Senior citizens in today’s world face several unique legal and practical challenges, including concerns about their healthcare, protecting their assets, or getting someone to care for them if they become incapacitated.
Elder law is specifically dedicated to senior citizens or older adults to provide solutions to some of these problems and help them prepare for their future. It is a broad area of law encompassing several legal fields that work together to protect seniors and help them live in dignity while they are alive. However, getting the best out of the elder law legal framework requires early decision-making and planning ahead. That’s where we come in.
Our committed elder law attorneys at Elder Law Guidance are here to guide you and help you navigate the intricate elder law provisions to give you control over your affairs. Seniors like you are the core of our practice, and we offer a comprehensive range of services to help you protect your assets, future, and loved ones, depending on your unique needs.
We serve clients across Central & Southeastern KY. If you are in these areas or want to learn more about elder law in Kentucky, we invite you to read on as we explain the basics and specific ways we can serve you.
Understanding Elder Law
Elder Law is an area of legal practice that involves counseling and representing older persons and sometimes their caregivers, representatives, or loved ones about the legal elements of;
- Health and long-term care planning
- Access to public benefits such as Medicaid
- The administration and transfer of estates
- The tax consequences that could arise due to such issues.
Failure to address these issues in time can create a lot of uncertainty in an older individual’s life.
Also, although people are living longer because of advances in medicine, healthcare costs are rising at a rate faster than most people’s finances can afford, especially older people who no longer work and have to rely on their pensions and government benefits to survive.
Elder law helps to ensure the well-being and protection of such older individuals by allowing them to proactively plan and prepare for various aspects of aging.
Key Areas of Elder Law
Elder law in Kentucky covers several crucial areas of concern for which seniors might need legal assistance. They include the following;
Estate Planning
Estate planning involves organizing your assets, creating the necessary legal documents to manage them optimally during your lifetime, and distributing them after death. The process involves drafting wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and any other legal document to make your wishes for your estate legally enforceable even in your absence.
Long-Term Care Planning
Elderly individuals often require long-term care at home or in a nursing facility. However, because long-term care is very expensive, those who need it often require government benefits to afford it. Still, certain government benefits, such as Medicaid, cannot be obtained unless the beneficiary is a low-income earner.
Long-term care planning allows seniors who cannot afford their health care expenses to reorganize their assets to keep them eligible for crucial public benefits instead of spending all they own and wish to distribute to their loved ones on the cost of such care. With long-term care planning, you can safeguard your assets and maintain a reasonable quality of life while getting the care you deserve.
Incapacity Planning
A person can become incapacitated at any time and unable to make decisions for themselves. This could be due to illness or injury. The risk for such issues increases with age, hence the need for incapacity planning as you get older.
Incapacity planning allows you to create an incapacity plan, specifying your wishes for your health care, assets, or your loved ones if you get incapacitated. It allows you to control your future ahead of time and also helps protect your family and loved ones from making tough choices about your care in emergencies, which they may regret if anything goes wrong.
If you fail to make an incapacity plan, the court may have to appoint a guardian or conservator to make decisions and take charge of your affairs. Even though the guardian or conservator may be a family member, they may not handle your affairs in the desired manner. Hence, there is a need to create a plan and appoint a trusted individual to manage your healthcare and financial affairs, avoid court involvement, and ensure your wishes are fulfilled.
Why Choose Elder Law Guidance?
At Elder Law Guidance (The Elder Law Practice of Scott E. Collins, PLLC), we have built a solid reputation of success, assisting senior citizens and providing personalized legal solutions to help them secure their assets, future, and loved ones.
Our law firm is wholly dedicated to elder law, with a special focus on helping families protect all they have worked for throughout their lives from the crushing effects of high healthcare costs.
We have a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the intricate laws and details that go into making essential plans for your future as an older adult, which requires proficiency and education beyond a general attorney’s scope of practice.
You can trust us to handle your case competently and with diligence when you face losing everything you own and wish to put your affairs in order.
Our Practice Areas
Our dedicated team offers topnotch legal representation and guidance in the following areas;
- Medicaid & Medicare Planning: To help you protect your assets and home from loss due to the high costs of long-term care and help you stay qualified for Medicaid and Medicare benefits.
- Special Needs Planning: To protect people with disabilities and ensure their well-being.
- Veteran’s Disability Compensation: Our care for veterans is a top priority. We can help with your most complicated compensation appeals and provide a review of your case to suggest a path forward as you fight to get your entitlements from the Kentucky Department of Veteran Affairs (VA).
- Veteran’s Wartime Pension: Qualifying for the Veteran’s Wartime Pension can be challenging. Veteran’s Wartime Pension rules are written in a way that makes qualifying nearly impossible. We can guide you to qualify when others say you cannot.
- Estate Planning & Probate: Through proactive estate planning, we aim to ease the burden on your loved ones and ensure a smoother transition of assets after death. By planning in advance, you can reduce the stress on your children and loved ones when they are already going through a difficult time of loss and grief.
- Guardianship/Conservatorship: We help families navigate Kentucky’s unique guardianship laws to secure the care and financial protection of their loved ones.
We are committed to helping ease your anxiety, alleviate your fears, and answer your many questions, no matter your needs. Whether you or your parents are about to embark on a move to a nursing home, assisted living, or rehabilitation center, or you are thinking ahead to the future of your loved one with special needs, we can guide you and help you protect your home, retirement, and savings for your spouse and heirs.
Meet Our Team
Our law firm is owned and led by Scott E. Collins, Esq., a U.S. Army veteran and former minister. His passion is to help others build a better future for themselves and their families. Scott Collins is a highly rated elder law attorney and is also accredited by the Kentucky VA to help claimants understand and pursue their VA benefits.
As a testament to his knowledge and elder law experience, He has also been selected to the Kentucky Super Lawyers Rising Stars list for three years in a row. The list is limited to just 2.5 percent of lawyers statewide in specific practice areas who were chosen after a thorough evaluation of numerous criteria.
Our team also includes two competent associate attorneys, Sarah-James Sendor., Esq. and Tressa Root Hamilton, Esq., and several highly qualified paralegals, case managers, and legal assistants, all of whom work together to help you take control of your affairs and give you peace of mind.
Here, Wherever, and Whenever You Need Us
Elder Law is crucial in protecting the rights and interests of seniors and their families in Richmond, KY. Our elder law Richmond, KY lawyers at Elder Law Guidance are also here to help you navigate the legal provisions to help you prepare for your future ahead of time.
We want to make your life easier, whether that’s through thoughtful counsel or making meetings as convenient as possible. We can meet you at our downtown Richmond office in a beautiful historic home; we can arrange for a phone or video conference, meet you at a care facility, or make special arrangements for those with limited mobility.
So, no matter the elder law issues you might have, we encourage you to take the first steps toward securing your assets in the future. Contact us for a free initial consultation and discuss your concerns, goals, and priorities with our legal team.
Let our elder law lawyers review your case and help you craft a personalized plan to address your unique goals and needs.
