A good power of attorney is needed for nursing home and medicaid planning

At the Olsen Law Group in Orlando we can help your protect your life's savings from nursing homes and help you qualify for Medicaid and have the government pay for your nursing home.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Ellen, you're on News 96.5.

Ellen: Good morning, Tom and Chrissy.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Hey.

Attorney Chris Merrill: Good morning.

Ellen: I have done a power of attorney in draft format and it's titled durable.

Attorney Tom Olsen: All right.

Ellen: There's nothing in its package that calls it financial, it just says durable power of attorney. I noticed in the many, many pages a couple of the paragraphs, especially the one, it has the word Medicaid in it. I'm really in tune to your comments you've made on earlier shows about Medicaid. One of these paragraphs, I'll briefly describe it because-

Attorney Tom Olsen: Ellen, I get what you're saying, so let's just talk about it for a minute.

Ellen: Okay.

Attorney Tom Olsen: First of all, a financial power of attorney for you, and all the other listeners out there, is absolutely critical. You should have one. Number two, that financial power of attorney should contain Medicaid planning language so that if you have to go to a nursing home someday, whoever you're appointing as your power of attorney can use your power of attorney to help protect your money from Medicaid and nursing homes. You are definitely on the right track, Ellen.

Ellen: What you just said, the durable power of attorney does not cut the mustard, it would have to be a financial power of attorney?

Attorney Tom Olsen: No. To be a durable power of attorney, that language must be contained within your power of attorney. Simply by looking at your power of attorney, if I see there's all kinds of banking powers in there, hey, it's automatically a financial power of attorney. You don't have to label it a financial power of attorney to make it a good power of attorney.

Ellen: Okay. There's where I was uncertain. There is words inside my durable power of attorney in one of the paragraphs. It says "Eligibility to receive Medicaid benefits."

Attorney Tom Olsen: Just out of curiosity, Ellen, if I looked at that power of attorney, are there also health care powers in there that allow somebody to decide what doctors, hospitals, medications for you?

Ellen: Yes. I saw it. It's embedded in the many pages. It's in here.

Attorney Tom Olsen: I get you. Ellen, for our office, when we do powers of attorney for people, we do one for health care, we do a separate one for financial. You've got a form where they combine the two, and that's okay. It's not my first choice, but it's okay. Ellen, you're on the right track. This is critical that you have a good financial power of attorney. It's critical that it had Medicaid planning provisions in it. It sounds like you've got that.

Ellen: Okay. Thank you so much, Tom.

Attorney Tom Olsen: You're very welcome. Chrissy, we do a lot of Medicaid planning for people so that when mom or dad need to go into a nursing home and they've got money, hey, nursing homes are $8,000 to $10,000 a month. I don't care how much money mom and dad have, at that kind of rate, it's not going to last long. We have the tools to help people protect that money and get mom and dad qualified, where Medicaid the government will pay for their nursing home. All perfectly legitimate and legal, but to do that, man, we need a good power of attorney that mom and dad have signed.