Estate planning built for long term care
A standard estate plan decides who receives your property after you die. It was not written for the years before that, when a long illness can use up a lifetime of savings. Jones Elder Law builds long term care protection into the documents themselves, so your family can act quickly if someone gets sick.
The short answer
How is this different from a standard estate plan? We build the powers needed to protect assets into your trust and your financial power of attorney. If you can no longer sign, your family already has the authority to protect your spouse or your assets.
Already facing a nursing home bill? We can often put these documents in place now, as long as the person can still understand and sign. The first call is complimentary. Rosalind M. Robertson, an elder law attorney, takes it herself, and our goal is to return every request within one business day.
Estate planning vs. long term care planning: same documents, very different powers.
Traditional estate planning documents are written to manage property and pass it on. A long term care crisis asks much more of them. Here is what changes when the protection powers are built in.
Standard estate plan
Usually limited to the annual gift tax exclusion, currently $19,000 per person, or to things like education.Jones Elder Law plan
Authority for larger gifts when a protection plan calls for them.Standard estate plan
Under Missouri law, an agent needs written authority to make gifts, and a gift to the agent is self-dealing unless the document specifically allows it.Jones Elder Law plan
Specifically authorized where appropriate, so the plan can move forward.Standard estate plan
Missouri law expects the agent to keep your existing plan in place unless the document explicitly allows changes.Jones Elder Law plan
The changes a protection plan needs are authorized in advance.Standard estate plan
Built to manage property and pass it on.Jones Elder Law plan
The same long term care powers are built in, so a successor trustee can protect assets.Standard estate plan
Rarely part of the plan.Jones Elder Law plan
Added when the situation calls for it.Standard estate plan
Often missing.Jones Elder Law plan
Changing beneficiary designations, caregiver agreements, stating an intent to return home, and OBRA 93 trusts.Standard estate plan
The family may need a court process to get the authority.Jones Elder Law plan
The authority is already in your documents.It is the difference between planning for what happens after you die and planning for what could happen before.
A common and costly misunderstanding
Most people believe their documents are enough. A trust and a power of attorney sound like protection. But if they do not contain the long term care provisions, they do more than fall short. They can stand in the way of long term care planning, because the powers needed to protect assets are not in the document, and no one can act without them.
A revocable trust, for example, can avoid probate and manage your property if you become incapacitated. But the person who created it usually keeps the right to use the property and to revoke the trust, so it does not automatically protect assets for Medicaid.
Most people are surprised to learn that they were never given the choice. You cannot choose to include something that no one told you was possible, or that you might care about.
That is not a failure of the attorney who drafted your documents. Most attorneys who draft estate planning documents practice estate planning alone. They write the traditional documents, and they do it well. But without a practice that also focuses on elder law and asset protection, they do not have the tools to build long term care protection into those documents. It is simply outside what they do.
The title of a document does not decide the result. The powers inside it do.
Why this matters at 50, 55, and older
A long illness becomes a real risk to your home, your savings, and your spouse. Traditional estate planning was not designed for that risk. Ours is.
Our documents are designed to help protect what you have worked a lifetime to build.
Three programs, built into your documents
These are the programs Jones Elder Law developed. They use the documents every estate plan uses, a trust and a financial power of attorney, with the long term care powers written in.
For married couples
Built to protect the spouse who stays at home. The trust and the power of attorney give the healthy spouse or the family the authority to act if the other spouse needs care.
For a single or widowed person
Built to protect assets for one person. The documents give the family the authority to carry out the plan without fighting for it later.
For adult children and families
Gives the family the authority and the instructions to act, so no one has to fight to get authority when a parent can no longer sign.
Already facing a nursing home bill? We can often put these documents in place now, as long as the person can still understand and sign. If that is you, start with what to do when someone is already in a nursing home.
How we put the plan in place
Here is how the work is organized, so you always know what happens next and who is doing it.
Rosalind M. Robertson learns what you own, what documents you have, and whether anyone is already facing care.
We check your existing documents for the powers a long term care plan needs.
Stephen C. Jones explains the plan, the timing, the work, and the fixed fee.
We prepare the trust, the power of attorney, and the other documents, and guide you through signing and funding.
If someone needs care later, the authority is already in place, and we prepare and file the Medicaid application.
What families say
“Our situation involved a home, retirement accounts, investments, and assets titled in different names. Stephen explained why those details mattered and created a plan specifically for our circumstances. We did not receive a generic answer or a stack of documents. We received a coordinated strategy.”
“From the first meeting, it was obvious that Medicaid planning was not something they handled occasionally. Stephen understood the rules, anticipated the problems, and explained exactly how the firm would guide us through the process. We left knowing that we had found the right people.”
“Stephen took the time to understand our family, our finances, and what we wanted to protect. He explained the recommended plan in language we could understand and answered every question we raised. We hired Jones Elder Law because we trusted that they knew exactly how to handle our situation.”
Testimonials reflect the experiences of individual clients. Every matter is different, and past results do not guarantee a particular outcome.
Questions about estate plans and Missouri Medicaid
A standard estate plan is written to manage property and pass it on after death. Ours also builds long term care protection into the documents themselves. The trust and the financial power of attorney carry the powers a protection plan needs, such as larger gifts, gifts to family when specifically authorized, caregiver agreements, and trusts. If you can no longer sign, your family already has the authority to act.
No. A will controls the distribution of probate property after death. It does not make assets unavailable for nursing home expenses or establish Medicaid eligibility during life.
Usually, no. Assets in a revocable trust generally remain available to the person who created the trust, because that person keeps control and the right to revoke it. A revocable trust can still be valuable for probate avoidance and incapacity planning, but it is not automatically a Medicaid asset protection trust.
Often not. Many traditional estate planning powers of attorney limit gifts to a small annual amount and leave out the powers a protection plan needs. Jones Elder Law uses an enhanced power of attorney, and if your loved one can still understand and sign, we can often put one in place, even in a crisis.
Review the estate plan and the Medicaid strategy together while you decide on the application date. Changes may be needed to protect a healthy spouse, keep assets from returning to the Medicaid applicant, address estate recovery, or provide the authority needed to complete the plan.
Yes. A coordinated plan can address lifetime management, incapacity, Medicaid eligibility, protection of a spouse or family, estate recovery, taxes, probate, and distribution after death. Problems arise when either plan is created without considering the other.
Yes. When retained for a Medicaid crisis matter, the firm reviews the existing estate plan, builds the protection strategy, prepares the necessary legal documents, guides the work, files the Medicaid application, responds to the state’s requests, and advocates through the decision.
Plan before you need it, or while you still can
Tell us what documents you already have, who may need care, and whether any money or property has moved. Rosalind M. Robertson, an elder law attorney, will review it and contact you.
Our goal is to respond within one business day. If a payment or application deadline is approaching, call 636.493.3333.
This website provides general educational information only. It does not provide legal advice or create an attorney client relationship. Medicaid rules change and their application depends on each person’s facts and circumstances. Do not act, refrain from acting, or rely on information from this site as a substitute for advice from a qualified attorney who has reviewed your particular situation.
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