Tag: Alzheimer’s

Presentation Wrap Up: Legal & Financial Planning for Alzheimer’s Disease

Attorney Mark E. Kellogg presenting on legal and financial planning for Alzheimer's Disease at MSU Federal Credit UnionFraser Trebilcock attorney Mark E. Kellogg recently presented a program on Legal & Financial Planning for Alzheimer’s Disease at MSU Federal Credit Union.

Advance planning is important for everyone, Mark explained, though especially so after an Alzheimer’s diagnosis so that the person with dementia is able to be involved in the planning as much as possible. As a volunteer with the Alzheimer’s Association Michigan Great Lakes Chapter, and an attorney/CPA, Mark shared information on legal topics that included advance directives, durable powers of attorney, legal capacity, and guardianship. Financial issues discussed at the program included long-term care insurance, tax deductions, Medicare, Medicaid, veteran’s benefits, and employment issues.

Mark E. Kellogg has devoted his nearly 30 years of practice to the needs of family and closely-held businesses and enterprises business succession, commercial lending, and estate planning. In addition to this wide breadth of experience practicing law, he is also a certified public accountant. These skills allow him to give his clients a unique insight when working with them.

For more information on Alzheimer’s disease and resources available, visit alz.org.

Alzheimer’s Legal and Financial Planning Tips

If you or someone you love has Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia, it is important to put legal and financial plans in place as soon as possible.

Fraser Trebilcock Elder Law attorney Melisa Mysliwiec says that proper planning helps to ensure that the person with the diagnosis is able to contribute to important decisions about health care and long-term care, finances and property, and deciding who will make decisions on his or her behalf if he or she becomes unable to do so.

“If plans are not made early,” she says, “it may leave the family of the Alzheimer’s patient to guess as to what their loved one would have wanted or worse, it may ultimately be up to the courts to decide.”

Melisa spoke recently to a group of Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers during a presentation at MSU Federal Credit Union. As an attorney who also volunteers with the Alzheimer’s Association, Melisa emphasized that early planning is key.

INFOGRAPHIC - Alzheimers-Legal-Financial-Planning

 

Some of the areas where our elder law attorneys can help you include:

  • Preparing Durable Power of Attorney for financial matters.
  • Exploring ways to defray long term care costs.
  • Assistance with Medicaid Planning and the Medicaid Application process for long term care benefits.
  • Protecting against elder abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation.
  • Handling various nursing home issues (payment, admissions, transfers, discharge, resident’s rights, and quality care).
  • Preparing Designations of Patient Advocate for health care matters.
  • Preserving assets to avoid spousal impoverishment when one spouse must enter a nursing home.
  • Guardianships, Conservatorships, and Protective Orders.
  • Exploring options for housing and living arrangements.
  • Estate planning through use of wills, trusts and other documents.

When it comes to Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, these decisions must be made early in the progression of the disease because, in later stages, the person with dementia may lack the legal capacity to make decisions. An elder care attorney can best assist you through the process.

Additional Resources:

Mysliwiec, Melisa

If you would like to talk with an attorney about putting legal plans in place, contact attorney Melisa M. W. Mysliwiec. Melisa focuses her work in the areas of Elder Law and Medicaid planning, estate planning, and trust and estate administration. She can be reached at mmysliwiec@fraserlawfirm.com or 616-301-0800.

New Rules Make Preventative Care for Alzheimer’s, Diabetes More Accessible for Medicare Patients

Employee Benefits AlertNew rules for Medicare services are about to take effect that will give people greater access to preventative care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) decided that, beginning January 1, 2017, Medicare will pay more for cognitive and behavioral assessments, diabetes prevention programs, and to patient-centered care for people living with multiple chronic conditions and cognitive impairment conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease.

CMS says the new payment rules are part of a push by the Administration to create a health-care system that emphasizes prevention and results in better care, smarter spending, and healthier people. The additional funding will go toward care coordination and patient-centered care, mental and behavioral health care, and cognitive impairment care assessment and planning.

Clinicians will also have the opportunity to be paid more for spending more time with patients. That extra time with physicians could be critically important for patients who have multiple chronic conditions, as older adults sometimes do.

For more information from CMS about the new rules, visit its website here and blog here.

Questions? Contact us to learn more.

Fraser Trebilcock provides counsel on all matters relating to the legal planning for care and support of those needing Medicare and Medicaid. Attorney Melisa M. W. Mysliwiec focuses her work in the areas of Elder Law and Medicaid planning, estate planning, and trust and estate administration. She can be reached at mmysliwiec@fraserlawfirm.com or 616-301-0800. You can also click here to learn more about our Trusts & Estates practice.

Join Team Fraser Trebilcock in Lansing’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s in September

Every 67 seconds, someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s Disease. It’s the sixth leading cause of death, killing more people than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined.

For many of us at Fraser Trebilcock, the fight against Alzheimer’s is personal. Some of us have held the hand of a loved  one, a close friend, or a grieving client, dealing with the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s disease. Our Trusts and Estates department is proud to be leading the Fraser Trebilcock team at the Walk to End Alzheimer’s event this fall.

Continue reading Join Team Fraser Trebilcock in Lansing’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s in September