New Building will Play an Integral Role in the Firm’s Future Growth

Gudorf Law Group, LLC officially announced its purchase of a 7,500 square foot building, which is located at 8143 North Main Street in Clayton, Ohio near Samaritan North Hospital and the intersection of Interstate 70 and State Route 48. The firm purchased the building in order to allow for future expansion. The building is 16 years old and currently has two local businesses that occupy 4,225 square feet of the space. Gudorf Law Group, LLC plans on renovating the remaining 3,275 square feet and relocating its current office, which is located next door at 8141 North Main Street, into the new building. The firm plans to move into the space before Labor Day.

PASSPORT is an Ohio Medicaid program with long-term care options besides nursing homes. For Ohio residents with long-term healthcare needs that must be paid for by Medicaid, nursing homes are no longer the only option. Ohio’s PASSPORT program includes options such as home care and assisted living.

The PASSPORT (Pre-Admission Screening Providing Options and Resources Today) program pays for home and community-based services that keep folks out of nursing homes. Many of the elderly clients at our Dayton, Ohio elder law lawyer’s office want to avoid nursing homes and remain independent but have long-term care needs. Ohio’s PASSPORT program can help these individuals achieve independence while still having those care needs covered.

PASSPORT: Ohio’s Medicaid Program for Home- and Community-Based Long-Term Care Options

Ohio's Medicaid program for home- and community-based long-term care services covers a variety of services for eligible individuals as long as they are part of an approved care plan.

Services covered include:

• Nursing care
• Physical, occupational and speech therapy
• Personal care
• Respite care
• Counseling
• Homemaker services
• Home-delivered meals
• Nutritional consultation
• Chore services
• Adaptive and assisting devices
• Home medical equipment
• Medications
• Home health case management

Under the PASSPORT program, home care agencies certified by Medicare and Medicaid provide services to the individual in need. Only agencies certified by Medicare and Medicaid are eligible to receive payments through PASSPORT. If other agencies provide services, their services will not be reimbursed by Medicaid. The services provided must also be part of a “plan of care” that is approved by Medicaid. Services outside that plan of care will not be funded through PASSPORT.

PASSPORT eligibility

To qualify for PASSPORT, an individual must be an Ohio resident age 60 or older who lives in or plans to live in a non-institutional community setting. The individual must require care equal to that of a nursing facility and be at risk for institutionalization. Individuals in the PASSPORT program must also have an attending physician who will authorize their care plan and they must agree to the care plan in writing. Initially, to qualify for PASSPORT, services provided under the approved care plan cannot exceed 60% of the cost of a nursing facility (about $35,000 annually). However, once a person is on PASSPORT, his or her services can total up to 100% of the cost of a nursing facility.

Since PASSPORT is an Ohio Medicaid program, Ohio residents must meet the same financial restrictions as any Ohio Medicaid applicant. Details on those restrictions can be found in this article from Ohio elder law lawyer Ted Gudorf: Ohio Medicaid Rules & Requirements to Qualify for Nursing Home Costs.

If you or a loved one needs long-term care at home to be paid for by Medicaid, and nursing homes are not desirable, speak with an Ohio elder law lawyer familiar with estate planning and Ohio’s Medicaid program. They can help you determine if this is a good option for you and whether you qualify. An attorney can also help you create an asset protection strategy in order to improve your chances for eligibility without jeopardizing the inheritance you leave for your family.

When it comes to Ohio Medicaid and nursing homes, one of the most important factors to look at is Medicaid's so-called "look-back" period. The look-back period makes it necessary to do advance Medicaid planning with an Ohio elder law lawyer to avoid an ineligibility period that is likely to drain a person's resources.

When a person applies for Medicaid, the agency looks at the applicant's resources and assets for the five years prior to the date of application. This is the "look-back" period.

The Ohio Medicaid rules determining whether an applicant qualifies for benefits depend on the particular program a person is applying for. In this article, we're going to discuss the qualifications for an elderly applicant applying for benefits to pay for nursing home costs.

Ohio elder law attorneys advise looking at the qualification rules far in advance of entering a nursing home if you plan for those costs to be covered by Medicaid. Planning in advance is necessary because Medicaid looks at an applicant's assets and resources for the five years previous to the application date. Any unprotected assets and resources an applicant had access to during that time could delay or jeopardize the applicant's receipt of benefits.

In Ohio, elder law attorneys can use a Medicaid asset protection plan to help clients keep more assets if they need Medicaid to cover Ohio nursing home costs. Without advance Ohio Medicaid estate planning, a claimant's spouse can only keep half of household assets up to $113,640.

A question that commonly comes up when a client either finds out that he or she needs to enter a nursing home or is preparing for the possibility is, "What does Medicaid allow my spouse to keep if I enter a nursing home?"

