Elder Law News

Caring for an ailing family member is difficult work, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be unpaid work. There are programs available that allow Medicaid recipients to hire family members as caregivers. 

A new report that combines nursing home quality data with a survey of family members ranks the best and worst states for care and paints a picture of how Americans view nursing homes.

Traditionally, Medicaid has paid for long-term care in a nursing home, but because most individuals would rather be cared for at home and home care is cheaper, all 50 states now have Medicaid programs that offer at least some home care. 

We’ve all heard the advice “It pays to shop around,” but this has never been more true than with the current market for long-term care insurance. 

This is the last year that spouses who are turning full retirement age can choose whether to take spousal benefits or to take benefits on their own record. The strategy, used by some couples to maximize their benefits, will not be available to people turning full retirement age after 2019. 

Having a loved one with dementia can be scary, but if you add in a firearm, it can also get dangerous.  To prevent harm to both the individual with dementia and others, it is important to plan ahead for how to deal with any weapons. 

The federal government has released the 2019 federal guidelines for how much money the spouses of Medicaid recipients may keep, as well as related Medicaid figures..

Medicare's hospice benefit is one of the most comprehensive benefits and can be extremely helpful to both the terminally ill individual and his or her family, but it is little understood and underutilized. 

The older the population gets, the greater the potential for elder abuse. States have laws in place designed to combat elder abuse, but some states are doing a better job than others.

The new tax law makes it harder to claim a tax deduction for charitable contributions. While charitable giving should not be only about getting a tax break, if you want to get a tax benefit from your contributions, there are a couple of options.