Here Are a Few Tips to Help You Plan for the Growth of the Sandwich Generation

October 24, 2022Filed Under: Estate Planning, Long Term Care

The sandwich generation includes anyone who struggles to care for both their children and their aging parents. Although generation is part of the phrase, it does not refer to people born at a specific time. Typically, these “sandwich” family caregivers will be in the thirty to forty-year-old age range and balancing duties to provide for their families and provide care duties for both children and parents.

Trends that Lead to an Increase in the Sandwich Generation

The rise in the numbers in the sandwich generation is a byproduct of influential trends. Two obvious and long-term trends are women who opt to give birth later in life and the increasing numbers of the senior US population. The third influence is the COVID-19 pandemic. Fear of placing aging parents into long-term care facilities where thousands have perished due to the coronavirus prompts many families to care for their elder loved ones in their homes or their parents’ homes nearby. Additionally, many in the sandwich generation continue to work remotely to balance income needs with care for their children and aging adult loved ones.

If this scenario reads familiar, you are not alone. You are most likely experiencing significant anxiety and stress as you juggle, in some cases, limited in-person schooling and activities for your children, career and increased financial expectations, family dynamics, and daily caregiver duties. Though this is a challenging time in your life, it does not have to be as impossible as it may seem. There are steps to take to help you provide the best outcomes possible in your sandwich generation endeavor.

How the Sandwich Generation Can Plan for Their Family’s Future

Start with a simple first step by reprioritizing “daily.” Suppose there seems an overwhelming number of tasks to accomplish in a day; prioritize between urgent and non-urgent categories to triage what needs addressing first. Also, make time for self-care to avoid caregiver burnout. Focusing on basics like nutritious meals, adequate sleep, and exercise will serve you and your loved ones well. Know your rights at your workplace. Programs like the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) offer job security to those taking a leave of absence for family medical reasons. While it is not a paid benefit, you will maintain access to your health insurance benefits for up to twelve weeks of time off. If you haven’t, explore working remotely to put you in the same physical location as those you care for in your home. And, of course, share your feelings about your burdens and get extra help when you need it. Talking things through with family members can better manage everyone’s expectations. There are also forums and community resources that can put you in touch with others in the sandwich generation, where you can share information and offload burdens.

Make an honest evaluation of your available resources before determining a course of action. Are your parents able to pay for their care on their own, even within your own home? Do they carry long-term care insurance or whole life insurance policies with living benefits? Do you have other family members willing to contribute financially, or is a public assistance option viable?

Talk things through with your parents about their preferences and abilities to pay. Include any siblings you may have and figure out who can help provide care and whose home provides the best solution. If external help is a must, research local resource possibilities and at what cost. Most importantly, consult an elder law attorney to ensure all relevant legal document requirements are at hand if a sudden financial or medical decision presents itself.

While your parents are a huge responsibility, it is crucial not to overlook the needs of your retirement that will protect your children’s lifestyle and future. College funds need to be a priority, as is a 401(k) plan if your place of employment offers one. Consider the purchase of a term or whole life insurance policy to protect your family’s future in the event a tragedy befalls you and your ability to care for your family. Start an emergency fund right away, as life is unpredictable. This fund can help cover incidental costs, unexpected medical bills, and a long-term hospital stay. Unexpected costs can throw your budget out of whack so try to be prepared ahead of time with some emergency cash on hand.

If your sandwich generation status continues for a long time, re-evaluate your finances periodically. Goals will change, and updating your estate plan and possibly your parents’ plan too may help you stay on track to meet your nuclear family’s long-term goals. You may need to renovate your home as your parents’ age for both their comfort and safety.

Money management and estate planning are critical elements to creating a mutually beneficial living experience as part of the sandwich generation. While this may not be the easiest time of your life with the multitude of demands placed upon you, it is survivable, indeed a situation where you can all thrive with adequate planning. Speak with an elder law attorney familiar with structuring these types of plans and get started today for the extreme likelihood you too will become part of the sandwich generation.

We hope you found this article helpful. If you have questions or would like to discuss your personal situation, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 513-771-2444.

The Combination of Estate Planning and Elder Law Equals Life Care Planning

October 3, 2022Filed Under: Elder Law, Estate Planning

Elder law and estate planning are often used interchangeably, but there are significant differences between them. While some overlap exists between the two, learning and implementing strategies from both law practice types is crucial to prepare for successful aging and preserve a family legacy.

Estate planning lets families:

Name guardians for minor children
Manage and protect valuable assets
Distribute property according to specific instructions after you die
Minimize potential estate taxes
Simplify or avoid probate
Distribute property to beneficiaries
Create a business succession plan

Younger people tend to focus on asset protection in their earlier years. They are building their legacy.