Occasionally, Ohio probate attorneys have to deal with an estate in which another attorney made an error when drafting a trust or a will. Sometimes there are mathematical errors. To resolve an error in a trust or will, the probate lawyer assisting the executor or administrator must open a case in Ohio probate court.

In a recent case I was involved in, a client's father had a trust prepared back in 1994 for the family's 200-acre farm. Unfortunately, the trust documents contained an error that wasn't discovered until the father died several months ago.

Here, we answer some of the most frequently asked questions about probate court and probate laws that we receive at our Dayton, Ohio probate attorneys' office.

In this part of the series we'll answer the following basic questions about probate:

• What is a testate estate?
• What is an intestate estate?
• What is a joint tenancy and how does it avoid probate?
• What are POD accounts and how do they avoid probate?

We hope that the answers provided here will be helpful. If you desire more detailed answers to questions about Ohio probate process, please look for other articles from the Ohio probate attorneys' firm of Gudorf Law Group, LLC.

Ohio Probate Process Answers:

What is a testate estate?

A testate estate is one for which the decedent (the person who died and left the estate) has drawn up and signed a will. The will provides instructions for distributing the estate amongst the testator's heirs, outlining who is to get which assets, and names an executor to handle the distribution. When there is a will for an estate, the probate court usually adheres to the dictates of the will. However, some circumstances will require the court to do otherwise, such as when a surviving spouse is not left all that the law entitles her or him to.

What is an intestate estate?

An intestate estate is one for which the decedent did not create a will. Without a will to guide the distribution of the estate assets, Ohio probate law determines who the decedent's heirs are and how much they receive. The law for this Ohio probate process attempts to distribute the estate amongst the family members in a way most people would want their estate distributed. For example, if there is a surviving spouse, the spouse will get most of the estate because there is an assumption that most people would want most of their estate to go to their surviving spouse. Another difference between testate and intestate estates is who carries out the Ohio probate process. Since there is no will, no executor is named. Therefore, the probate court appoints an administrator to carry out the executor's duties. An administrator can be anyone connected to the decedent who applies to be appointed or a professional, such as Dayton, Ohio probate attorneys, selected by the court. Administrators must meet the same requirements as executors to be appointed and approved by the probate court.

What is a joint tenancy and how does it avoid probate?

Joint tenancy is a form of real estate ownership in which two or more people own real estate equally. This is most commonly seen in the form of a married couple who own their home equally. If real estate is owned in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship and at least one owner survives the death of another, the property will pass directly to the surviving owners and will not pass through probate because the beneficiary has already been determined. If real estate is owned in joint tenancy but there are no rights of survivorship, the portion of the real estate owned by the decedent must go through probate and be handed down to the decedent's heirs.

What are POD accounts and how do they avoid probate?

"POD" is an acronym for Payable on Death. POD accounts are financial assets that have a designated beneficiary and the funds of the accounts go directly to the beneficiaries without passing through probate. POD accounts can include bank accounts, investment accounts and similar financial vehicles. Life insurance is another form of POD account as the proceeds are paid directly to the designated beneficiaries.

Get more help with Ohio probate process matters:

Gudorf Law Group, LLC, can assist with probate court proceedings and other aspects of the Ohio probate process. Call our Dayton, Ohio, probate attorneys' office at 1-877-483-6730 to schedule a free consultation.

Ohio probate law answers:

This article is one in a four-part series in which we will answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the probate process and laws that we receive at our Dayton, Ohio probate attorneys’ office.

To start the series we’ll answer the following basic questions about probate:

• What is a will?
• What is probate?
• What is an estate?
• What is an executor?
• What is an administrator?

The administration of an estate requires that all of a decedent’s assets and possessions be identified, inventoried and distributed to the decedent’s creditors and beneficiaries. This job, which is handled by the executor of the estate, requires obtaining detailed information about the decedent, including personal information, financial information, work history and more.

An Ohio probate attorney can be of great help because he or she will know what kind of information should be gathered to ensure that all assets are identified and distributed appropriately. The list of information and documents below will aid in the administration of an estate for an executor who does not have the help of an attorney. It can also help the testator of a will to know what information to include with his or her will to make their executor’s job easier.

Gudorf Law Group has announced its free, estate planning seminar schedule for 2012. The firm will be offering two free seminars per month through December 2012. Each seminar is led by the firm’s owner, Attorney Ted Gudorf, and is held at Company 7 Barbecue, located at 1001 South Main Street in Englewood. All seminars include a complimentary dinner.

These seminars are designed for people who have not yet planned for the future of their estate or for people who already have estate plans in place, but are not sure they have made the best decisions to protect their assets.

“These seminars are a critical first step in the estate planning process. The seminars give people a basic understanding of what they should do to protect their assets and help them understand the next step in the estate planning process,” says Gudorf.