The Elliot Schlissel New York Law Blog

Don’t make mistakes regarding your retirement. Your senior years should be enjoyable, relaxed and stimulating. They should not be frustrating and worrisome times.

Have Sufficient Assets and Cash Flow

You should not retire unless you have enough savings, pension, funds or 401K funds to support your lifestyle. Social Security alone will not be sufficient to fund your retirement goals. Social Security pays approximately $14,000 a year to retirees. This is simply not enough money to live on!

Be Active In Your Retirement

Researchers show that retirees who maintain an active lifestyle have a longer life expectancy. Exercise is important to seniors. Stimulating your body and your mind will keep you healthy, happy and extend your life.

Stay Close With Friends and Family Members

Don’t retire to your room. Have an outgoing social life and lifestyle. Stay in touch with the people you love and whose company you enjoy.

Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia

Studies indicate that approximately 14% of all Americans over the age of sixty-five suffer from some form of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. In the long run. Alzheimer’s disease and dementia negatively impact your brain, which in turn has a negative impact on your life and may land you in a nursing home. Medicare will not cover nursing home stays. Nursing homes can cost as much as ten to twelve-thousand dollars per month. To avoid the potential of an uncovered stay at a nursing home from impoverishing you, you should consult with an attorney who handles elder care work.

Elder Care Lawyer

The Law Office of Elliot S. Schlissel provides elder care legal services to our clients. We draft wills and trusts. We probate wills. We deal with Medicaid planning issues. We assist our clients with nursing home issues. We provide all types of elder care legal representation. We also draft special needs trusts and supplemental needs trustsfor our clients. Should you need a will, trust or an elder care attorney, call us at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 or 718-350-2802.

If you have assets, young children, and/or a house you should have a will. So you have a will. That’s great! Have you updated your will within the last two decades? If your will is more than 10 years old, you should consider updating it.

Changes In Your Life

Will Evaluation

Grandchildren

Tax Issues

A Significant Other

Wills and Trusts Lawyer

Should you have questions concerning any or the aforementioned items, feel free to give us a call at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 or 718-350-2802.

Republican politicians have recently referred to Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme”.  This is an absurd misrepresentation of a program that has helped keep many of America’s senior citizens out of poverty. Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, in a recent debate, stated “it is a Ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today, you’re paying into a program that’s going to be there. Anybody that’s for the status quo with Social Security today is involved with a monstrous lie to our kids, and that’s not right.” What’s not right is that Governor Rick Perry is clueless as to the nature and makeup of the Social Security system!

Governor Rick Perry

The Social Security Trust Fund will have a surplus that will reach it’s peak in the year 2022. At that time, the surplus in the fund will be 3.7 trillion dollars. Social Security is a program that has worked for more than 50 years. Politicians shouldn’t mess with a system that already works well.

When Is The Right Time to Retire?

It’s hard to say when it’s right time to retire; however, it is easy to say it is the wrong time to retire. You shouldn’t retire unless you have sufficient funds to carry you through your golden years. In the past, most people retired in their sixties. With declining savings and living costs going up, many Americans will have to wait till they’re in their seventies.

Retirement Suggestions

Instead of quitting your job, you may be able to negotiate reducing your working days or working hours. This will allow you to live without drawing on your savings. Downscale your life style. If you want to retire, you need to try to live more modestly. If your home is large, you can sell it and buy a smaller home or rent an apartment. You can move from an expensive state, such as those located in the Northeast, to cheaper, less expensive states in the South and Southwest.

You need to prioritize your needs. Instead of eating out once or twice a week, it is much less expensive to cook your meals and eat at home.

Forced Retirement

Losing your job or being downsized may force you into retirement. Employers may no longer want experienced employees in their fifties and sixties. This tends to raise the cost of their group health care and other group benefit packages. What do you do if you’re downsized and no one wants to hire you?You need to see a job counselor. You need to train yourself to work in another industry. Unfortunately, you also need to downsize your expectations as to what you’ll be earning.

Wills, Trusts and Estates Lawyers

The law office of Elliot Schlissel has been assisting senior Americans regarding wills and trusts issues for more than thirty years. We draft wills and trusts. We probate wills. We litigate will contests. We draft special needs trusts for special needs children.

Elliot S. Schlissel is a member of The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. He handles elder care planning related to Medicare, Medicaid and nursing home issues. Call us for a free consultation.

Fewer doctors in the United States are going into family practice. Solo medical practitioners involved in family practices are becoming scarcer. The American Academy of Family Physicians, in 1986, represented forty-four percent of the practicing doctors. As of 2008, only eighteen percent of practicing physicians are in family practice and that number continues to grow smaller.

In 2007, twenty-eight percent of the doctors in private practice described themselves as being self-employed. In 1970, almost sixty percent of all doctors were self-employed.

New Doctors Don’t Want Family Practices

Many of the doctors graduating medical school have no interest in small family practices. They seek better life styles, which involve shorter working days and weekends off. They want to avoid patient emergencies.

