[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.amorusolaw.com\/blog\/your-children-wish-you-had-an-estate-plan-greenwich-ct-new-york-ny\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.amorusolaw.com\/blog\/your-children-wish-you-had-an-estate-plan-greenwich-ct-new-york-ny\/","headline":"Your Children Wish You Had an Estate Plan","name":"Your Children Wish You Had an Estate Plan","description":"\u201cWithout a proper elder law estate plan, the children\u2019s responsibilities are even more exhausting, stressful and sad.\u201d It is the adult children who oversee aging parents when they need long-term care. They are also the ones who settle estates when parents die. Even if they can\u2019t always come out and tell you, the recent article, […]","datePublished":"2020-06-19","dateModified":"2023-07-29","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.amorusolaw.com\/blog\/author\/amorusolaw\/#Person","name":"Amoruso & Amoruso LLP","url":"https:\/\/www.amorusolaw.com\/blog\/author\/amorusolaw\/","identifier":5,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/12de032c04195e9c39a06a6d6eea182f7b4fa655c20e245f8094a244b5cdd0cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/12de032c04195e9c39a06a6d6eea182f7b4fa655c20e245f8094a244b5cdd0cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Amoruso & Amoruso LLP","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.amorusolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/amoruso-logo.svg","url":"https:\/\/www.amorusolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/amoruso-logo.svg","width":0,"height":0}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.amorusolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/6a01901dd0a082970b0264e2e27853.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.amorusolaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/6a01901dd0a082970b0264e2e27853.jpg","height":250,"width":366},"url":"https:\/\/www.amorusolaw.com\/blog\/your-children-wish-you-had-an-estate-plan-greenwich-ct-new-york-ny\/","about":["Advance Directives","Elder Law","Estate Planning","Guardians","Health Care Proxy","Living Will","Long Term Care Insurance","Medicaid","Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT)","Nursing Home","Power of Attorney \/ POA","Probate","Will"],"wordCount":558,"keywords":["Advance Directives","Elder Law","Estate Planning","Guardian","Health Care Proxy","Living Will","Long Term Care Insurance","MAPT","Medicaid","Nursing Home","Power of Attorney","Probate","Will"],"articleBody":"\u201cWithout a proper elder law estate plan, the children\u2019s responsibilities are even more exhausting, stressful and sad.\u201dIt is the adult children who oversee aging parents when they need long-term care. They are also the ones who settle estates when parents die. Even if they can\u2019t always come out and tell you, the recent article, “Why your children wish you had an Elder Law Estate Plan” from the Times Herald-Record spells out exactly why an elder law estate plan is so important for your loved ones.Avoid court proceedings while living. In a perfect world, everyone over age 18 will have an advance directive, including a power of attorney, a health care proxy, and, in some states, a living will. These documents appoint others to make financial, legal, and medical decisions, in case of incapacity. Without them, the children will have to get involved with time-consuming, expensive guardianship proceedings, where a judge appoints a legal guardian to make these decisions. Your life could be turned over to a court-appointed guardian, instead of your children or another person of your choosing.Avoid court proceedings after you die. If you die and assets are in your name alone, then your estate will go through probate, a court proceeding that can be time consuming and costly. Not having any assets in trusts leaves your kids open to the possibility of wills being challenged, disputes among family members and litigation that can drag on for years.Wills in probate court are public documents. Trusts are private documents. Do you really want a stranger to access your will and learn about your assets?An elder law estate plan also plans for the possibility of long-term care and costs. Nursing home care costs can run between $12,000\u2014$18,000 per month. If you don\u2019t have long-term care insurance, you can create a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) that protects assets in the trust from nursing home costs once the assets are in the trust for five years. The MAPT also protects assets from homecare provided by Medicaid, called \u201ccommunity\u201d Medicaid, once the assets are in the trust for 30 months under a new rule that starts on October 1, 2020.The \u201celder law power of attorney\u201d has unlimited gifting powers that could save about half of a single person\u2019s assets from the cost of nursing homes. This can be done on the eve of needing nursing home care, but it is always better to do this planning in advance.Having a plan in place decreases stress and anxiety for adult children. They are likely busy with their own lives, working, caring for their children and coping in a challenging world. When a plan is in place, they don\u2019t have to start learning about Medicaid law, navigating their way through the court system, or wondering why their parents did not take advantage of the time they had to plan properly.You probably don\u2019t want your children remembering you as the parents who left a financial and legal mess behind for them to clean up. Speak with an elder law estate planning attorney to create a plan for your future. Your children will appreciate it.Reference: Times Herald-Record (May 23, 2020) “Why your children wish you had an Elder Law Estate Plan”For more information on elder law, retirement planning and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.amorusolaw.com\/blog\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Your Children Wish You Had an Estate Plan","item":"https:\/\/www.amorusolaw.com\/blog\/your-children-wish-you-had-an-estate-plan-greenwich-ct-new-york-ny\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]