AREAS OF EXPERTISE:

Family Asset Protection Planning (FAPP) covers several different modalities the firm uses to help its clients:

(1) Asset protection in a long-term care context. Part of asset protection means the implementation of planning strategies designed to achieve eligibility for certain need based government programs including certain Medicaid and Veteran's benefits as appropriate and available.

(2) Estate Planning through the use of wills, trusts and different techniques of holding title, as appropriate. The goal of estate planning is to ensure that a client's after-death wishes are honored but in such a way as to be consistent with the client's asset protection goals. Most every client already comes with an estate plan (often as a referral from the estate planning attorney) but these plans typically need to be modified to meet the new objectives.

(3) Incapacity Planning is primarily directed to plan for what should happen if and as incapacity begins to affect a client and to deal with current incapacity issues. Regular durable power of attorneys do not suffice. Incapacity planning includes end-of-life health care decision-making, specialized powers of attorney and sometimes trusts and other devices.

(4) Protection against Estate Recovery is designed to prevent unnecessary loss of assets to the government upon the death of a Medicaid recipient.

(5) Application for Benefits: The firm will handle the application for public benefits by completing application materials and dealing with the government all the way through the eligibility determination. We show the government everything that we have done by opening the books and explaining the law to the government case workers.

(6) Guidance for Quality of Life: The firm is not a health care provider and we provide no medical advice. However, we have significant knowledge, experience and contacts within the elder care system. We leverage these benefits to the advantage of our clients through a structured process of providing non-clinical caregiving guidance.

Whether Family Asset Protection Planning is right for you depends on many factors not covered in this article. The firm will pre-qualify prospective clients during an initial consultation.

We can help achieve your goals, including Medicaid eligibility, in weeks or months (no 5-year waiting periods necessary here).

To learn more and to see if our planning is right for you, set an initial consultation. The charge is $250 for that meeting. When you call the office, you will be told what to expect and you will then shortly receive more information in the mail in advance of your meeting.