Alzheimer's Information Center - 10 Critical Mistakes to Avoid

10 Critical Mistakes Alzheimer’s Patients Need to
Avoid When Applying for Medicaid

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  • 1. Attempting to be Your Own Lawyer:

    Only an experienced New York Elder law attorney will have the extensive knowledge of Medicaid regulations, asset protection strategies, and tax and estate issues to be able to advise you properly. In addition, the process of completing the very detailed Medicaid application is complex, time-consuming and riddled with opportunities to make costly mistakes, which can result in delay or denial of benefits. Attempting to do your own legal work is fraught with traps for the unwary. Get professional help and let a qualified Elder Law firm do the job for you.

  • 2. Putting Your Head in the Sand:

    Once you receive a definite diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease or any other dementia-related medical condition, every day you wait before putting an effective asset protection plan in place costs you money. Medicaid will scrutinize all your financial transactions going back up five years, if you subsequently need to apply for nursing home benefits. While it’s still possible to gain certain advantages even with last-minute planning, delay can cost you approximately half of the assets you’ve worked hard to acquire.

  • 3. Being a Control Addict:

    Effective Elder Law planning can involve transferring assets into protective trusts, or directly to family members. In addition, one or more loved ones in whom you have confidence will have to be appointed to administer your affairs, when you lack the capacity to make financial, medical and healthcare decisions for yourself. The bottom line is that if there is no one you can trust enough to handle these responsibilities, effective steps cannot be taken to protect your assets. You will then lose them due to Medicaid’s “spend down” regulations, which will require you to exhaust almost everything you have before becoming eligible for benefits.

  • 4. Taking Unnecessary Risks:

    The entire spectrum of Elder Law techniques, approaches and strategies is broad and varied. Some are more risk-laden than others. You will do best to choose a law firm that has a conservative orientation and a history of delivering reliable results to clients. Lamson & Cutner believes in using tried and true techniques, with a proven record of success in achieving projected outcomes.

  • 5. Choosing the Wrong Law Firm:

    There are many areas of law today, each with its own group of practitioners. It’s a big mistake to assume that a firm which does anything other than Elder Law is qualified to advise you on Medicaid matters. There’s a number of complex Medicaid, estate, tax, and guardianship laws, rules and regulations, which need to be taken intro account for effective Elder Law planning. Only those attorneys whose main practice is Elder Law will be able to employ them appropriately for your specific situation.

  • 6. Not Letting Your Preferences be Clearly Known:

    If others don’t know what you want, how can they do the right things for you? The answer is they can’t. Your Elder Law attorney will help you clarify your financial, medical, healthcare and lifestyle preferences, and then formalize them in written legal documents. These papers will govern all future decisions made on your behalf. Best of all, you will be the one to determine in advance what you would like to have happen, so that when mental capacity is lost through illness, your interests are still protected.

  • 7. Locking Up Your Money:

    One of the biggest obstacles to effective Elder Law planning is investments that tie up your money for extended periods of time, and obstruct the ability to make necessary transfers. Financial institutions are aggressively marketing various types of annuities and other financial products that encumber funds for a long time, and expose clients to high penalties for early withdrawal. It’s a good idea to speak to your Medicaid lawyer about these potential pitfalls before you invest.

  • 8. Relying on Long-Term Care Insurance:

    A common misconception is that long-term care insurance is the best option for paying the cost of care when you’re old, ill or disabled. The facts simply do not support this conclusion in a significant number of cases. Many individuals cannot afford to buy enough coverage at a sufficiently early age to cover today’s extraordinary costs of long-term care. In these instances, the expense cannot justify itself, and you are better off with effective Medicaid planning.

    If you have a family history of Alzheimer’s or dementia, and suspect you may be in the early stages due to increased memory loss (although you might not yet have a diagnosis), don’t make the mistake of loading up on long-term care insurance without talking to a New York Elder Law attorney.

  • 9. Picking the Wrong Trustee or Agent:

    Many Elder Law techniques require the appointment of another person to handle crucial transactions and to make important choices for you, if you lack capacity to do so. Selecting someone who is unreliable, or not particularly bright, for these responsibilities is one of the worst of all decisions you could make. Address this carefully with your Elder Law attorney. Let your lawyer ask you some pointed questions to help narrow down the possibilities to the most qualified individual.

  • 10. Trying To Hide Things from Your Attorney and Medicaid:

    The secrets always come out, sooner or later, and usually at a very bad time. The one thing that will put a permanent end to your Medicaid benefits is to be accused of fraud. Everything is tracked by computer databases these days. It’s a major error to think you can hide transfers of money or other critical information. Medicaid has a lot of experience in ferreting out cheats.

    Your lawyers can’t help you if they don’t know the full extent of your assets and income. You don’t have to hide things. There’s a legal and proper way to solve problems, and it’s unlikely that your Elder Law attorney won’t already have dealt with similar issues for other clients.

To learn more about the advantages Elder Law planning can provide for you and your family, download Lamson & Cutner’s FREE, informative Special Reports now:

The Top Ten Elder Law Strategies for Alzheimer’s Patients and Their Families

25 Strategies to Prevent Financial Ruin for Long-Term Health Care Costs

Don’t make these mistakes. Get experienced representation from one of New York’s leading Elder Law firms. Call Lamson & Cutner today, toll-free at 1 (212) 447-8690.