An Emergency Room visit is not the time to designate a Power of Attorney!

End-of-life decisions are unfortunately, inevitable. Sooner or later, we all will be faced with this daunting challenge. When the time comes, your family wants to make the right decision - the decision of YOUR choosing. In this episode, Attorney Julie Steinbacher, our firm's founder, and Dr. Alex Nesbitt, a geriatrician at UPMC Susquehanna, discuss ways y...

There are lots of options for the long-term care for a loved one (or ourselves), whether additional services are brought into the home or the loved one moves into a congregant living community such as a continuous care retirement center (CCRC), skilled care, or memory care facility. However, the costs associated with each level of long-term care can be alarming, and raise all sorts of questions. In this episode, Attorney Jenna Fran...

Doing your estate planning ahead of time before a crisis hits will almost always give you a better outcome. In this episode, a recording of a virtual seminar originally presented live on March 23, 2021, Attorney Landon Hodges and Long-Term Care Planner Tammy Zilske discuss our firm's distinctive approach to planning for the second half of life that adapts to your ever-changing needs and leaves you better prepared for tomorrow.

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You've done everything right and saved what you need for a comfortable retirement. Now, you need to make sure something unexpected like a health emergency doesn't eat into those savings. Attorney Jenna Franks and Long-Term Planner Kristin Daugherty show you how in this virtual seminar, originally presented on March 10, 2021. Hint - you don't need to leave it up to the "luck of the Irish" to successfully plan ahe...

At our elder law firm, we often get asked by clients, "why can't I just give my house (or another piece of valuable property) to my adult children or other relatives for $1 in order to avoid inheritance tax and other potential tax or future lien consequences?" In short, you can, but we generally don't recommend it. Why not? Because of the 4 "D's." What are the 4 D's? Long-Term Care Planner Tammy Zils...

If you've listened to even just a few episodes of this podcast, you've probably heard the term "long-term care planning" more than once. Aside from the obvious definition - planning for long-term care - what exactly do we mean when we talk about long-term care planning and what does it entail? And what can you expect if you enlist our firm to assist with your long-term care planning? In this brief episode, Long-Term...

Do you have an individual with special needs that you already have or intend to have as a beneficiary of your estate? If so, then you need to take some additional steps to make sure that person can receive such an inheritance while also still keeping whatever current benefits they may already be receiving. Without proper planning ahead of time, a well-intentioned gift could become a major problem. In this episode, Attorney Brittany...

Nursing home care is expensive. So, what happens if you or a loved one require it due to an unexpected event? In this episode, a recording or a virtual seminar originally presented in February, Attorney Brittany Smith and Long-Term Care Planner Tammy Zilske will tell you how you can pay for it, while still hanging on to most of your assets (hint: it pays to plan for the unexpected). They'll touch on a few legal strategies that ...

In this brief episode, Long-Term Care Planner Kristin Daugherty summarizes how our law firm works with clients that have received a diagnosis of Alzheimer's, Dementia, and some other conditions. We have always been a dementia-friendly law firm, but recently, we have brought on board a dementia care planner, Holly Reigh, who will be working with clients on non-legal issues related to the navigation and coordination of necessary ...

So, you have a spouse or other loved one that has had to go into a nursing home. But, you haven't done much (or any) estate planning. What can you do to make sure your assets are protected and your entire estate doesn't go toward the cost of care? There are ways that we can help you preserve your assets, even if you or a loved one is already in a nursing home. However, we can only do so if a couple of things are taken care ...

In this podcast episode, Long-Term Care Planner Kristin Daugherty and Attorney Landon Hodges discuss the different ways that are available to help pay for long-term care, regardless of the type of long-term care that is needed. Types of care include in-home care, personal care, in a continuing care community, or the highest level of care - skilled nursing. Types of payment options include private pay, VA benefits, long-term care in...

In this final portion of the five-part series of short episodes centered on Alzheimer's planning, Attorney Julie Steinbacher speaks with Jeffrey Dauber, education and outreach coordinator for the Greater Pennsylvania chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. Unfortunately, Alzheimer's isn't entirely preventable at this point, despite an increase in research breakthroughs recently. However, in this episode, Julie and J...

Take the mystery out of planning ahead for tomorrow's challenges, as Attorney Jenna Franks and Long-Term Care Planner Kristin Daugherty share the secrets of planning for your second half of life in this virtual seminar originally presented on Jan. 26, 2021. Utilizing a new format for this seminar, Jenna and Kristin discuss essential estate planning documents, the best ways to preserve assets for your heirs, strategies to protec...

In part four of a five-part series of short episodes centered on Alzheimer's planning, Attorney Julie Steinbacher speaks with Jeffrey Dauber, education and outreach coordinator for the Greater Pennsylvania chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. In this episode, Julie and Jeffrey talk about the various services that are available to assist people that have received an Alzheimer's diagnosis and their families and caretak...

In part three of this five-part series of short episodes centered on Alzheimer's planning, Attorney Julie Steinbacher speaks with Jeffrey Dauber, education and outreach coordinator for the Greater Pennsylvania chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. In this episode, Julie and Jeffrey discuss the importance of planning for current and future care needs related to an Alzheimer's diagnosis. There is a need to take into con...

Originally recorded just a few days prior to the 2021 presidential inauguration, but with information that should prove to last far beyond the standard four or eight years of a presidential or governor's term in office, this episode is for you if you'd like to make sure your estate is protected regardless of who or which political party is in power. Attorney Julie Steinbacher helps you uncover important legal steps to consi...

In this episode, the second of a five-part series of short episodes centered on Alzheimer's planning, Attorney Julie Steinbacher speaks with Jeffrey Dauber, education and outreach coordinator for the Greater Pennsylvania chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. They go through the different stages of Alzheimer's - early, middle and late, or sometimes also referred to mild, moderate and severe - and some of the symptoms o...