Introducing the Roots + Wings Legal Podcast, hosted by Aiston Law LLC and Portland, Oregon Attorney Candice Aiston. In our inaugural episode, we talk with Anne Tegtmeier, owner of Fan Fare: Theme Catering, about what life looks like when a parent develops dementia and is seduced by scammers. It happened to Anne while she was starting her company and raising her young daughter Lily, as a single parent.

Here is the episode. You can listen right here or download it to listen in another format.

TAKEAWAYS:

Dementia

Dementia can sneak up on you and your family. It often just presents as “old person kookiness.” It can also be challenging to diagnose properly. Family needs to be involved to tell doctors what they have observed, because often the person with dementia does a poor job with self-reporting.

Scams on the Elderly

Anne had three tips about scams: 1) You can’t win a lottery that you didn’t enter to win. 2) If you win a lottery, you are never required to pay any fees up front. 3) Americans are not allowed to enter foreign lotteries. Knowing all of these facts and passing them on to your aging loved ones can help prevent being scammed.

Estate Planning Tips for Dealing with Dementia

Having a revocable living trust that allows your trustee to step in if you are incapacitated and handle your finances and assets is the best way to ensure that your family will not endure an expensive, time-consuming legal battle to get you the help that you need.

Paying for Assisted Living

Medicare WILL NOT pay for long-term assisted living. You must plan ahead to pay for it, or your family will have to spend down your assets to nothing on your care before you can qualify for Medicaid to pay for costs. Even then, Medicaid is not accepted at every assisted living facility. Your best bet is to have the money to pay out of pocket, either with a long-term care insurance policy or a cash-value whole life insurance policy. If you are around retirement age and do not have these policies in place, meet with a lawyer to do Medicaid trust planning. If you or a loved one needs to enter assisted living, meet with a Medicaid planning attorney to see what legal planning strategies you can use to maximize benefits and gifts to family.

If you want to get started on your estate plan, read about our estate planning services and schedule an appointment.

To your family's health + happiness,

Candice N. Aiston

P.S. Want to get started slowly but surely, naming guardians for your kids? Check out our Guardian Plan kit.

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Candice N. Aiston is an Legal Planning Attorney for Estates + Businesses in the Portland, Oregon area. She helps people to prepare for a lifetime of security, prosperity, and guidance. If you would like to receive her free reports, please visit http://aistonlaw.com/ to sign up. Follow her Facebook page for daily planning tips: https://www.facebook.com/aistonlaw/.