Please note: I am retired and not accepting clients. I leave this page up to show my credentials on subjects covered on this website. I also believe it is helpful in Your search for the best Elder Law attorney since it gives an example of what an “experienced” elder law attorney means. Note also I, as any really experienced Elder Law attorney, have been in many nursing homes and know how difficult it is to get good care. You need an experienced attorney in these matters.
1. We have more experience
Jim was the first attorney in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to practice “elder law.” Back in 1995 when Jim was a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) nobody had heard of elder law! Ten years later there were only about four attorneys in all of Oakland County who practiced elder law. There were none in Macomb and one or two Wayne County. (There were “probate” attorneys and low income “legal aid” attorneys, but none practiced comprehensive elder law.)
2. Nobody knows Medicaid better
The Michigan Elder Law and Disability Section of the State Bar twice chose Jim to represent the Section in appeals before the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Michigan Supreme Court. Medicaid is a complicated program and many attorneys only know the bare essentials.
Some attorneys boast that they can save “half of the loaf”, that is about half of your assets. We regularly help clients save 90% of their assets. And that includes consideration of the expense of our fee. If that were not enough, in many cases we can get nursing home bills covered for months before you see us and when you were not eligible for Medicaid!
3. We are of the fastest
Time is Money. The state average cost of a nursing home is $9,880 a month and in Oakland County many nursing homes are over $12,000 per month. We can get your Medicaid coverage the very next month and that saves you tens of thousands of dollars. We had a case where a client came to us after she grossly over-paid an attorney to apply for Medicaid for her husband. He took three months to get the simple application in and got it wrong! We quickly fixed it and got retroactive coverage.
Get it done fast and get it done right.
Please note: the more complex an applicant’s financial affairs are, including discovering asset information lost by a person with dementia, the longer it takes to complete an application.
4. Of the best, we are most affordable
Some “elder law” attorneys in Michigan charge $25,000 to $40,000 handle a Medicaid application! Some charge the equivalent two months of nursing home expense ($19,000+). Our charges are not based on what you save but the complexity of the work. Often our charge is less than what you would pay a nursing home for just one month.
5. Why are other attorneys so slow and expensive?
Some attorneys “lard up” the representation with work that doesn’t “get it done.” Some are insecure. Their process is slow and tentative. They give you a first meeting. Then you get them your financial information, with all paper documentation. Then they tell you they need more information from your accounts. Then they need your “estate planning” documents. Then they do an analysis. Then they write up a long wordy report. Then they send it to you to read and digest. Then they have you come in for a Medicaid application strategy meeting where they give you their shocking fee to change all of your estate planning documents and work on the Medicaid application. This slow process only drives up legal fees and causes you to pay the nursing home even longer. Finally, one of the things they don’t tell you is that they don’t have quality support staff and the attorney charges you his/her hourly rate to do things that staff can easily perform.
6. What does it take to apply for Medicaid?
Unlike Medicare, you have to apply for Medicaid coverage. The process IS complicated. Before you submit your application you must “spend down.” For a single person that means spending all “countable” assets down to $2,000. For a married applicant the spend down is the same except for a spousal share of the assets. Before our clients spend down we advise them on how to save their money so that little as possible is lost to the nursing home. You can find out more about the Medicaid application process here.