Elder care guides for families trying to make the next right decision
These guides are organized around the moments that usually push families to search: a parent is leaving the hospital, living alone no longer feels safe, a scam call created panic, or care bills are becoming real.
Hiring an elder law attorney
For families trying to decide if it is time to call a lawyer and what to expect on cost and fit.
When should you hire an elder law attorney?
The clear signs it is time to call, what an elder law attorney actually does, and what they cost.
How much does an elder law attorney cost?
Flat fees vs. hourly, typical pricing for POA, Medicaid, and guardianship, and how to avoid surprises.
Guardianship vs. power of attorney: which does your family need?
Power of attorney is a private document. Guardianship is a court process. The right choice depends on whether you acted in time.
Medicaid planning: protecting assets and the home
For families trying to qualify a parent for long-term-care Medicaid without losing everything they spent a life building. These connect: the look-back, the income cap, the spend-down, and what the state can recover later.
How to protect assets from a nursing home
The full map of legal options — advance trusts, the look-back, spousal protections, exempt transfers, spend-down — and the informal-gifting mistake that undoes them.
What a Medicaid planning attorney does (and what it costs)
How attorneys help families qualify for Medicaid, the 5-year look-back, and how to protect assets within the rules.
The 5-year Medicaid look-back, explained
How the look-back period works, what triggers a penalty, what is exempt, and how families legally protect assets with early planning.
Medicaid spend-down, explained
How to reduce countable assets or income to qualify — legally — and why spending on yourself is allowed but gifting to family triggers a penalty.
Medicaid asset protection trusts (MAPT), explained
How an irrevocable trust can shield a home and savings — but only if set up 5+ years ahead and only by giving up control. The trade-offs families miss.
Miller Trust (Qualified Income Trust), explained
How a QIT lets people over the Medicaid income cap still qualify for nursing home care in income-cap states like FL, TX, GA, and OH — and the one thing it cannot do.
IRAs, 401(k)s, and Medicaid: does retirement money count?
Whether a retirement account counts depends on your state and on payout status. How IRAs and 401(k)s are treated, and the costly mistakes to avoid.
Medicaid estate recovery: can the state take the house?
After death, states must try to recover what Medicaid paid for long-term care — often from the home. Who is protected, what is exempt, and why it is so state-specific.
Lady Bird deeds (enhanced life estate deeds), explained
A probate-avoidance tool available in only a few states (FL, TX, MI and others) that can help keep a home out of estate recovery — and the limits families miss.
The caregiver child exemption, explained
How an adult child who lived in and cared for a parent can receive the home without a Medicaid look-back penalty — the strict requirements and the proof that decides it.
Care transitions
For families making fast decisions after a hospital stay, rehab admission, or nursing home conversation.
Hospital discharge for an aging parent
Rehab, unsafe home discharge, Medicare days, Medicaid planning, and power of attorney questions.
Nursing home costs and Medicaid planning
A practical checklist for care bills, facility decisions, Medicaid timing, and attorney questions.
PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly), explained
A Medicare-and-Medicaid program that bundles all care to keep a nursing-home-eligible older adult living at home — who qualifies, what it covers, and the catch.
Parent safety
For adult children who are worried, but trying to protect dignity and independence.
Elderly parent lives alone checklist
Safety patterns, decision authority, and how to talk about help without starting a fight.
AI voice scams and aging parents
Family safe words, scam response, financial exploitation, and power of attorney concerns.
Nursing home abuse vs. neglect — and when to call a lawyer
The legal difference that shapes a case, the warning signs of each, how to report it, and when to call a nursing home neglect lawyer.