Using an Eldercare Attorney

I was referred to an Eldercare Attorney from a friend of a friend of my mothers. I had no idea about any of this so I appreciated the referral and contacted the attorney for a consultation. It was $450 for the consult which would be used towards any fees if the attorney was hired. After meeting the attorney I felt I could trust him. He was very warm and seemed to know his stuff. I was glad to get the help. The service ended up costing about $5500 for a package that included putting my mother's home into a trust to protect it, putting some assets into this same trust, setting up a will, power of attorney and some other items. If you have a home and need home care or go to a nursing home, you could very well end up losing your home to pay for the cost of the care. Although Medicaid will allow you to live in your home, when you die they will put a lien on the home to recover the cost of care. If you want to leave your home to your loved ones putting it in a trust is a good idea. As for your other assets, Medicaid in New York allows you to keep about $14,000 in cash. If you have additional funds you will have to spend those funds first before they start covering your services. You are only permitted to make a certain amount to qualify for Medicaid. It's $809/month in New York. Anything over that in monthly income has to be "spent down". This means that if you make $1000/month, you can give Medicaid $191 and they you can get services. You can also setup what is called a Pooled Income Trust. You can deposit excess income into the trust every month. You cannot get this money back but the Trust can pay certain bills. They will pay most expenses related to your residence and they can also pay for home care but they will only pay to an agency. I had hired my aides independently and the trust will not reimburse independent home care providers. To establish a Pooled Income Trust I had to pay the attorney another $3500. Like applying for Medicaid there is a lot of paperwork involved.
Although I initially liked the attorney I was very disappointed when they very clearly erred when calculating the amount I had to deposit into the Trust. I knew it was monthly earnings - $809. It's not complicated math but somehow they disregarded some of her earnings. I informed them of the error and they corrected it. About a week later I had to use the funds from one of my mother's investment to pay for home repairs (her roof needed to be replaced). This meant closing a fund and losing the monthly earnings it provided. I knew this would mean the amount deposited to the Trust would have to be adjusted. I contacted the attorney thinking it would be a simple matter of subtracting that amount from the total. They informed me that, although they had just calculated the correct amount a week earlier, it would be necessary for me to come in for a $450 consultation if they were to adjust the total amount. I was upset and declined their offer. I later learned that Long Term Care Insurance reimbursement is also considered income by Medicaid standards. They did not warm me about this or calculate this piece into the total. This means that if you are reimbursed $100/day for home care by a long term insurance play you are "earning" approximately $3000/month. This is money you will be required to "spend down".
The attorney also explained they can apply to Medicaid. This service would be another $5500. I declined and decided I'd try to do this on my own. I was disappointed to lose faith in an attorney I hoped to build a lasting relationship with. Now I'm once again on my own.