Senior Spectrum
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Oct 2007
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Adding Life to Years
Estate planning can be rewarding
or risky
As older people become seriously ill, many come to recognize that they need help managing their affairs and ask for it. Others don't ask for it, and in those circumstances a family member or some other party may step in and begin making decisions on the elder's behalf. At that point, what was a personal crisis becomes a legal matter.
For the past 23 years Reno attorney Patricia F. Winnie has focused her practice on elder-law issues of this sort. She'll be talking about them along with wills, trusts, estate and Medicaid planning next month as the final speaker in our fall Silver Series talks on financial health. Her presentation is scheduled for noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, November 27 in the Alumni Room of the Jot Travis Student Union on the University of Nevada, Reno campus.
As with all Silver Series talks, the event is free, and healthy snacks will be provided by the Sanford Center for Aging. Please call 784-4774 if you plan to attend.
Pat says that when that someone takes charge of an elders' affairs that person does so either by authority of a document signed earlier by the elder, when he or she was competent, or because they have obtained a court order giving them that right. The role of an attorney, she says, is to help people understand the legal consequences of granting someone that kind of power to act on their behalf. Another area where attorneys have traditionally helped people plan for the future involves Medicaid. This state-run program is designed to help low-income elders pay for skillednursing care. In the past, many people considered giving away their assets in old age - to their children, for example - so they could qualify for the Medicaid nursing-home benefit if they needed it. However, as states have experienced soaring expenses to administer Medicaid, eligibility criteria for the programs have tightened.
Under Nevada's Medicaid program, she says, an applicant must now answer the question of whether they transferred an asset away, for any reason at all, within five years from the date of the application. If the applicant does not tell the truth, and the truth is discovered, the individual can be charged with a felony.
If shedding assets to qualify for Medicaid has become less realistic, many other health contingencies deserve consideration, she says. For example, she recommends that everyone think about preparing an “advance directive,” also known as a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care.
In this document you designate an agent to act on your behalf to implement your health-care choices. The agent acts for you when the medical provider determines that you cannot communicate or understand what is happening, and what you would want to happen. Would you, for instance, want a feeding tube run to your stomach if death appeared to be only hours or days away? A do-it-yourself advance-directive kit is available from the Nevada Center for Ethics & Health Policy, 327-2309. The documents can be downloaded for free at www.NevadaDirectives.org.
As to wills, trusts and other forms of estate planning, Pat says it is important to first determine what you own, how it is titled, and how you desire your assets be distributed on your death. Once this information is reviewed, it can be determined whether your plan of distribution requires a will. If you are married, you don't need one because assets owned jointly will automatically transfer to the surviving spouse.
Some people draft their own wills, using forms obtained from a stationery store, the Internet, or a neighbor. These sometimes work fine, Pat says, but not always. An attorney can explain the potential complications.
The cost of preparing a will ranges from free (do it yourself) to the fee an attorney charges. Lawyers typically charge between $300 and $700, more depending on the complexity of the document. The Washoe County Senior Law Project (328-2592) will prepare simple wills without charge (donations are welcome) for county residents who fall within income and asset limitations
If you don't have a spouse but have children and you don't leave a will, state law directs that your assets be distributed equally among the children. However, distribution will be delayed by months and your heirs will incur probate-court expenses.
What happens if you die, leave no will and have no close relatives? By law a county administrator must conduct a diligent search for any living relatives. If none can be found, your assets all go to the state. What do you want to happen to yours?
(Lawrence J. Weiss, Ph.D. is director of the University of Nevada, Reno Sanford Center for Aging and an adjunct associate professor of medicine. He welcomes your comments on this column. Write to him at weisslj@unr.edu or c/o Sanford Center for Aging, Mail Stop 146, Reno, NV 89557-0146.)