Picture this: you’re sitting down to plan for the future and you understand the role of wills and trusts when it comes to passing on your assets to your heirs, but what about the subject of appointing a family member or trusted friend as your power of attorney? Do you really want to — or need to — give someone else power over your financial decisions and control of your assets?
Esther Wang and her staff ... were instrumental in helping us receive VA benefits for my elderly father. Although the VA was disorganized and unresponsive at times to our claim, their law firm knew exactly how to proceed and were persistent in receiving my father's benefits.
Are there asset limitations? Yes, but this is another misconception. Many believe they have simply own too much to qualify. Like Medi-Cal planning, there are ways to protect all of a veteran’s assets and still qualifies him for the pension benefit. We will discuss the asset details next, using a basic example.
If you or a loved one is disabled and receiving public benefits through Medi-Cal or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), you are subject to income limitations to remain on those programs, yet they cover only food, shelter, and medical care. How do you pay for the other necessities and comforts of life?
Plan early. This is the single, most important advice I can offer to a wartime veteran and his/her spouse, or a widow or widower of a wartime veteran who wish to obtain VA benefits to pay for assisted living care or a home caregiver. If you would like to obtain Aid and Attendance benefit and you already know that you will need either a home caregiver or placement in an assisted living community, you need to plan early.
At first it may seem shameful or detrimental to ask for your parents to pay you for the care you provide. However, take the following scenario as an example where this could be immensely helpful. However, please note that this must be done with a professional or there could be adverse consequences.
The Veterans Administration (VA) operates the largest health care system in the United States and also offers pensions and other services for qualified veterans — and even their spouses — who face disability or assisted living issues. It has been estimated that nearly 20% of all seniors in America over the age of 65 could qualify for a Veterans Pension or Survivors (Death) Pension under the right circumstances, though only 5 percent — or roughly 480,000 — currently do.
What happens when you or your parents wants to give away an asset? In this article, I will describe some ways that a potential Medi-Cal recipient can gift property, more specifically a house, without becoming ineligible.
Estate planning can be quite stressful, which can lead some people to rush through this critical process. Far too many people overlook long-term care planning when they sit down to plan their estates. They focus on what assets they would like to leave to which family members, while neglecting the potential reality of nursing home costs absorbing all that money.
Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program financed by the federal and state government. It is a public health insurance system that provides necessary health care services for children and adults with limited resources and income. Most people are familiar with Medi-Cal benefits that are available for low-income individuals, however, most people are not aware of long-term care benefits under Medi-Cal.