New Doctors Have to Deal With Debt Obligations

Many doctors going into medical practice today borrowed large sums to help pay for their medical school expenses. These young doctors are looking for steady pay checks that have no risk attached to them.

Will Patients Suffer?

There are benefits for patients who use larger medical practices. These larger practices can provide more preventive medical services. They have the financial ability to use technology to enhance their practice, which gives them greater capabilities.

Loss of the Personal Touch

Generations of Americans have had personal, confidential relationships with their physicians. Physicians were trusted individuals. Patients felt they had a personal relationship with them. Newer, larger medical groups may lack this personal touch. Doctors who are part of larger medical groups have the ability to pool their resources to provide more sophisticated, higher levels of medical care.

There are pluses and minuses involved in a demise of the local family sole practitioner. Although there is a loss of the personal relationship, the patient may end up with more sophisticated medical care!

New York Lawyers

The attorneys at the law office of Elliot Schlissel have more than 70 years of combined legal experience. We draft wills and trusts. We probate wills. We litigate will contests. We draft revocable living trusts and irrevocable trusts for our clients. Elliot Schlissel is a member of The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.

We represent individuals with regard to issues concerning medicaid, medicaid planning techniques and developing special needs trusts for special needs children. We also deal with issues involving nursing home abuse. Feel free to call for a free consultation at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 or 718-350-2802.

Retirement is supposed to be a time of relaxation and enjoyment for Americans. The current economic situation in the United States may require a re-thinking of retirement issues. A recent study has shown that one in four individuals approaching retirement have saved nothing for their retirement years! The Employee Benefit Research Institute recently revealed that nearly 50% of all individuals who are close to retirement, age 56 through 62, will run out of money if they are retired for twenty years or more.

Planning for Retirement

Planning for retirement is a complicated process. You never know how long you’re going to live! It is difficult to anticipate future medical expenses.

Retirement Facts

In the year 2011, the average individual receiving social security benefits will take in about $1,200 a month. Studies show you’ll need approximately eighty-percent of your pre- retirement income to maintain the same level of life style you maintained in your pre- retirement days. If you are nearing retirement, it is strongly suggested that you obtain literature and/or professional advice concerning retirement. Some retirement organizations offer community seminars. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has an enormous amount of information concerning what you can expect your expenses to be during the course of your retirement.

Are You In Debt

One of the first things that is recommended to individuals approaching retirement is to eliminate debt. The best way to do that is to review your expenses and take affirmative action to reduce these expenses. Examples of reducing expenses would be eating out in restaurants less often. You may have to change your life style and live a simpler, less expensive life.

Can You Downsize Your Home Expenses?

You may be able to sell your home and move into a smaller home. In some situations, you may be forced to sell your home and live in an apartment.

Don’t Retire!

Who says sixty-five years of age is the magic number to retire! People are living much longer today. Working into your early seventies may be the solution to your retirement issues. Another alternative is to simply not retire. I’m sixty-one years of age and I have no intentions of retiring anytime in the near future. I simply wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I retired. I anticipate I would be bored to tears!

Estate Planning Attorneys

Our law office has been handling estate planning matters for our clients for more than thirty years. We draft wills and trusts for our clients. We assist our clients in estate administration and probating wills. We deal with elder care matters involving nursing homes, nursing home abuse, medicaid, medicaid planning and medicaid planning techniques. We also assist our clients in developing special needs trusts for special needs children. Call us for a free consultation at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 or 718-350-2802.

Baby Boomers are going to have difficulty retiring. Recent studies indicate that baby boomers will work four years more than earlier generations due to the economic problems they have faced in recent years. The years following retirement are referred to as the “golden years”. There may not be much gold left for the baby boomers!

Baby boomers are individuals who were born between 1946 and 1964. There are approximately 77 million baby boomers. This represents 37% of the nation’s population that are age sixteen or older.

Retirement – A Grim View

Baby boomers have supposedly been saving during the course of their lifetimes for their golden retirement years. Unfortunately their savings have been involved in stocks, bonds and real estate that has been devastated by the recent economic crisis in the United States. The past five to seven years have had a negative effect on the net worth of a large portion of the baby boomers who are expected to retire during the next five to seven years.

Even the baby boomers whose investments have not been effected by the recent economic down turn may be hesitant to retire due to concern over their financial future.

In a recent survey by certified public accountants shows that their clients who had assets between $500,000 and $5,000,000 were concerned about retiring and were prepared to work four or more years before retiring. If individuals with such substantial assets are nervous about retiring, the picture is even more bleak for baby boomers who do not have savings.

“Boomers have been scarred by the economic turmoil in the past two years and face complex challenges going forward” Clark M. Blackman III recently stated. Mr. Blackman is the chair of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Personal Financial Executive Committee. Baby boomers golden years may be less than golden!