Elder law primarily deals with later stages in life and an aging individual’s needs while they are still alive, like:

Retirement goals
Paying for long-term care
Protecting the family if they become incapacitated due to an accident, severe illness, or reduced cognitive function
Accessing proper health care without depleting a senior’s resources
Protecting the legal rights of aging adults
Address the needs of persons with disabilities and war veterans, including their spouses, children, and caretakers

Seniors worry about protecting their legacy from medical costs, fraud, or abuse. They want to keep the family home for a spouse or the next generation.

What is Estate Planning?

Estate planning is for adults of all ages. An estate plan determines what will happen to assets upon death. An estate planning attorney can use wills and trusts to ensure your wishes are followed. If there are minor children, a will identifies a guardian to guide and protect them through life until they become adults. Naming a guardian for minors is a crucial aspect of a will.

Estate planning lawyers can structure assets and property to help an estate avoid probate. Various revocable and irrevocable trusts can save money on estate taxes, leaving more to beneficiaries. The probate process is slow, can be very costly, and is a public process, so it makes sense to keep as much of your estate out of probate as possible.

Several assets can pass to heirs without being addressed in a will or a trust through beneficiary designations. Insurance plans, IRAs, and 401(k)s are all examples of beneficiary designation account types. Reviewing your designations is crucial for major life changes, particularly death or divorce. Update your beneficiaries. If they have changed or are deceased, a court will decide the fate of your funds.

If you have a small business, estate planning is also relevant to the business’s future success. A succession plan helps a future business owner or family member to run the business upon your retirement, incapacitation, or death. An estate planning attorney can help structure inheritance using life insurance policies to balance inheritable assets if one adult child is particularly interested in running the business and others are not.

What is Elder Law?

Focused on later stages of life, elder law anticipates future medical needs, including long-term care, to ensure a senior can live a long, healthy, financially secure life. The goal is to develop a plan to pay for future care that meets their comfort level while preserving as many assets as possible. An elder law attorney knows how to help you qualify for Medicaid or other government benefits while keeping a portion of your assets. In addition, they may support you through Medicaid hearings and appeals.

Elder law attorneys can help protect individuals from elder exploitation or abuse as they become older and caring for themselves becomes difficult. Designating a durable power of attorney (DPOA) for property and financial affairs and another for health and well-being permits representatives to oversee and protect seniors when they are no longer able. DPOAs are documents used in estate planning. Without a power of attorney, elder law and estate planning can assist with guardianship and conservatorship.

What is Life Care Planning?

As an estate grows in value and minor children become adults, it is important to revisit and amend your estate planning documents. Review them regularly as your life evolves, particularly after marriages, births, divorces, deaths, and substantial changes in finances. You may find yourself straddling the needs of children and aging parents. Estate planning shifts as estate planning attorneys consult with you on elder law matters.

Life care planning protects your assets, health, and legacy at every stage of life and addresses common concerns to avoid potential problems. Proactive planning is the key to living your best life, from raising a family to fears of declining health.

We hope you found this article helpful. If you’d like to discuss your particular situation, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Please contact our Cincinnati office by calling us at 513-771-2444 with any questions.

How Do Advance Directives Work?

September 26, 2022Filed Under: Estate Planning

Winnie’s nursing home room door is open, and Kevin is standing in front of it, tears running down his cheeks. The medical staff just finished inserted a feeding tube into Winnie – an act Kevin knew she didn’t want. Unfortunately, Winnie couldn’t express her wishes due to advanced dementia, and she had no legal documents that expressed her wishes not to be fed by artificial means. Kevin had no choice but to sit back and watch his wife go through a procedure she didn’t want.

The situation with Kevin and Winnie could have been avoided through the use of proper advance directive. An advance directive is actually a collection of documents. What that includes differs depending on your needs and wishes, along with what the law allows. However, it usually means at least a Living Will, and a Power of Attorney for Healthcare.

The purpose of this set of documents is to allow you to control what happens to your health care in case you cannot speak for yourself. If certain criteria are met, your doctors must consult with your advanced directive before making decisions about your care.

Usually, what this means is that two doctors agree that an individual is terminally ill, permanently unconscious, or at the “end-stage” of a condition. Once that happens, and the individual cannot express their preferences, doctors turn to the advance directive to figure out what the individual wants.

A Living Will determines what happens to an individual making it, unlike a Last Will and Testament, which determines what happens to their money and possessions. A Living Will describes what healthcare providers can and cannot do to prolong your life and/or ease your pain when you cannot express those preferences yourself. For example, do you want to be placed on a ventilator if you cannot breathe on your own? Do you want a feeding tube and IVs set up, and if so, for how long? Do you want to be an organ or tissue donor?

A Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare lets you choose someone to make healthcare decisions for you when you cannot. They still must follow your Living Will, but they will be able to make decisions not explicitly considered by your Living Will, in accordance with the facts of the situation. In most states, there are “default surrogate consent laws” which allow family members to make treatment decisions on your behalf, but who is chosen to make these decisions and what they choose to do may not be in accordance with your wishes, as it hopefully would be with a Durable Power of Attorney.

