Planning for Change

The only thing constant is change. This is as true in care planning as it is in all areas of life. A good estate plan is one that can adapt and change with the curveballs life throws at you. This also means a good estate plan is one that you periodically review. It is not uncommon to see a Last Will that is twenty or thirty years old. The toddlers you named Guardians for are now adults with toddlers of their own. If you let your plans gather too much dust they may no longer be useful!
It is a good idea to have your documents reviewed every seven to ten years just to see if there were changes in the law, or in your needs. Are the people you named to various positions still right for the job? For example, most spouses name each other on all documents, with one or more of the kids listed as a backup. Yet later in life, your spouse may not be as sharp as they once were. Consider listing your spouse and your child as co-power of attorney, so that either can sign a check or order a transaction. That way they can share the job, and the child can assist without taking all power away from your spouse.
Plans may also change if someone gets sick, or passes away. Many families come to my office for help with Medicaid planning. We help them rearrange their assets so they can keep the house and hard-earned savings, while getting Medicaid dollars to pay for care at home. More than once, we have seen the healthy spouse pass away unexpectedly. So we always plan for that possibility, and create a special Last Will so that assets do not go back to the Medicaid spouse where they would be spent down. The assets also do not go to anyone else, because that would take away the Medicaid spouse’s eligibility. Instead, the assets drop into a trust where they can be used for the Medicaid spouse without taking away their program.
In the event the healthy spouse does not pass away, but instead starts to need care themselves, we again plan ahead. After the Medicaid spouse is approved for funding, we change focus to the healthy spouse. This means planning 5 years ahead, so if they later need care too we are ready to protect assets. It is possible they do not stay healthy a full five years, in which case we have to use different strategies to protect assets that do not take 5 years to work. There are a few! The bottom line is that with good planning, and review of those plans along the way, changes in life will not surprise you in an unhappy way.

Attorney Halley C. Allaire is principal in the law firm of Allaire Elder Law, a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Inc., with an office at 271 Farmington Avenue, Bristol, (860) 259-1500, or on the web at www.allaireelderlaw.com. If you have a question, send a note to Attorney Halley C. Allaire and your question may be discussed in a future column.