Blog

Married couples have a special way to jointly own property in some states that has advantages over regular joint ownership. If you are married and own property jointly, you should make sure you have the right form of ownership.

Unmarried couples need health care documents and Powers of Attorney in order to care for each other in the event of incapicity.

When creating an estate plan, the main decision is how your assets will be distributed after you pass away. Understanding "per stirpes" and "per capita" distribution is key to that decision.

Adult care givers need a break from time to time. There are options which can help.

When you do find yourself in charge of making the necessary arrangements, the two main things to consider are usually what type of care your loved one needs and what you or your family can afford.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is waiving the requirement that Medicare beneficiaries must spend at least three days in a hospital before qualifying for coverage in a skilled nursing facility (SNF) for those beneficiaries who need to be transferred as a result of a disaster or emergency.

Nursing home residents do not automatically have to sell their homes in order to qualify for Medicaid, but that doesn't mean the house is completely protected. The state will likely put a lien on the house while the resident is living and attempt to recover the property after the resident has passed away. It can be protected.

Attorneys handling probate in Crossville, Tennessee often advise the following options to help people in our area avoid the process altogether to save time, money, and aggravation.

Federal law requires the state to attempt to recover the long-term care benefits from a Medicaid recipient's estate after the recipient's death. If steps aren't taken to protect the Medicaid recipient's house, it may need to be sold to settle the claim.

Although some people are under the impression that things like planning an estate or creating a trust are for those with a lot of money and property, this is completely untrue. An estate planning attorney can assist you with creating basic but essential documents, including healthcare directives and a power of attorney which everyone, regardless of financial status, should have.

One option is to open an account for the benefit of the minor under the Uniform Transfer to Minors Act (UTMA) of the state. In some states it is called the Uniform Gift to Minors Act (UGMA).

Estate planning and long-term care planning are examples of things that may seem easy to take care of by yourself or by using an online program, but in most cases, legal planning is one area where you should resist the urge to D-I-Y.

By placing a contingency on a gift, you may feel more comfortable about making large bequests, whether to a university, a charity, or an individual. The inclusion of checks and balances—such as requiring the current beneficiary certify compliance to a contingent beneficiary—the trustmaker can feel peace of mind that his or her wishes will be carried out or that an interested party will step in to remedy the situation if there is a violation of the trustmaker’s terms.

I am often contacted by someone whose elderly spouse or parent is being discharged from the hospital with a doctor's certification that the patient has fewer than six months to live. The discharge staff at the hospital is recommending that the patient enroll in hospice care. The spouse or adult child is concerned about how he or she is going to pay for hospice care. While the patient was in the hospital, Medicare was paying the bills.

People have many reasons why they put off estate planning. Maybe they’re young and healthy and don’t think they need to worry about that any time soon. Others find the whole idea uncomfortable, the idea of death and what would happen to their loved ones. But no matter where you are in life, you should have your estate plan in place. This applies especially to first responders and law enforcement.

I often see the results of when someone fails to plan for an unexpected disability. People tend to think about estate plans in terms of retirement and what happens to their assets after they die, but many don’t consider the possibility of disability.

Trying to save a home from foreclosure by a reverse mortgage lender is harder than trying to save a home from foreclosure of a normal, non-reverse mortgage. This is because residential (non-reverse) mortgage lenders are not allowed to call the loan due when the borrower dies if the property is being inherited by a family member. All you have to do is keep paying the monthly payments. With a reverse mortgage, you can't just keep making the mortgage payments in order to save the home.

The unfortunate reality is people aren’t given much privacy when they pass away. Under the laws of our state and every state in the country, details about one’s estate and inheritance are public record.

If you have suffered the loss of your life partner, my heart goes out to you. Few things in this world are quite as devastating. As a Crosville estate planning lawyer, I know grief can debilitate, and the ‘to-do’ list in the immediate aftermath can seem impossible to manage. It might feel like you’re leaving everything behind.

As a Crossville elder law attorney, I often meet senior clients as a result of them coming into our offices with their adult children. When this situation happens, it is the lawyer’s job to recognize the differing needs and rights of both parties. The lawyer must be clear on who is being represented and then do his or her part to focus on that client.

As 2019 draws to a close, it may be time to take a fresh look at your financial and legal documents to ensure that your affairs are in order and that you are ending the year on a solid foundation

The Baby Boomer generation is growing older and beginning to incur the financial costs and strains of aging. Many are caring for their own elderly parents while beginning to recognize long-term care challenges of their own. Boomers are also starting to learn first-hand that long-term care is expensive, and the resources they may have been counting on to cover costs (including private insurance or Medicare) typically don’t pay. This situation leaves many searching for alternative legal and financial options, which is where a qualified Crossville elder lawyer can become a tremendous resource to a family in need.

Nursing home residents do not automatically have to sell their homes in order to qualify for Medicaid (called TennCare in Tennessee), but that doesn't mean the house is completely protected. The state effectively has a lien on the house while the resident is living and will attempt to recover the property after the resident has passed away. Medicaid is very aggressive about estate recovery in Tennessee.

Because most people either having nothing more than a will, or no will at all, most estates will have to go through probate, and the courts will appoint an administrator (or executor) who is in charge of taking care of each step in the process. The executor will often make things a bit less overwhelming by hiring a local estate planning lawyer. One of the first things either the courts or the lawyer will tell the executor is that they need to create a list of assets.

Many married couples in Tennessee think that if one of them dies without a will, the other will inherit everything from the deceased spouse. That is only true if the deceased spouse died with no living descendants. Whether you intend to or not, if you fail to do some kind of estate planning, you could end up disinheriting your spouse to some extent.