Other documents may be part of an advance directive by law, or they may be worth including of your own volition. These include Do Not Resuscitate orders and Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, among others. You might also consider an advance directive in case of a mental health crisis.

This is a difficult subject to consider, and it always seems like it won’t be necessary. But nearly 70 percent of Americans don’t have plans in place for a worst-case scenario, which means for some of them, decisions may be made for them with which they would not agree if they had the capacity to choose. For that reason, it is worth thinking about implementing an advance directive even if it seems unnecessary now.

If you or a loved one would like more information about advance directives, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Please contact our Cincinnati office by calling us at 513-771-2444 with any questions.

What the LGBTQIA+ Community Needs to Know About Estate Planning

September 12, 2022Filed Under: Estate Planning

In order to protect your loved ones, estate planning is crucial, regardless of what your orientation may be. In the LGBTQIA+ community, estate planning can legally protect against discrimination even if others are reluctant to recognize your relationship and your desire to permit your partner to make decisions for your care should you become unable to. Estate planning can also create mechanisms that financially provide for your partner as well.

How Obergefell v. Hodges Impacted Same-Sex Couples

In 2015 the case of Obergefell v. Hodges made it a fundamental constitutional right to marry, including same-sex couples. The US Supreme Court’s decision to recognize same-sex marriages opens up many previously unavailable legal tools and tax savings that had only been available to “traditional” legally recognized marriages. The Supreme Court ruling further stated that a valid same-sex marriage in one state must be recognized in all states. Note that non-marriage alternatives will not result in the federal government’s recognition of the relationship.

These alternatives include adults in domestic partnerships and civil unions, which are federally not legally recognized as marriage. However, these couples can still receive partnership decision-making privileges and benefits. To do so requires a different type of planning. However, your partnership is characterized, creating a legal framework to protect yourself and your partner is possible.

A married same-sex couple with proper estate planning will receive all state and federal benefits of marriage. Federal benefits include the unlimited marital deduction for federal estate and gift taxes. An unmarried same-sex couple who cannot receive these marital tax benefits can still ensure their partner will receive the legal right to inherit each other’s assets with other legal mechanisms. They will also be able to make health care decisions for one another; however, the legal framework will differ from the legally married couple.

Revocable Living Trust for the LGBTQIA+ Community

In either marriage or a cohabitation arrangement, a revocable living trust permits the couple to nominate each other as trustee, allowing the spouse or partner to manage their loved one’s financial affairs if they become incapacitated. A durable financial power of attorney is another solution to manage the affairs of a loved one if they become incapacitated. The rules and requirements of a durable financial power of attorney vary from state to state, so it is necessary to review and reconfigure this document if you relocate. In either an LGBTQIA+ marital or cohabitation living arrangement, a health care power of attorney allows you to appoint your partner to make health care decisions on your behalf should the need arise.

Advance Healthcare Directive for the LGBTQIA+ Community

It is imperative to include a HIPAA privacy authorization form for your health care power of attorney or trustee. The form permits medical and healthcare professionals to disclose pertinent health information and medical records to a partner. A durable health care power of attorney can prevent biological family attempts to interfere with a spouse or partner’s ability to make medical decisions for their loved one. A legally binding durable health care power of attorney can prevent family interference, no matter how well-intentioned it might be.

The Importance of a Will for the LGBTQIA+ Community with Minor Children

Should a same-sex couple have children, where at least one parent is non-biological, a will is a legal tool to address guardianship of minor children. Your will is the only place to define guardianship of children and name an executor. Many custody battles over LGBTQIA+ parents’ non-biological children occur among families after the biological parent’s death or incapacity.

It is essential to address any previous LGBTQIA+ committed relationship structures before finalizing your estate plan to tie up any loose ends. If you were in a legal union before marriage was an option, you are subject to the patchwork of prior state laws that can have unintended consequences for new estate planning. Before 2015 some same-sex couples married in states that recognized their marriage only to move to states that did not. Believing that their nuptials were non-binding in the states that did not recognize same-sex marriage, these couples may have split up without ever legally dissolving their marriage. Some states even automatically converted registered civil unions or domestic partnerships into legal marriages. The fallout is there are now LGBTQIA+ people who are married and unaware that they are open to the possibility of future claims against their estate from a previous marriage. All previous domestic partnerships, civil unions, or other legal arrangements must be untangled and resolved to protect against these possibilities.

In general, studies find that the LGBTQIA+ community tends to lag behind others in having a will and revocable living trust. These documents are significant for non-married LGBTQ+ people in a seriously committed relationship. State laws will default to granting rights to biological family members absent legal documents to the contrary.

Specific issues unique to the LGBTQIA+ community can potentially make planning more complex. We would be happy to meet with you to discuss how you can properly document your wishes regarding the inheritance of your property, who can make decisions for you if you’re unable to, and who would care for your children should the need arise. We hope you found this article helpful. If you’d like to discuss your particular situation, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Please contact our Cincinnati office by calling us at 513-771-2444 with any questions.

« Previous Page