Member of National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys

Elliot Schlissel is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. His law office probates wills, deals with contested wills and estates, drafts wills, and provides estate planning for their clients. They also draft revocable living trusts and irrevocable trusts for their clients. The law office provides all types of elder care legal services including dealing with issues of nursing home abuse, medicaid planning techniques and actually applying for medicaid for their clients. The law office also deals with children with special needs and the drafting of special needs trusts for these children. Call for a free consultation at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 or 718-350- 2802. Link to Wills Website

The Republicans in Congress are challenging the health care law passed in 2010 by President Obama and the Democratic controlled Congress. Question: How does the health care law affect you?

One Million Americans Lose Health Insurance

More Americans Given Healthcare Coverage

Starting in the year 2014, insurance companies will no longer have the ability to reject individuals with preexisting medical conditions or to charge individuals who currently are suffering from illnesses higher premiums for medical insurance.

There are a number of court challenges to the Affordable Health Care Law. Several Federal Judges have set aside the law for various reasons. It will be interesting to see how the Appellate Federal Courts deal with this issue.

New York Wills Lawyers

Elliot S. Schlissel, Esq. is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. He provides his clients with detailed Elder Care legal services involving Medicaid planning, nursing home issues, special needs trusts and issues involving special children. If you have a probate, Wills, Trusts and Estates or Elder Care matter, we are the law firm that can help you. Call us at 1-800-344-6431; 516-561-6645 and 718-350-2802.

Cutting Doctor Reimbursements

Slowing Health Care Inflationary Expenses

When you place a loved one in a nursing home, it is your hope that they are going to be cared for.  The nursing home is responsible for meeting their needs for food, shelter and medical care.  There has been a significant number of cases in recent years where nursing homes have not provided the high-level of care that is their obligation.  In some situations, the seniors have been physically abused.  Other cases involve the theft of money and valuables from seniors.

Common Signs of Elder Abuse

There are many types of elder abuse of seniors in nursing homes.  They can be verbally abused, physically abused and sexually abused.  They can be neglected to the point that it has a negative effect on their mental and physical health.

Seniors who rely on wheelchairs, crutches or walkers can be abused if these items are not made available.  They can then become captives in their rooms, subject to false imprisonment.  There have been instances that our office has been involved with where seniors valuables seem to develop feet and walk away on their own.  Usually another resident or staff member of the nursing home is involved in the theft of the senior’s possessions.

What to Look for Regarding Nursing Home Abuse

To start with, you should always have access to a loved one at a nursing home.  There is no reason why a staff member should prevent you from spending time with a loved one.

The following are signs of physical abuse: sudden weight loss, dehydration, bed sores, marks from restraints, broken bones and other injuries from falls as well as over- medication.  These are indications of sexual abuse: bleeding or bruises in the genital area or rectum, torn or bloodied garments or the contraction of sexually transmitted diseases.

Verbal abuse can involve seniors regressing.  This is when the senior enters an infant-like state, such as sucking their thumb or mumbling.  Seniors can show an excessive fear or apprehension around other people.  Visible depression or anger can also be related to verbal abuse.

What do you do if you believe a senior has been abused? The first thing you must do is try to obtain documentation or evidence of what actually happened.  If you find abuse has taken place, it is strongly suggested that you remove the individual from the facility.  You should thereafter notify the administrators of the facility and agencies regarding what transpired.  You should also hire an attorney and sue the facility.

There are several types of lawsuits that can be brought against nursing homes.  Lawsuits can be brought to deal with financial abuse, verbal abuse, false imprisonment, physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect.  Nursing homes must provide reasonable care to their residents.  Nursing homes are held to a very high standard of care.  The Nursing Home Reform Act (NHRA) of 1987 requires that nursing homes maintain a specific high level of care if they are receiving reimbursement from either Medicare or Medicaid.

Nursing Home Abuse Statute

The federal statute regulating nursing homes is called the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 (NHRA).  This statute has specific regulation requiring all nursing facilities in the United States that receive either Medicaid or Medicare to maintain facilities that are safe, clean and well-managed for the nursing home residents.  Federal regulations require that all nursing homes residents have a right to be free from verbal, physical, sexual or mental abuse.  The rules stated in the NHRA are contained in a pamphlet called the “Residents’ Rights”.  An overview on the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reforms website is www.NCCNHR.org.  This Federal statute allows the recovery of “compensatory damages”.  These damages are calculated at 25% of the daily per-patient statutory rate of payment which has been established for the facility.

Elder Care Lawyers

We sue nursing homes.  Our office sues nursing homes that fail to provide the required high-level of care to their residents.  We will deal with issues involving nursing home abuse.  We also assist our clients in contested wills and estate proceedings as well as the drafting of wills and trusts. We assist our clients if they have special needs children with drafting a special needs trusts and supplementary needs trust. Should you, a friend or loved one have a need for an elder care attorney, call us at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561- 6645 or 718-350-2802.