What Is Elder Law?

Elder Law is the field of law that deals with specific legal issues faced by the elderly population. At the Farr Law Firm, our practice of Elder law centers around four primary Lifetime Protection Planning Levels of Planning®:

Level 1 is “Incapacity Planning” — done to avoid the disastrous legal and financial consequences that often accompany incapacity. Level 1 Incapacity protection lays the foundation for all of our higher levels of planning and is often the starting point for new clients because it provides the simplest, quickest, and least costly way to become a client of the Farr Law Firm.

Level 2 is “Estate Planning” — planning for the orderly distribution of your assets at death through Wills, Trusts, and other legal mechanisms.

Level 3 is our proprietary Living Trust Plus® Asset Protection Trust, designed to protect your assets from probate PLUS lawsuits PLUS the disastrous financial consequences of nursing home care. The Living Trust Plus® provides general asset protection immediately upon funding and Medicaid asset protection five years after funding. You are a candidate for Level 3 Planning provided you are living independently and have no significant health problems that are likely to require nursing home care within the next five years. For more information about Living Trust Plus®, click here.

Level 4 is our Benefits-Focused Asset Protection, which provides comprehensive Medicaid Asset Protection and Life Care Planning for a year at a time, including completion and filing of the Medicaid application and all documents and actions required to obtain Medicaid. If appropriate, Level 4 includes Veterans Benefits Planning and the filing of a Veterans Aid and Attendance Pension application at no charge. Under Level 4, the Farr Law Firm is on retainer to provide all necessary and appropriate asset protection planning and research, asset protection documents; asset protection strategies, advice, and expertise; and all other services necessary to achieve the appropriate and desired goals. Level 4 includes unlimited consultations between you and our attorneys and staff as necessary to design and implement an asset protection plan consistent with your needs, goals, and desires, and to carry out the plan to completion prior to our filing for Medicaid and/or Veterans Pension benefits.

Add-on Elder Law Services: In addition to the Four Levels of Lifetime Protection Planning described above, there are several situations that necessitate additional methods. For example, if you have a beneficiary with Special Needs, you should generally add a Special Needs Trust to your Level 2 or Level 3 Planning. If you have an extremely high net worth, we may recommend that additional trusts be added to Level 2 or Level 3 to minimize estate taxes, accomplish charitable goals, or both; examples of additional tax-avoidance trusts we offer include Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts, Charitable Remainder Trusts, and Charitable Lead Trusts. If you have significant wealth inside of a Qualified Retirement Plan, you may want to consider a Designated Beneficiary Trust to protect the stretch-out of your retirement plan distributions over the life expectancy of each of your beneficiaries.

Other Elder Law Services:  In addition to the Four Levels of Lifetime Protection Planning described above and the add-on services, we also offer the following Elder Law Services:

Special Needs Planning: Assisting families of special needs children with specialized Estate Planning, including the creation of Special Needs Trusts. Click here for more information about Special Needs Planning.

Trust and Estate Administration: Assisting with orderly administration and distribution of a decedent’s trust and/or estate. Click here for more information about Trust and Estate Administration.

Guardianship & Conservatorship: When necessary, we assist clients in connection with obtaining guardianship and conservatorship for adults of all ages with special needs and for incapacitated elders. Click here for more information about guardianship and conservatorship.

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