AL Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

Are you an Alabama senior? Do you enjoy giving gifts of money to all your loved ones during the holidays? Be aware that as you get older you may need to be careful about giving monetary gifts. In fact, there is an elder law risk when you make monetary holiday gifts. We would like to explain why as you continue to read our blog.

To begin, did you know that monetary gifts can impact Medicaid eligibility?  The fact is, if you needed to apply for Medicaid in the next five years, your gift giving could have significant consequences.  The impact of monetary gifts could be on both the giver and receiver.

As the year 2022 comes to an end, have you given any thought to long-term care planning? Have most of your family and friends either passed away or moved? Is your health good or have you had any health scares this year? Have these health scares during the past year caused you to think about where you want to live as you age or what might happen if you had a health crisis or even how to protect your legacy?  We understand that as you age, you want the best for yourself, so learning about long-term care planning before you need it is a great idea. 

As you think about your future, if you became incapacitated due to an accident, surgery or disease what would happen? Who would make your healthcare decisions, pay your bills, or keep an eye on your house? What would happen if you needed extra care to remain in your home or you needed a nursing home? Now is the time to plan, before a crisis occurs, and while you can make decisions for yourself.  By working with an experienced Alabama elder law attorney you can have the peace of mind to ensure your lifetime of savings is protected from your long-term care needs. 

When you locate, make an appointment and meet with an Alabama elder law attorney, how do you even begin the conversation? What should you talk about? Where should you start?  In our firm we understand you questions because most of our clients have these same questions and we know that long-term planning can be complicated. We would like to share an end of the year long-term care planning checklist that you may use as you think about long-term care planning before the end of the year.

Did you know that across the nation November is celebrated as National Family Caregivers Awareness Month? Are you the caregiver for a family member? Do you know someone who is a family caregiver? During the month of November, everyone across the nation is invited to celebrate the importance of all family caregivers.  Family caregivers provide a tremendous amount of both paid and unpaid care to aging loved ones in Alabama. In fact, across the nation there are over 53 million family caregivers hard at work. We know these family caregivers because they are our family, our friends, and our neighbors.

Are you familiar with long-term care planning? If you are not, you are not alone. There are a surprising number of Americans who do not know what long-term care is.  Most everyone is familiar with acute care, or addressing an immediate injury or illness, and something that you would regularly see your doctor about, but again, most people are not familiar with long-term care.

Did you know that according to research many people put off making an estate plan each year? What about you, do you have an estate plan? If you do not, you are not alone. 

There are multiple and varied reasons why people put off creating their Alabama estate plan. Some put it off because they think they do not have enough assets and others think they are too young to even consider it. There are people who do not want to think about dying and avoid creating an estate plan. People who are not married and have no immediate family, may not feel a need to create an estate plan at all. 

As a senior living in Alabama, have you thought about what might happen to you if you became seriously ill or injured and unable to care for yourself or make decisions for yourself? Or as you get older what  will happen if you are no longer able to keep up with your necessary medications, your regular hygiene routine, or basic finances? Often, many seniors believe that a family member could step in and take over any needs they may have. However, it may not be that easy.

Do you currently have a trust or are you thinking about adding one to your estate plan?  Were you aware that some trusts do fail? To begin, a trust is a legal document that you can place your assets in to be managed by a selected trustee for the benefit of the trust’s beneficiaries. There are two essential components to a trust.  First, there is the trust itself, which is created through a legal document that identifies the purpose of the trust, the trustee of the trust and his or her powers, the beneficiaries of the trust, and the requirements for distributing the trust assets to the beneficiaries. The second component of the trust is the “corpus” of the trust, or, the sum of money, accounts or property placed into the trust.