New York Elder Law Attorney Blog

Virtually everyone would prefer to age gracefully. Unfortunately, many seniors never get that chance and instead face serious health deterioration that occurs quickly, often without warning. This creates complications for many families who wait to conduct long-term care planning. Our New York elder law attorneys realize that many local community members have every intention of seeking out professional help to ensure they have access to the resources they need in their golden years. But many residents simply wait too long before seeking out that assistance, limiting the options available. It is ideal to plan before one's health deteriorates to have maximum benefit from the process.

This is particularly true in the case of cognitive mental diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia. Experts on the condition explain that there remains a big problem with early detection. Many family members fail to discover that a loved one's mental condition has been affected by the condition until the loss of functioning is severe. This often makes dealing with the senior's medical needs much more complicated, particularly when a Health Care Proxy and Power of Attorney were not previously created.

Sadly, waiting too long before conducting New York elder care planning is like crossing a one-way bridge. With our current state of medical knowledge the effects of these cognitive conditions are virtually permanent--we have yet to master treatment options that might reverse most of the damage. However, this week scientists out of Case Western Reserve University announced what some are calling a "breakthrough" in Alzheimer's research. Published in a report in this week's edition of the journal Science, the researchers have apparently discovered a cancer drug that has been able to reverse Alzheimer's symptoms in certain animal modules.

In both humans and animals, Alzheimer's conditions are caused by plague deposits that build up in the brain. According to the report, this cancer drug was able to cut down on the number of plaque deposits in the test cases. In some situations the drug was able to completely reverse the cognitive and memory deficits caused by the condition within 72 hours.

The drug, Bexarotene, has been approved in the U.S. for cancer treatment for the last ten years. However, scientists now know that it may have important implications for the millions suffering from Alzheimer's as well. The lead author of the study summarized, "This is a particularly exciting and rewarding study [...] Our next objective is to ascertain if it acts similarly in humans. We are at an early stage in translating this basic science discovery into a treatment."

Hopefully one day the consequences of debilitating conditions like Alzheimer's and dementia can be reversed. This latest research seems to be a positive step in that direction. However, until that day comes, all residents should be prudent about their planning choices and make preparations for their senior care and inheritance issues as early as possible. Planning can never be conducted too early, but it is often conducted too late.

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The Bellingham Herald discussed an often overlooked but vital matter that is of serious concern to our New York elder law estate planning attorneys: elder financial exploitation. Our work helping local residents avoid the probate process, save taxes, and plan for disability, involves elements of trust and relationship-building. Yet, we understand that there are some criminals who are bent on building up trust with seniors only to use their position of influence for their own gain. These fraudulent actors can be found in various settings, from nursing homes and assisted living facilities to one's own network of friends and family. All local seniors must remain alert to these dangers.

Prevention is particularly important with elder financial abuse, because after the crime is perpetrated there is often little that authorities can do to correct the harm. The Herald story discussed one senior who lost nearly $775,000 in a scheme in which he thought he was investing money only to learn that it was being stolen. The company in which he invested filed for bankruptcy and as was later described as a mere Ponzi scheme. The man leading the fraudulent enterprise was arrested, but the money taken from the senior victim was gone.

Some advocates are raising concerns about the tools available to authorities to help these victims, making it difficult to protect them before they suffer actual financial harm. For example, at the time the victim described in this story began dealing with the fraudulent investor, that investor was already the target of multiple ethics probes for misappropriation of client funds and had actually been charged with a crime. Yet nothing was done to stop the criminal from swindling others. One advocate explained that this case is far from unique. He noted, "It is a common complaint in fraud cases involving the elderly: prosecutors, social service agencies, and attorney regulators are often slow to act, and by the time they do, the damage is done." Prosecutorial inexperience handling these cases is part of the problem. In addition, some claim that local police officials are not properly trained to handle these matters.

