care. Long term care includes nursing homes, assisted living homes, Alzheimer centers and home health care. Medicare covers very little of these costs. Paying for the costs yourself can be very expensive. Consider seriously the option of purchasing long term care insurance. This investment can provide peace of mind, knowing that you will have the care paid for without using all of the monies you have accumulated and wish to leave as an inheritance. It also means that you do not need to involve yourself with governmental funding of this care.

The governmental funding of long term care in Arizona is through a program called ALTCS. ALTCS stands for Arizona Long Term Care System. In order to receive their services, you must qualify in three areas, medical need, income need and resource need. There are specific requirements in all three of these areas.

Elder Law and Estate Planning Lawyers can assist you in all of the above areas. By doing your planning ahead, you can make the possible problems of aging less difficult. Planning makes it easier for you and your loved ones.