When a parent suffers a stroke or other acute illness, the family is suddenly faced with difficult and costly decisions about where to get care and how to pay for it. There is also another matter of great concern, and that is who is legally liable to pay for very expensive long term care, either at home or in a nursing home.

Sooner or later every generation faces the minor or major issues, involving safety, care, and living arrangements as parents age. Physical ability, mental acuity and increasing dependency on help from others are the issues that have to be addressed. Let’s look at a typical aging couple and in this example assume the husband is developing a degree of dementia and decline in motor skills.

The family home is not only where years of precious memories reside, and for many people it is their most valuable asset. It’s natural for parents to want to pass on that home, or its value, to their children or grandchildren. In most cases, that can be done with appropriate planning at the appropriate age, which is when people get up in years and have an increased risk of long term care. The following information outlines what the rules are and how they can protect that home, and other assets as well.

A recent letter to us from a Connecticut resident asked how to find a caring, responsible advocate to provide for her well-being in the later stages of life. A significant part of the answer is to retain a law firm that is part of the national Life Care Planning Law Firms Association. That is comprised of law firms dedicated to a holistic elder law practice “that offer legal resources to help elderly clients and their families respond to the challenges of aging, long term illness and disability. That kind of law firm has elder care coordinators (usually social workers) and lawyers and paralegals who know the Medicaid rules and Veteran Administration rules for homecare in Connecticut. The goal of the Life Care Planning Law Firm is first and foremost to do the planning and documents necessary to keep the elder person in the best living situation in the community, and not in a nursing home.

Sooner or later most people think about and talk about common concerns should they pass away. Below is a brief summary of some of those concerns.

A Trust is a tool you may consider creating as part of your estate planning. There are many reasons one may make sense for you. For example, if you want to delay someone’s inheritance, perhaps because there is a special needs situation, or you think the beneficiary should be at least 25 or 30 years of age, or older before being given their inheritance directly to make their own decisions (and perhaps mistakes). Perhaps you fear your child’s marriage may not last much longer. Those are typical reasons. However, a trust can also be used to simplify probate and/or for asset protection for you, not just the inheritance of others. That is less known, but very helpful. Trusts are a more common tool than you may realize!