At the end of the day, area seniors should look into the experience, reputation, and recommendations of all those from who they seek financial counsel, from New York elder law attorneys and accountants to investment advisors. Beyond that, however, prosecutors, caregivers, and other senior advocates must work to create environments where seniors can easily report problems and have their concerns timely attended to. According to new data, authorities are currently only handling one out of every forty six reported cases of elder financial exploitation.

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Local residents who are diagnosed with Alzheimer's or other cognitive diseases face a series of mental, medical, and emotional challenges. Our New York elder law estate planning attorneys work with many families who have loved ones battling these disabling diseases. Unfortunately, many area residents fail to take appropriate preparatory steps before a victim's mental capacity is lost. As a result, these families often face difficulties with inheritances and have challenges defining who is in control of legal, financial, and medical issues. Many also struggle to protect the senior's assets from long-term care costs.

Advocates are working to raise awareness of these issues to help the thousands of local families who are forced to deal with the situation each year after a dementia diagnosis. For example, the New York Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association began programs this week to support September's designation as World Alzheimer's Month. The local organization is sponsoring a variety of activities to raise money for research, support those battling the disease, and educate local families on the importance of conducting New York Alzheimer's planning. The local advocacy group is offering care consultation services to help families who face many challenges following an Alzheimer's diagnosis. The organization explained that "the goal is for each family to develop a better understanding of the disease, make a plan to secure needed care, and develop strategies for the best possible symptom management and communication."

For area community members, the necessary planning usually involves a visit to a New York elder law estate planning attorney to ensure that all the legal affairs are in order. Timing is important, because victims of these diseases often lose the ability to communicate. It is vital to work through these planning issues in the earliest stages of the disease.

A legal professional will be able to help the family with estate planning issues like updating inheritance documents, drafting a Power of Attorney, and designating a Health Care Proxy. In addition, an attorney that possesses expertise in elder law will be able to advise the family on how to apply for Medicaid benefits and to protect assets from possible long-term healthcare costs. One of the most common ways that assets are protected is through the use of a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust. These trusts often involve the designation of adult children as "trustees" to manage the trust. The individual's assets are then placed in the trust to protect them from the requirement that they be "spent down" before the senior qualifies for Medicaid assistance. Many Alzheimer's patients spend years needing close medical care. That care often costs over ten thousands of dollars a month, and so planning ahead for that need is essential.

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Elder law estate planning is a unique legal niche that addresses two often interrelated sets of needs. Over the past few decades many more families have become exposed to "estate taxes" and have been made aware of the costs of the probate process. As a result, the creation of trusts to avoid probate has increased in popularity. Concurrently, many of those same individuals need assistance navigating the often complex processes connected to long-term healthcare. The effect of Medicaid rules and regulations, nursing home costs, and similar factors become a vital part of the decisions that all individuals make about their overall estate.

The interrelatedness of these two areas makes the understanding of both vital for effective planning. In other words, estate planning may be ineffective without accounting for elder law issues and vice versa.

Even with the growing popularity of these issues, many community members remain unfamiliar with the legal niche that combines both. Earlier this week a New York elder law estate planning lawyer from our firm, Bonnie Kraham, Esq., published a story in the Times Herald-Record that attempts to spread some basic information and terminology about elder law estate planning. A variety of terms are defined to take some of the mystery out of the process. Many of these are words that residents may have heard discussed but never knew exactly to what they referred.

For example, in legal parlance an "estate" consists of all of an individual's property and assets. It includes a wide range of things from homes, bank accounts, stocks, life insurance, and even personal items like jewelry. The "estate tax" is imposed upon the estate based on the value of all of those things. Many people remain surprised at the scope of items that are counted toward the tax which the survivors must pay.

Medicaid is the "needs based" medical insurance program that the state administers which often provides payment for services like nursing home care. The "Medicaid Asset Protection Trust" is a trust created while one is alive to protect them from the expense of long-term care and nursing home costs. In general, these trusts allow an individual to receive support through Medicaid without first wiping out their assets to pay for the costs.

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