Personal:

If keeping Mom and Dad comfortably at home as they age is the goal, then you and other family
members may end up spending a considerable amount of time caring for them.
As parents age, they increasingly rely on family members to help them remain at home. They may need
help shopping for groceries, getting to doctor’s appointments, picking up prescriptions, paying their bills,
performing household chores, and taking care of other day to day activities. This family assistance
allows many parents to remain comfortably at home as they age, rather than being forced to move into
a costly nursing facility.

If you are the one caring for your aging parents, you may not seek or even expect compensation for the
care you are providing, because after all, your parents took care of you when you were young, so now
it’s your turn to take care of them. However, as you and other family members are sacrificing time from
work or working reduced hours to provide care, your parents may give you cash or other property in
compensation. Unfortunately, these gestures of appreciation may render your parents ineligible for Title
XIX/Medicaid benefits should they require more care than family members are able to provide and they
run out of funds to afford this care.

Caregiver compensation is frequently the subject of great scrutiny when applying for Title XIX/Medicaid
benefits because transfers of money or property can subject an applicant to periods of ineligibility of
benefits, also known as “penalty periods,” unless the applicant can show by clear and convincing
evidence that he or she received fair market value for the money or property transferred. A Personal
Care Agreement is an effective tool to overcome this obstacle.
What is a Personal Care Agreement? It is a written contract between the parent, who is the beneficiary
of care, and you, as well as the other family members, who are caring for the parent. The agreement
defines the type of care the parent requires and the rate and frequency of the compensation paid to the
caregiver family members. As the agreement is in writing, it is documented evidence that the parent
received fair market value for the money or property transferred to caregiver family members,
reviewable as part of a Title XIX/Medicaid application.

The Personal Care Agreement may prevent the imposition of devastating penalty periods if your
parents’ care needs increase to the point they need additional help, at home or in a nursing facility, and
they require Title XIX/Medicaid long-term care benefits to pay for this expensive care.

To schedule an appointment with an attorney at The Prue Law Group to discuss whether a Personal Care
Agreement makes sense for your family, call (860) 423-9231.

What is the difference between a Conservatorship and a Power of Attorney?

No one wants to think about what happens when they can no longer manage their own
financial affairs or take care of themselves on a daily basis. But the time to think of those
things is before they are needed. Family members should be aware of the options available
and their benefits and impacts. Powers of Attorney and Conservatorships are the most
common.

Power of Attorney

Powers of Attorney are established by a person who thinks ahead for when they may need
help making decisions, either for a limited time or for a specific reason. The appointing
person, while still competent, can supervise and manage the appointed POA, can remove
that POA and appoint another, or terminate the POA altogether. One problem with only
having a POA is when the individual appointing that POA no longer can supervise that POA.
That individual can no longer make decisions to remove or amend the POA and with no
supervision, the POA may not always act in the best interest, especially when money is
involved. While there are steps in place to oversee the Power of Attorney through the court,
the process can be time-consuming, expensive, and on many occasions destructive to the
family relationship.

Conservatorship

Conservatorships come in two forms: voluntary and involuntary. In the first, the court acts
on a request of the individual to appoint a personally chosen Conservator to manage the
financial, personal, and/or medical matters. The court must find the applicant to be
competent and aware of this decision and will oversee the chosen Conservator’s actions.
The main difference between a Voluntary Conservator and a Power of Attorney is the
immediate direct involvement and oversight of the Court.

An involuntary appointment occurs when an individual has lost the capacity to make decisions
for themselves. The Court will then make the decision on whom to appoint as Conservator
as well as oversee all their actions. Smart planning by individuals will designate an
Involuntary Conservators while they are still capable of making such decisions.
Planning ahead is always best. Having control and a say in how your finances or how you
will be cared for, and choosing that Power of Attorney or Conservator should provide
some peace of mind not only for you but for your family.

If you need assistance with a Power of Attorney or Conservatorship, call The Prue Law Group.

THERE ARE DIFFERENT FORMS OF PROBATE

Ice Cream……so many flavors, so many choices, so much fun!!! Not the same
when it comes to settling an estate. Only so many questions. Do I need to go
to Probate Court, what assets do I report, how do I pay bills, and what bills am I required to pay???

The best place to start is to determine whether or not the deceased individual
has a will as this will be the guide to distributing assets and paying expenses.
Next, one should compile a list of all assets owned by the decedent, whether
sole-owned or with another individual. This information will form the basis of
the type of probate necessary.

A full probate of a person’s estate will require notification of all heirs and
beneficiaries, filing an inventory, a list of claims against the estate, a state
inheritance tax return, an accounting of all financial actions taken, and a final
distribution, just to name a few of the documents. And all this depends on
what the decedent’s assets are, and how they are held, solely owned or jointly
owned. And just to add to the confusion, there is another method of probate,
an Affidavit of Administration, that doesn’t require as much paperwork and
can be settled in a shorter time frame. Now there is a third method of probate,
and that occurs when all assets are jointly owned by a survivor. This is a
Tax Purposes Only (a TPO Estate). Assets such as bank accounts, life
insurance policies, and stocks can usually be transferred without Probate
Court involvement.

However, if real property is jointly owned, then
Connecticut requires the filing of a state inheritance tax return in order to
properly clear title to the real property putting it in the survivor’s name alone,
an important detail when it comes to refinancing or mortgaging or selling that
real property.

All of this can be quite confusing and there are many steps where mistakes
can happen making the whole process even more complicated and confusing.
The Prue Law Group is experienced in all aspects of probating an estate.
When Legal Matters, Call The Prue Law Group.