Customized Estate Planning and Wealth Preservation

Over one-half of Americans will spend some time in a nursing home. The average monthly cost of a semi-private room in a nursing home is $8,000.00. As life expectancies and long term care costs continue to rise, many families now face the challenge of how to pay for these services. Unfortunately, most people are not aware that Medicare and private Medicare supplement insurance do not cover the cost of long term care.

An Elder Law attorney concentrates on the areas of the law that focus on legal issues affecting elders, their spouse and/or their children, such as aging, disability, incapacity, illness, and long-term care and nursing home planning. The Elder Law lawyer also reviews contracts with nursing homes, arrangements with individuals who will provide services to the elderly and agreements where property is being sold or transferred.

Wills, Trusts, Deeds, Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Surrogates ad Living Wills. These are just a few of the parts of the estate Planning process whereby a person develops a plan and prepares documents to conserve, protect, and distribute estate assets before and after death for the benefit of loved ones and charities, taking into consideration the effect of state and federal tax and administrative laws and regulations.

Long-term care is expensive, but our techniques will legally preserve your assets and protect your family from the astronomical cost. The earlier you begin planning, the better, but it is never too late to start – even if you or your loved one is already living in a long-term care facility.

Get assistance to plan for the future and preserve assets to pay for long-term care and to prepare planning documents, such as a will, trust, powers of attorney, living will, healthcare directives and deeds.

You may notice a friend or a family member who is losing the ability to manage financial, medical or legal, affairs.  That person may need a guardian appointed to help manage his or her affairs.  This is done through a guardianship proceeding.

A living will is considered to be one type of "advance directive" pertaining to health care decision-making. An advance directive is defined as a written instruction recognized under state law — such as a living will or durable power of attorney for health care — which relates to the provision of such care when the individual is incapacitated.

With over 20 years of legal experience, Barbara Buxton is equipped to handle civil mediation and other alternative dispute resolution arising from: Wills and trusts disputes; Guardianship disputes; Asset protection disputes; Probate disputes; Creditor claims; Residential and commercial real estate disputes; Business contract disputes; Other civil mediation.

A Power of Attorney is a document that contains distinct powers that allow an individual to act on behalf of another to manage legal, financial and sometimes health care decisions. While a Power of Attorney may appear to be a simple device to manage the affairs of another, a competent estate planner should be consulted to ensure that the desired powers are properly created in the document.

Wills allow people to state their preferences about how their estates should be handled after their deaths. Trusts are estate planning tools that can replace or augment wills, as well as help manage property during life. A trust manages the distribution of a person's property by transferring its benefits and obligations to different people.