How Does an Estate Plan Address Long Term Care Costs?

Estate planning considers aspects related to management of your assets over the course of your life and what happens to them after you pass away, but it can also go so much further.

When you work with a knowledgeable estate planning lawyer, you should be able to develop a holistic plan that considers multiple aspects of elder law and potential long term care needs. Increasingly, clients are asking their estate planning attorneys for support with the cost of long-term care.

Having Medicare doesn’t cover many of the expenses associated with a stay in a nursing facility, which can come as a shock when you or a loved one need to be moved into that facility as soon as possible. Without planning in advance, you may not qualify for Medicaid quickly enough to cover those expenses, either.

Given that one in four adults over age 65 will need to spend some time in a nursing facility at some point in the future, it is very valuable to think about how long-term care costs may be addressed in your estate plan. This may be liquidating an asset that could influence the rest of your decisions around what to pass on to future heirs, but it can also include a plan to qualify for Medicaid.

This often requires advanced forethought and the consideration of what you would do if you or a spouse needed to access long term care. Reviewing all of your options now puts you in a much better position if and when this issue comes up in the future.