Austin, Texas Medicaid – Nursing Homes – Estate Planning

As the founder of Willie Elder Law, I have witnessed first hand, the viscous impact that long term diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS) and the like can have not only on the person experiencing the disease, but on the family as well. Sometimes there is no disease at all, but the elderly person has just become so frail that they can no longer care for themselves.

I began my work in the Elder Law arena in 2003. But the roots of why I devoted myself to Elder Law in the first place dates back to 1997, when I struggled to help my Grandma Betty find the answers she needed to help her through a long-term care nightmare. You see, my Grandpa Gene was in declining health. He had been diagnosed with Shy Drager disease (a rare disease that has symptoms similar to Parkinson’s but with elements of progressive dementia).

Like many elderly people with dementia related diseases, Grandpa Gene stayed at home as long as he could, and Grandma Betty did an amazing job trying to care for him. But it just got to be too much. It would take her 2 hours just to get him bathed and dressed, and she would have to literally almost carry him around the house. He needed round the clock care, and their only answer was a nursing home, a skilled nursing facility.

I watched as my family struggled for answers. My family would visit professionals who were accustomed to dealing with end of life planning- such as estate planning attorneys, financial planners, CPAs etc. No one understood what Grandma Betty should do to make sure that Grandpa Gene was going to get the best possible care at the right nursing home. While high quality care was a huge concern, an unspoken concern was: How in the world was my Grandma going to pay for this?

My Grandpa Gene and Grandma Betty had worked hard their whole lives, and managed to save a little bit of money, but were essentially living on two social security checks and a very small pension. They owned a modest home and one car. With nursing home costs skyrocketing (at that time $4,000 a month), they would quickly be out of money. Luckily, they found a local attorney who practiced something called “Elder Law.”

Watching Grandpa Gene and Grandma Betty and my entire family go through this is the major motivating factor that brought me to the practice of Elder Law. It is what drives me every day and why I have developed the services and systems used everyday here at Willie Elder Law.

Willie Elder Law is really a different kind of firm. Although we have a traditional Estate Planning aspect to our practice, and there are many excellent advisors out there who deal with this type of practice this really deals with “death and distribution planning.” It has to do with “what happens to my assets when I die?”

The more important question these days and one which very few lawyers are prepared to deal with is: “what happens when I outlive my money and my assets?” As people live longer and longer, this becomes THE question, and one that must be answered. Through proper long-term care planning, you can legally protect your assets so that you don’t outlive them and can pass them on as an inheritance.

Unfortunately, there are two sets of laws out there: one for the unrepresented and one for the represented and well informed. I started Willie Elder Law to help people everyday – people just like Grandma Betty, Grandpa Gene and their families with the answers they need, so that these families are not in danger of loosing the long term care battle.

Thank you,

Brian T. Willie, J.D.