Elder Law Articles & Forms

The following articles are posted to help you. They are provided for educational purposes; we are not posting them to advise you regarding specific legal questions. If you have a question concerning your circumstances, you should contact a lawyer who can provide you with specific, personal advice.

Articles for Non-Lawyers:

Long Term Care and Medicaid

• Life Care Planning (html)
• Medicaid & Medicaid Planning (html)
• Medicaid Program Basics
• Preserving Family Wealth
• Nursing Home Costs (html)
• Home Health Care
• Paying for Health Care (html)
• Medicaid Planning: Frequently Asked Questions (html)
• The Georgia Medicaid Manual Online (html)
• Medicaid Planning Basics (html)
• Home-Made Medicaid Plans Can Get You In Trouble (html)
• Annuities and Medicaid (html)
• The CSRA, MMMNA and Related Issues (2004; pdf) (Note: This article has not been updated since the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005).
• Medicaid Fair Hearings
• Medicaid Estate Recovery (html)
• Your right to a prompt Medicaid eligibility determination (html)
• Public Comments Regarding Estate Recovery in Georgia (pdf)
• What is a Miller Trust (or Qualified Income Trust)
• Special Needs Trusts (html)
• Insurance (html)
• The Importance of Mental and Emotional Needs
• The Chronic Care Model for the Delivery of Health Care
• Driving with Dementia
• Applying for VA Aid & Attendance

Medicaid and Medicare

• Medicare and Nursing Home Costs (html)
• The Medicare Program (html)
• 2005 Medicare Premiums and Co-Pays
• 2007 Medicare Premiums, Co-Pays and Selected Links
• 2008 Medicare Premiums, Co-Pays, and Selected Links
• Your Medicare Appeal Rights
• 2009 Medicare Premiums and Co-Pays (CMS website)
• 2009 Choosing a Medigap Policy (CMS Website)
• The Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) Program (html)

Supplemental Security Income

• Social Security & SSI Benefits (html)

Budgeting

• Budgeting Concepts for Elders (html)

Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts

• Basic Estate Planning Documents (html)
• What is a Will? (html)
• Do You Need a Will (and related documents) (pdf)
• What is Probate?
• Example of a Simple Will with comments (Georgia) (pdf)
• What are Trusts? (html)
• Insurance and Estate Planning (html)
• Federal Estate and Gift Tax Rates (html)
• Georgia Estate and Gift Taxes
• Powerpoint on Planning Ahead (Powerpoint)
• Georgia's New Advanced Directive for Health Care (html) (August 2007)
• Living Wills & Health Care Powers of Attorney (html)
• Religious Beliefs and End-of-Life Decisions
• Exemplar of HIPAA Compliant Authorization (pdf)
• A Review of Statutes Related to Georgia Health Care Decision Making (pdf file; 11/03)
• Priority of Claims in Georgia Probate

Nursing Home and Injury Issues

• Choosing a Nursing Home (html)
• Nursing Home Admission Agreements (html)
• Rights in a Nursing Home (Georgia) (html)
• Rights in a Personal Care Home/Assisted Living Facility (Georgia) (html)
• Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect (html)
• Personal Injury (html)
• What to do if You Are Injured (html)

Consumer Information, Scams, Credit

• Powerpoint: Elder Abuse
• Identity Theft: Credit History Dispute Letter
• SCAM Alerts
• Information About Debt Collectors (Fair Debt Collection Practices)
• Reprint of Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Guide on Funerals (html)

Misc. (Everything else)

• Age Discrimination
• Family Medical Leave Act
• IRS Publication 502 (Medical Expenses)
• Index of IRS Publications
• Insurance (html)
• Divorce & Family Law (html)
• Real Estate (html)
• What is Title Insurance? (html)
• Index of Helpful Organizations (link pages)
• UTube Video on Aging and Alzheimer's Disease
• UTube Video on Alzheimer's Disease
• UTude Video on Alzheimer's Education
• UTube Video on Alzheimer's
• UTube Video: Portrait of an Alzheimer's Patient

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So You Don't Want to Pay a Lawyer

Articles for Lawyers and other professionals:
Note: Many of the articles discussing Medicaid were written prior to enactment of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Be mindful of changes in the law.

• Basic Long-Term Care Planning (February 2008)
• Working with Litigation Counsel in Nursing Home Neglect Cases (pdf) (November 2007)
• What Does Good Long-Term Care Look Like? (pdf) (September 2007)
• The Top Ten Nursing Home Decisions in the Past Year (June 2007)
• Care Planning Across the Continuum (pdf) (May 2007)
• What Trial Lawyers Need to Know About Special Needs Trusts and Disability Planning (pdf; presented at the ATLA Winter Convention, Honolulu, February 22, 2006)
• Personal Injury Attorney's Guide to Representing the Aged or Disabled Client (pdf; 02/06)
• Arbitration Agreements in Nursing Home Contracts (March 2005)
• Nursing Home Arbitration Agreements (pdf 8/26/04) (iPlayback)
• Ethics for Elder Law Attorneys (pdf file; Updated 8/04)
• Revisiting the Ethics of Medicaid Planning, with Timothy L. Takacs, CELA, NAELA Quarterly, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Summer 2004. (If you are a NAELA member, you can access the paper on the NAELA Web.) (This paper was awarded the NAELA John Regan Writing Award for best article published in the NAELA Quarterly in 2004.)
• The Never Ending Nightmare of HIPAA Releases (July 2004)
• The Elder-Centered Law Practice: What It Is, How to Attain It (co-authored with Timothy L. Takacs) (Eighth Annual Elder Law Symposium, North Carolina Bar Association, Cary, North Carolina, March 26, 2004) (pdf)
• Speaking Notes for ATLA's HIPAA Revisted (Update of previous article; 3/25/04)
• Finishing Strong: Protecting the Recovery After Settlement or Verdict (co-authored with Timothy L. Takacs) (pdf; 3/04) (iPlayback)
• Medicare Secondary Payer Issues (co-authored with Timothy L. Takacs) (pdf; 2/04)
• The Medicaid Application Process in Tennessee (pdf; 2004)
• Ethics 101 for Tennessee Elder Law Attorneys (pdf file; 12/03)
• Touring the Nursing Home: Issues for the Elder Law Attorney (Tennessee) (pdf file; 12/03)
• How to eat a HIPAA: Medical Records and the Elder Law Attorney (html; 9/03)
• An Overview: What is HIPAA? (pdf file; 6/03)
• Nursing Home Litigation (March 2003) (pdf)
• T. Takacs & D. McGuffey, Medicaid Planning: Can It Be Justified?: Legal and Ethical Implications of Medicaid Planning, 29 William Mitchell Law Review 111 (2002) (pdf file)
• Nursing Home Law Outline (html)
• Medicaid Law Outline (html)
• Georgia Medicaid Manual
• Elder Law Cases
• Taxation of Personal Injury Claims (html)

Forms:

• Life Care Planning Workbook (Single/Individual) (PDF)
• Life Care Planning Workbook (Married) (PDF)
• Budgeting Guide for Family Income (pdf)
• Budgeting Form (pdf)
• Monthly Expense Record (pdf)
• Guidance for Caregivers Concerning My Life Values (pdf)
• Where to Find My Important Papers (pdf)
• My Burial Plan (pdf)
• Example of Fee Agreement (pdf)

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© 2004, Law Office of David L. McGuffey, LLC

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