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Assisting clients with Elder Law, Medicaid planning, and Medicaid eligibility and Medicaid applications in Elmira and throughout Chemung County, Steuben County and Schuyler County, NY.

What is Elder Law?

Elder Law is the field of law practiced by specially trained attorneys referred to as Elder Law Attorneys. As a firm concentrated in the practice of Elder Law, we are able to help you successfully finance your long-term care needs with the lowest impact on your personal worth; protecting your home and savings from being consumed by the high price of nursing home care.  We also help to protect your home and savings by developing a comprehensive and personalized long-term care plan designed to select the best options available for your care.

Areas of Elder Law that We Cover

Long-Term Care Planning

It’s not uncommon for people to spend the later years of their life in nursing home care, with roughly 50% of all Americans requiring additional care at some point. With proper planning you can avoid the worry and drain that the cost of long-term care will place on your savings and on your hard-earned resources – or those of your family members.

Medicare and Medicaid Planning

Medicaid is a very valuable source of long-term care funding for nursing home care or other types of in-home long-term care. Even if you think you own too much or your income is too high to qualify for Medicaid, there are ways to qualify with the help of an experienced attorney that will save you tens of thousands of dollars. You can work around the income and asset limits for Medicaid eligibility by knowing what is and is not included in eligibility, such as your home or vehicle. You might also think you have to “spend down” your net worth to qualify for Medicaid. We can help devise a plan that does not require you to spend everything you have before qualifying for Medicaid.

Powers of Attorney and Guardianships

In life, horrifying events can occur that leave you incapacitated and unable to make decisions about vital matters. This includes incidents like a debilitating car accident, a major stroke, dementia or Alzheimer’s, a mental illness or other diseases like brain cancer. We don’t like to imagine these scenarios but failing to plan can leave your home and savings at risk and thrust your loved ones into a perilous legal battle at a time when they are already emotionally vulnerable.

Selecting a trusted friend or family member as your agent under a power of attorney or as your guardian can help them navigate your care in the event that something terrible does happen. Advance medical directives and powers of attorney take the gray areas out of the situation and help determine your financial and legal next steps. These documents can be drafted so they won’t go into effect unless you become unable to speak on your own behalf.

By putting a power of attorney document in place you can protect your loved ones from having to petition the courts for guardianship.

In New York, There Are Two Major Categories of Guardianship.

The first type of guardianship pertains to children.  The second type of guardianship is for any non-child. These guardianships can protect your person as well as your property. A guardian can help you with all of your personal and healthcare needs, such as finding the right in-home or nursing home care facilities, managing your day-to-day needs, making medical decisions, and managing your personal finances. You want to determine who will be making these critical decisions before anything happens to you so you aren’t left unable to choose who will care for you and how.

Your Elder Law Attorney in Elmira and throughout Chemung County, Steuben County and Schuyler County, NY.

Donald W Mustico, Attorney at Law can help you plan in advance for the necessary protections of your assets and ensure you have the financial resources needed to cover your stay at a skilled nursing home facility. We can also help you plan out the best way to protect your home and savings for your heirs while maintaining your Medicaid eligibility. We utilize comprehensive long-term care planning to make sure that every needed resource is available to you and your loved ones are not left in legal flux.

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