Elder Law: What Is It?

May is National Elder Law Month! At The Law Offices of Samantha K. Wolfe, we are excited to celebrate all month long.  You might ask yourself, what is Elder Law and why does our firm celebrate it? Elder Law is a specific area of law that addresses the diverse legal needs of our aging population. Elder law focuses on Medicaid planning, disability and special needs planning, long-term care planning, estate planning, estate administration specifically settlement, guardianship or conservatorship, and elder abuse.
At the Law Offices of Samantha K. Wolfe, we focus on Medicaid planning, long-term care planning, estate planning, and estate administration. Elder Law is so important to us that we wanted to include our focus on elder law in our mission statement:
At The Law Offices of Samantha K. Wolfe, it is our mission to provide mindful legal direction for you and your future generations. We consider it a privilege to serve you. We are committed to fulfilling our mission to our clients by adhering to the following principles:
C-Collaborating with your accountant and financial advisor to create the best team for you.
A-Advocating for you and your family in times of crisis.
R-Reinforcing your estate plan with asset protection strategies.
E-Ensuring efficient administration upon your death.
We CARE. We are looking forward to serving you!
We wanted to provide you with some basic facts help kick-off Facts National Elder Law Month:
1. Medicare and Social Security Do Not Provide Everything You Need:

• A lot of individuals do not plan for retirement or long-term care because they think that the government will give them affordable health care and a great retirement. Sadly, this is not the case. Annually, 8,357,100 people receive support from the 5 main long-term care services: home health agencies (4,742,500), nursing homes (1,383,700), hospices (1,244,500), residential care communities (713,300) and adult day service centers (273,200).[1]
• Did you know the median annual cost of skilled nursing care is $133,188.48 in Pennsylvania?
• The average monthly cost of nursing home care every month is $11,099.04 in Pennsylvania (2021).
•  The average daily cost of nursing home care in Pennsylvania is $364.00 per day (2021)

2. Gifting Money Away or Adding Children onto Your Financial Accounts May be Bad:

• If you gift money away, you could possibly get denied for Medicaid benefits.
• If you give money within 5 years of applying for Medicaid benefits, there is a penalty applied, which means Medicaid will not pay anything towards your care unless you pay through the penalty.
• If you add children or other individuals as owners of your financial accounts or real estate and they have a car accident, are sued, or get a divorce your money is available to those creditors. For example, if your child goes through a divorce, whatever assets are titled in your child’s name may become part of the divorce proceedings, including any asset that you added the child as an owner.
• There is a difference between the amount you can gift for federal gift tax purposes ($15,000/per donor/per year) and for Medicaid ($500/per donor/per month). You may be gifting assets that are available for your care for 5 years after the transfer.
• If you gift assets to your children improperly, you may be subjecting them to the costs of your long-term care.

3. It is Not Just About Dying:

• Your Estate is about what you leave behind when you pass away, however, what happens if you become mentally or physically incapacitated before then? Be prepared.
• Everyone over the age of 18 should have a Financial Power of Attorney, Health Care Power of Attorney, and Living Will. The concern is not just about what happens when you die. Sometimes the more important question is what happens if you do not die but cannot make decisions.

4. Buyer Beware

• It might seem like a good idea to apply for Medicaid by yourself to save money, however, you might be denied or not qualify. The Medicaid rules can be tricky, and there are a lot of nuanced rules that legal professionals understand about what assets are available and under what circumstances.
• There are estate planning documents available online, however, the documents only provide a one-size-fits all plan. You and your family could end up spending large sums of money to correct mistakes. In Pennsylvania, there are certain powers you must grant to your agents under the Power of Attorney, otherwise the agent under your Financial Power of Attorney does not have the authority to complete certain tasks. For example, make sure your agent has unlimited gifting ability, the power to designate beneficiaries, and so much more.

5. Do Not Wait Until You Are “OLD”

• If you do not have plans before something happens to you physically or mentally if could be too late to protect yourself OR your family.
• Take steps while you have full capacity.
• You are never too OLD to be prepared. If you are over 18, travel, own a home, have a bank account, have children, care for aging parents, etc. get started.

The Law Offices of Samantha K. Wolfe, LLC offers FREE initial consultations. Call us at (717)-655-2676 to schedule today! Happy National Elder Law Month from all the gals at The Law Offices of Samantha K. Wolfe. We are excited to serve you!


[1] Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2013) Long- Term Care Services. Retrieved (January 2015) from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nsltcp/long_term_care_services_2013.pdf