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Encino Trust Attorney Answers, “What Should a Special Needs Trust Pay For?”

Trustees of special needs trusts shoulder an incredible amount of responsibility. In addition to providing care for the individual with special needs, they must also make sure the assets in the trust are spent wisely and will not disqualify the person from any benefits they may be receiving.

How to Qualify for Medi-Cal – Even If You Have Too Many Assets

Medi-Cal is a needs-based program meant to help those without considerable resources access medical care and benefits. Since it is needs-based, there are significant asset and income limits attached to eligibility, which can easily lead to a disqualification from receiving benefits if the assets are not monitored closely. However, there are several ways to prevent a Medi-Cal eligibility disqualification through the use of trusts. For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on how an irrevocable trust can help if a person expects to receive Medi-Cal benefits in the future and a First-Party Special Needs Trust if a person is ready to receive Medi-Cal benefits.

Encino Estate Lawyer: What Happens to Your Digital Assets After You Pass Away?

Digital assets and what happens to them after you pass away are fairly new concerns for people. However, this issue must be given significant thought, since so much of our lives are impacted by the digital age. To help alleviate these concerns and give more control to those managing estates of the recently incapacitated or deceased, Congress passed The Revised Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, otherwise known as RUFADAA. This act allows fiduciaries (executors, trustees, and agents working with a Power of Attorney) to manage digital accounts owned by others, while at the same time affording the account owner a level of privacy.

LA County Elder Law Attorney: How to Help an Elderly Parent Manage Money

A concern for many adult children with an aging parent is whether or not they can still handle money and make sound choices regarding their financial affairs. There are many reasons why an elderly parent would have trouble handling their own finances, usually due to some physical or mental ailment or the loss of a spouse who normally handled the finances, though there are other times when the parent just decides they would rather have someone else handle financial decisions, so they may focus on other things.

Encino Trust Lawyer Answers: “What is a Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT)?”

Family homes and other real property are usually the most valuable assets in an estate. While homeowners may want to leave these properties to children or other beneficiaries as part of an inheritance, tax burdens can throw a wrench into those plans. Unfortunately, without proper planning, most beneficiaries cannot afford the taxes that come along with inheriting property, which usually forces the sale of a family home or other property after the homeowner dies.

What to Know about Healthcare Directives in Encino

Along with the Last Will and Testament and Power of Attorney, an Advanced Healthcare Directives is one of the core estate planning documents everyone should have. Depending on your circumstances, a Healthcare Directive can serve a number of purposes, but most typically coming into use when you’re incapacitated and cannot make health care decisions for yourself.

Planning for You and Your Partner in California

As many unmarried couples have found out, unfortunately, partners have no legal standing to manage affairs or inherit property if their loved one becomes sick or passes away. Without specific legal documents, unmarried partners cannot make financial or medical decisions on each other’s behalf, and without a Last Will and Testament, the laws of succession direct property held by a deceased individual to pass to their closest surviving relatives, typically parents, siblings, or children.

Estate Planning When You’re Ill in San Fernando Valley

Serious health diagnoses can impact your life in huge ways, and bring concerns you haven’t thought of up to the forefront. One of those concerns, which is often pushed off when everything is going well, is estate planning. You’ll want to know that your family is taken care of if the worst happens, and setting up an estate plan is the best method for making sure your wishes are known and your loved ones are cared for. But what do you need in order to have an effective estate plan when you’re ill?

My Adult Loved One Is Losing Control. How Do We File a Conservatorship in Los Angeles County?

A conservatorship, as it’s called in California, is given to somebody who petitions the court to give them control over an aspect or some aspects of another adult’s life. This is usually done because the adult is incapacitated in some way, due to disability or old age. However, a person can become subject to a conservatorship (“conservatee”) if they have another problem, such as mental illness or alcoholism.

Los Angeles County Elder Lawyer Answers, “What is the difference between Medicare and Medi-Cal?”

Medicare and Medi-Cal are two options for government-subsidized health care available to California seniors. However, they provide two very different sets of benefits, and just because you may qualify for one does not necessarily mean you’ll qualify for the other. Below is a list of the differences between the two …

When is it time to downsize in Encino?

At some point, once your kids have moved out and started their own families, you may start thinking about downsizing your house. Depending on your personal situation, that may mean either moving into a smaller house, a senior community, or an assisted living facility. If you’ve been considering such a …

Transitioning an elderly parent to an assisted living facility in Los Angeles County

Moving to an assisted living community no matter how it’s needed, is never an easy transition for elderly parents. Most do not want to leave the home they’ve known for years to move into unfamiliar surroundings, especially if they consider it to be a loss of independence. However, most will …

California Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment

End-of-life issues are never easy to talk about, but the fact is that they must be discussed when an elderly parent is ill and facing certain quality of life concerns. Prolonging life through the use of ventilators and feeding tubes is a scenario that few want to happen to them, …