Client's Age: 77
County: Lewis
Client has so much credit card debt she doesn't know what to do. Her income is limited to Social Security and a widow's benefit from Workers Compensation from her deceased husband. I reviewed her assets, expenses, and income sources with her and explained that she is collection proof, and that means that she can protect virtually everything she has from these creditors. I sent her a letter explained how to write cease letters to stop the debt collection calls, and explained how to file an exemption form to protect herself if she gets a court judgments against her.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Monday, March 05, 2007
Case of the Week 3/2/07
Client's Age: 97
County: Kanawha
Client has been caring for his wife who has dementia for over a decade. Her capacity has diminished to the point where he will have to feed her soon, and she cannot answer any questions. He has been told he needed power of attorney for her and wanted to know how to do that. We had a long conversation about mental capacity and legal decisionmaking, and I explained that it appears to be too late for any powers of attorney, but depending on what kinds of things he needed to have authority to handle, guardianship/conservatorship may not be necessary. Since her only income was Social Security, he could get representative payee status to handle her money for her. We also talked about long-term care Medicaid, and what protections he could have financially if she needed to go to a nursing home to get the care she needed. I also sent him a copy of our purple book of Legal Questions Frequently Asked by WV Seniors.
County: Kanawha
Client has been caring for his wife who has dementia for over a decade. Her capacity has diminished to the point where he will have to feed her soon, and she cannot answer any questions. He has been told he needed power of attorney for her and wanted to know how to do that. We had a long conversation about mental capacity and legal decisionmaking, and I explained that it appears to be too late for any powers of attorney, but depending on what kinds of things he needed to have authority to handle, guardianship/conservatorship may not be necessary. Since her only income was Social Security, he could get representative payee status to handle her money for her. We also talked about long-term care Medicaid, and what protections he could have financially if she needed to go to a nursing home to get the care she needed. I also sent him a copy of our purple book of Legal Questions Frequently Asked by WV Seniors.
Case of the Week 2/23/07
Client's Age: 81
County: Grant
Client had called us 5 years ago and gotten help getting a creditor to stop harrassing her. Now a debt collector is calling, but she does not believe she owes this debt at all. I helped C obtain a free credit report, reviewed it with her to see that no such debt existed that matched the debt collector's description of the debt, and explained to C how to write a cease letter to get the calls to stop.
County: Grant
Client had called us 5 years ago and gotten help getting a creditor to stop harrassing her. Now a debt collector is calling, but she does not believe she owes this debt at all. I helped C obtain a free credit report, reviewed it with her to see that no such debt existed that matched the debt collector's description of the debt, and explained to C how to write a cease letter to get the calls to stop.
Case of the Week 2/16/07
Client's Age: 62
County: Mason
Client has been married for over 35 years and her husband has become a problem gambler. She never earned a paycheck and wanted to know what would happen if they divorced regarding income, assets, and the debts he has been accumulating which she suspects are significant. I explained that she will generally have a right to 1/2 of any pension he earned during their marriage, and half their marital assets, and could generally avoid being held responsible for debts that he incurred entirely in his name and entirely for his benefit.
County: Mason
Client has been married for over 35 years and her husband has become a problem gambler. She never earned a paycheck and wanted to know what would happen if they divorced regarding income, assets, and the debts he has been accumulating which she suspects are significant. I explained that she will generally have a right to 1/2 of any pension he earned during their marriage, and half their marital assets, and could generally avoid being held responsible for debts that he incurred entirely in his name and entirely for his benefit.
Client of the Week 2/9/07
Client's Age: 84
County: Monongalia
Client called because her daughter keeps threatening to have her declared incompetent, and client is very worried that daughter is greedy and wants her inheritance now. I explained that no one can declare her incompetent without a court proceeding where she would get appointed a lawyer to represent her, and have opportunity to testify and present evidence. I explained both the guardianship/conservatorship and mental hygiene processes to client and explained her legal rights to make her own decisions unless a judge rules she can't.
County: Monongalia
Client called because her daughter keeps threatening to have her declared incompetent, and client is very worried that daughter is greedy and wants her inheritance now. I explained that no one can declare her incompetent without a court proceeding where she would get appointed a lawyer to represent her, and have opportunity to testify and present evidence. I explained both the guardianship/conservatorship and mental hygiene processes to client and explained her legal rights to make her own decisions unless a judge rules she can't.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Uncompensated Transfer of Assets penalty just got better
Effective March 1, 2007, the figure used in West Virginia to calculate the penalty period for uncompensated transfers of assets in the long-term care Medicaid program changed. The WV Bureau for Medical Services (our state's Medicaid agency) divides this figure (which is the private pay nursing home rate) by the the fair market value of the transfer to determine how many months of penalty the Medicaid beneficiary will suffer. For about 8 years the figure they used was $3,380, which especially recently has been seriously below the true average private pay rate in the state. The new figure is $5,087 or $112.65 per day. http://www.wvdhhr.org/bcf/policy/imm/IMManualChanges/451/ch17_10.pdf
The per day fraction is important to know because once WV implements the changes in federal long-term care Medicaid law that were promulgated in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA), penalties will include fractions of the month. Before DRA the penalty period was rounded down to whole months only. Post-DRA implementation the period will also include fractions of a month, eliminating the benefit of transferring just under the value of the monthly private pay rate, which would formerly have resulted in rounding down to 0 months.
The per day fraction is important to know because once WV implements the changes in federal long-term care Medicaid law that were promulgated in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA), penalties will include fractions of the month. Before DRA the penalty period was rounded down to whole months only. Post-DRA implementation the period will also include fractions of a month, eliminating the benefit of transferring just under the value of the monthly private pay rate, which would formerly have resulted in rounding down to 0 months.
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