By Brian Andrew Tully, JD, CELA

A comprehensive estate plan should encompass, at a minimum, the client’s legal, financial, and incapacity concerns. I believe, however, that most of us focus more on the legal and financial aspects of estate planning than on incapacity concerns. The realities of aging require that we give our clients greater attention and guidance about their long-term healthcare needs. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that one in three seniors will die with cognitive decline resulting from Alzheimer’s disease or some form of dementia. The Family Caregiver Alliance reports that an additional one in three of us will have substantial long-term care needs, which means that we will need functional assistance with three or more activities of daily living.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is June 15, 2023. If communities can better understand elder abuse, folks can be better equipped to recognize it and take steps to prevent it. Elder law attorneys are in close proximity to seniors and are in a unique situation to oftentimes observe signs of elder abuse. However, are attorneys allowed to report such abuse?

The Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) is an irrevocable trust used for Medicaid planning or asset protection purposes. After assets are funded into the trust and the look-back period has expired, the assets in the trust are non-countable for long-term care Medicaid eligibility. The MAPT has several aspects that result in tax advantages, such as being a grantor trust and having trust income taxed according to the Grantor’s income tax brackets instead of trust taxation rates. Other tax advantages that the MAPT can be designed with stem from retaining a limited power of appointment (LPOA). Let’s take a deeper dive into the LPOA.