While you may have reached an age when you are entitled to do what you wish, it is still important to consider the senior legal matters you may need to address. Most people understandably put off these uncomfortable plans. Guidance from an experienced estate planning attorney could help make your choices about long-term healthcare, wills, and trusts easier.

Plans such as who will make decisions for you if you become incapacitated do have to be made. A Lake St. Louis elder law lawyer could guide you through them.

Wills and Trusts

The probate court follows the directions in wills that describe who will categorize and distribute a deceased person’s assets and who will receive them. Dying without a will, or intestate, means the courts will stand in for the decedent and determine who gets what by Missouri law. This procedure runs the risk of someone, such as an estranged spouse, getting money and other assets the decedent did not intend.

A revocable trust allows its maker to add and remove beneficiaries during their lifetime and avoid probate at the time of death. An irrevocable Medicaid asset protection trust helps the maker qualify for Medicaid, which pays for nursing home care. A qualified elder law lawyer in Lake St. Louis could discuss a client’s needs and draft appropriate documents.

Long-Term Healthcare Planning

Missouri’s Medicaid system is called MO HealthNet, and many older people plan to qualify for it. The program pays for assisted living and nursing home care, and assets are passed down to family instead of taken by the state.

Vendor Medicaid sets the rules to qualify, which differ for married and unmarried applicants. The rules for valuing and transferring assets are also complex. Those who have more assets than are allowed will be ineligible.

Medicaid looks back five years from the application date and can consider assets such as primary homes if they were sold during the look-back period. Consult a Lake St. Louis elder law attorney to discuss qualifying for MO HealthNet.

Conservatorship and Guardianship

Courts appoint guardians or conservators when people cannot express their wishes because of physical or mental illnesses. A guardian oversees a person’s everyday life, makes housing and medical decisions, and ensures friends and associates are not trying to exploit the person. A conservator manages assets such as finances, real estate, and investments.

Powers of Attorney

People enact powers of attorney to choose representatives, or agents, they want to make financial and healthcare decisions if they become physically or mentally incapacitated. These documents remove the need for the court to appoint a guardian or conservator.

A general durable power of attorney for finances starts after a person cannot make decisions concerning banking, paying bills, or managing investment accounts. Spouses are permitted to make financial decisions about jointly owned assets, but must have a spouse’s valid, durable financial power of attorney to manage separate assets.

A durable healthcare power of attorney assigns an agent the duty to make healthcare treatment decisions, such as whether to have surgery after a catastrophic accident when patients cannot communicate their wishes.

Living Wills

A physician’s directive, known commonly as a living will, informs the person’s medical team how to handle their end stage. This includes whether they prefer pain management, if they want to be kept alive on a ventilator, and whether they want a feeding tube. The patient must contemplate what life support measures are personally appropriate when they are terminal and unresponsive.

Safeguard Your Estate With Help From a Lake St. Louis Elder Law Attorney

You have unique needs as a senior, including protecting and allocating your assets and determining your healthcare wishes. It is common to put off these decisions when you feel fine and have a lot to do.

The best time to plan for the future is now. We offer you the peace of knowing a Lake St. Louis elder law lawyer has heard your wishes and put the documents you need to make them known in place. Contact our firm today to schedule your consultation.