Dear Attorney Tully: My husband has Alzheimer’s and is in a nursing home. I want to receive the best, unbiased advice possible but I am concerned about the costs. Some of my friends say hiring an Elder Law attorney costs too much. I am not sure if I can afford it and I don’t want to drain the money I have left. What should I do?
ANSWER: If elder law planning were going to only be a drain on your funds, I’d tell you to go spend it at the nursing home instead. Many married couples can protect everything they have without spending down.
Most single people with an Alzheimers’ diagnosis end up spending all of their money on long term care. They’re drained down to about $1,600 in savings and $75 per month in income. That’s it. That’s all they’re allowed to have.
Now you can imagine, when accidents happen – a hearing aid gets stepped on, or eyeglasses are misplaced – the money to replace it has to come from somewhere. What about haircuts? How many of those can you get at $75 per month? You can see that $1,600 doesn’t last that long.
And when it’s gone, the financial burden lands on either the spouse – who has limited income and savings, as well – or the children. Most people don’t want that for their spouse, and especially not their children. They’ve worked hard to give their kids everything they needed, and don’t want to drain their kids’ bank accounts with medical costs.
Now, where an attorney comes into this is what you might be surprised to find out. You see, hiring an Elder Law attorney can actually SAVE you money. Not only can it save you money, but it can save you multiples of the amount you spent on planning.
Unbelievable, right? Let me explain how it works. When an experienced Elder Law attorney comes into the picture, he or she follows the rules to help you save as much of what you’ve already got. The truth is, the money that’s spent on an Elder Law attorney is money that would have been spent on medical costs anyway. What’s more, in many cases, an Elder Law attorney can help keep you from spending many more tens of thousands of dollars on care. That’s money that you get to keep.
The rules say that for many people, some of the money saved needs to be spent. But instead of spending all of it on care, we can help show you what is considered allowable spending, meaning that instead of sending that money to the nursing home, you can spend it on a car, home improvements and other things that will help your family and the healthy spouse living at home.
Daniel O. Tully, Esq.
