Michigan Estate & Probate Law and VA Benefits

Serafini, Michalowski, Derkacz & Associates

Often times, I will work with families that are crisis planning. What does this mean?

I define crisis planning as planning by a family that is in the process of assisting a loved one with an illness, injury, or disease. In Michigan, especially in Metro-Detroit, it is difficult to get the right information to assist these clients timely. All to often, clients receive misinformation or flat out wrong information from their neighbors, friends or nursing home personnel that do not understand Medicaid regulations or Michigan law.

As a result, clients will often lose assets or funds that could be better used supplementing their loved one’s care or assisting with other financial burdens like the upkeep of a home or providing economic means for the other parent or spouse living at home. Therefore, the best advice that you can provide anyone in a nursing home situation, is to seek the advice of a qualified elder law attorney. Our office offers free consultations and can provide important information to assist a family in crisis.

The easiest way to avoid crisis planning is to plan ahead. Using Michigan’s estate planning and probate laws to your advantage, you can enact certain strategies by simply updating your estate plan. Michigan law allows you to avoid living probate, guardianships and conservatorships, by executing power of attorney documents. Power of attorney documents, both a general durable power of attorney and medical power of attorney, can be effective disability planning tools that will allow your family to unlock your assets and engage in Medicaid or VA benefit planning, if these documents are drafted correctly. In order to determine if these documents are drafted correctly, you should have them regularly reviewed by an attorney specializing in elder law. As a rule of thumb, I suggest that you review your general durable power of attorney to make sure that:

* It is effective upon signing * It appoints successor agents * It has specific clauses related to benefit planning * It is not “stale”

If you have specific questions regarding your power of attorney documents, or if you do not have these documents in place, call our office for help. Drafting these documents is a simple process and often can be done at a very reasonable price.

You can reach our office at (586) 264-3756.

Related Posts: VA Benefits 2016 Cost of Living Adjustment, Michigan Elder Law and Long Term Care Planning, VA Rule Changes, Still Time to Help Veterans

Client Reviews

Thanks so much for all your help these past five years in helping me with all the legal aspects of my folks, L & E.M's, trust. Thanks for answering all my questions. It's been a difficult last 5 years on making decisions for my father, but I'm so grateful that god blessed me with them for so many...

D.C.

I want to thank you both for all your help and hard work on my case. This certainly was good news! You both did tremendous jobs dealing with Cigna and answering my questions. Thank you and have a wonderful Christmas season!

Marc

Thank you so much for all of your help getting me thru this mess. You have no idea how much you have helped. I couldn’t have done this without you! Only one more hurdle, yay!!

B.T.

I really wanted to thank you, the way you talked with me and worked with me, it was amazing. I was dreading the experience & the deposition & you really made it very easy for me. So, thank you very much for a job well done.

H.H.

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