A Minneapolis Estate Planning Lawyer Dispels 13 Myths About Planning for Your Twilight Years Misconception #1: Most seniors move into nursing homes as a result of minor physical ailments that make it hard for them to get around.  Wrong!  A large number of admissions to nursing homes are actually due to serious health, behavior, and safety issues caused…

Minneapolis Estate Planning Attorney Explains Minnesota’s Medical Assistance Program.  Medicaid, known as Medical Assistance in Minnesota, is a federal health program for individuals with low income and financial resources that is administered by each state. This program is intended to help individuals and couples pay for the cost of health care and nursing home care….

Many people purchase a life insurance policy as a way to ensure that their dependents are protected upon their passing. Generally speaking, there are two basic types of life insurance policies: term life and whole life insurance. With a term policy, the holder pays a monthly, or yearly, premium for the policy which will pay…

A Minneapolis Estate Planning and Probate Lawyer Discusses Estate Planning Issues Specific to Seniors Misconception #1: Most seniors move into nursing homes as a result of minor physical ailments that make it hard for them to get around.  Wrong!  A large percentage of admissions to nursing homes is because of serious health, behavior, and safety…

Advance Planning Can Help Relieve the Worries of Alzheimer’s Disease The “ostrich syndrome” is part of human nature; it’s unpleasant to observe that which frightens us.  However, pulling our heads from the sand and making preparations for frightening possibilities can provide significant emotional and psychological relief from fear. When it comes to Alzheimer’s disease and…

Minnesota Estate Planning Attorney Discusses Frequent Issues/Concerns that Arise When Handling Someone’s Estate Problem #1: Probate. Probate is the Court-supervised process of passing title and ownership of a deceased person’s property to his or her heirs. The process consists of assembling assets, giving notice to creditors, paying bills and taxes, and passing title to property…

A Minnesota Elder Law Attorney Discusses Ways to Make Your Home Safe When Caring for an Aging Parent Let’s face it – it’s tough getting old. The aches, pains, and pills often associated with aging are things that many members of the baby-boomer generation know all too well by now. Though you might not be…

Gov. Mark Dayton is seeking a waiver from the Federal Government that will allow Minnesota to put into place its own bipartisan plan that should make it easier to connect people to services, steering them out of institutions and into home-based care. In seeking the wavier, the state asserts that instead of paying the astronomical…

An article in the Star Tribune reported today that the number of Minnesotans on Medicaid – called Medical Assistance in Minnesota – shot up at nearly twice the national rate over the past two years, while state costs increased by 40 percent.  The total number of Minnesotans enrolled in the state-federal health insurance program increased…

Joint Bank Accounts and Medicaid Eligibility Like most governmental benefit programs, there are many myths surrounding Medicaid (called Medical Assistance in Minnesota) and eligibility for benefits. One of the most common myths is the belief that only 50% of the funds in a jointly-owned bank account will be considered an asset for the purposes of…