Useful Info During COVID (v. 5)

Posted on August 15, 2020

Hello Friends! I hope you have been enjoying / avoiding / surviving this heat, depending on your predisposition to such weather. We live in a proper New England house with not enough storage and no A/C (just window units), so I have definitely been missing the luxurious central air conditioning in my office lately! But...

Useful Info During COVID v.4

Posted on May 12, 2020

Dear Friends, This is our fourth newsletter during these interesting COVID times. It's funny - my writing bug tends to come in waves and then go away for a while. Apparently it's been sticking around lately. I'm sure you can relate when it comes to your writing, art, or hobbies. This week I want to...

Elder Care Workshop Series at Norwell Public Library

Posted on March 7, 2017

Getting older? Taking care of someone who is? Come to this three-part series to learn some helpful tips from local Elder Services professionals. Wednesday, March 8: “Who Can Help Me?” Find out how to access elder services in your community. Presented by Susan Curtin, Director at Norwell Council on Aging. “Elder Law 101” Get to know the basics...

Gifts and the Five-Year Lookback

Posted on November 19, 2014

I often hear from clients that they “have made gifts in the last five years – but it’s ok, they were all less than $14,000 so they won’t count under the five-year lookback – right?” Unfortunately, that’s simply not the case. While it IS true that you can give up to $14,000 per year (as...

Michelle Singletary – She’s Done It Again

Posted on May 7, 2014

I love her columns, I really do. A few weekends ago, she nailed it once again. Read her column here where she tells older parents why they need to talk to their adult children about the care they would like as they age. Keep in mind that the cost figures she cites are...

Caregiver Contracts – Tax Benefits

Posted on April 30, 2014

If you would like to care for your parents full-time, or close to it, and your parents want to pay you for this, then there are some tax issues that you need to be aware of. Most importantly, if you are providing hands-on care, making meals, doing the shopping, taking your parents to doctors’ appointments,...

Nursing Home Care & MassHealth – Eligibility Rules for the Single Person

Posted on April 24, 2014

As you well know, privately paying a nursing home bill is a very costly undertaking. Should you need nursing home care someday, typically Medicare and your supplemental insurance cover up to 100 days. After that, you either privately pay or look to Medicaid (MassHealth) to pay. This post explains the basic MassHealth rules for...

Couples: Protect Your Assets from the Cost of Nursing Home Care

Posted on April 24, 2014

As you well know, privately paying a nursing home bill is a very costly undertaking. Should you need nursing home care, typically Medicare and your supplemental insurance cover up to 100 days. After that, you either privately pay or look to Medicaid (MassHealth) to pay. For a married person to receive MassHealth assistance with paying...

The Single Person: Protecting Your Assets from the Cost of Nursing Home Care

Posted on April 24, 2014

If your loved one is single and would like MassHealth to pay her nursing home bill, then the basic rules are these: (1) She medically requires nursing home level care, (2) she has no more than $2,000 in “countable” assets (that’s money in the bank, retirement accounts, life insurance, etc.), and (3) she has...