Birmingham, MI, Elder Law

Older people in Birmingham, MI, face many legal challenges that are different from those of younger people. In addition to accumulating assets as they age, people often face healthcare issues and the potential need for others to handle matters of finances and daily life care for them. If you need guidance on matters such as estate planning and asset protection, planning for long-term care, medical decision-making, and protecting yourself from elder abuse and neglect, an elder law firm can help.  

Bingham Legal Group PC is an elder law firm serving the community of Birmingham, Michigan. We have extensive experience with many elder law issues, including estate planning, guardianship and conservatorship, consumer protection, and more. If you need help with any elder law issue in Birmingham, Michigan, contact Bingham Legal Group PC today.

Elder Law Services in Birmingham, Michigan

Whether your elder law issue affects you or an older loved one, Bingham Legal Group PC can help. We provide many different elder law services, including:

• Estate planning services, such as creating and revising wills, trusts, and other means of asset protection
• Long-term care planning
• Help with Veterans’ benefits and Social Security
• Protection from elder abuse and neglect
• Help with consumer protection issues
• Help with guardianship and conservatorship
• Planning for medical and financial decision-making

Estate Planning Services

You’ve been building up your estate for many years and want to ensure that your wealth passes to your chosen beneficiaries. The first step toward achieving that goal is to write a will, but a will is often not enough to make the transfer of your assets smooth.

When you pass away, your heirs cannot inherit anything you left them in your will until your estate goes through probate. Unfortunately, probate isn’t always a quick process, and it also exposes many aspects of your family’s finances to public scrutiny. Many people prefer to keep their assets out of probate if possible. The best way to do that is by creating a comprehensive estate plan, which can include a will and other documents meant to protect your assets and plan for your medical and financial stability as you age.

Most estate plans include trusts that can hold your assets for you to prevent the need for probate, to protect your assets from creditors, or to provide for a family member with special needs. Talk to your elder law attorney about what a trust can do for you.

Long-Term Care Planning

You can use a trust for many things, including planning for your long-term care. This can be an issue even if your family is quite affluent, as nursing home care is extremely expensive. If you end up needing nursing home care for an extended period, you can use up a lot of the wealth you had hoped to leave to your loved ones.

Medicare will not cover a nursing home or other long-term care services. Medicaid will, but Medicaid’s asset limits can make it difficult to qualify. Even if you try to spend down or otherwise dispose of your assets, Medicaid’s five-year look-back period can lead to penalties.

The solution to these challenges is to contact an elder law firm at least five years before you need nursing home care. Our elder law attorneys can show you how to use nursing home planning strategies to protect the assets you’ve spent a lifetime building while still qualifying for help with long-term care.

Help With Veterans’ Benefits and Social Security

When you need to apply for veterans’ or Social Security benefits, it can be overwhelming to determine which forms you need to fill out and what you need to do to qualify. If your application for benefits is denied, you may not know what to do next. An elder law firm serving Birmingham, Michigan, can help you in several ways, including:

• Explaining eligibility rules
• Letting you know what you need to do to qualify
• Giving you tips on how to maximize your benefits
• Helping you fill out your application
• Helping you minimize your taxes
• Helping you with any appeals

Protection From Elder Abuse and Neglect 

If you suspect that a nursing home or other caregiver is abusing or neglecting your family member, call Adult Protective Services immediately and then call an elder law firm that serves Birmingham, Michigan. Vulnerable adult abuse is a criminal offense in Michigan, but you can also file a lawsuit to pursue compensation from the parties liable for the abuse. Collecting compensation can also be an effective way to prevent the same caregivers from abusing anyone else.

Help With Consumer Protection Issues

Con artists often target older and vulnerable adults for fraud or financial manipulation. Elders may also find it more difficult than younger people to pursue compensation when they purchase a useless or misleading service or product. Our elder law attorneys can help you stand up for your older family member and seek compensation for their losses in defective product or fraud cases.

Help With Guardianship and Conservatorship

If you or an older family member becomes incapacitated by age, illness, or accident, who will make your financial and medical decisions? This can be a stressful problem for your loved ones to solve, especially if they don’t know what your wishes would have been. Family members of an incapacitated person can petition a court to appoint a guardian to make their medical decisions and a conservator to make their financial decisions. An elder law firm can help you petition the court for a guardian or conservator.

Planning for Medical and Financial Decision-Making

If you don’t want a court to select a guardian or conservator for you, you can choose your own agent ahead of time by creating a power of attorney. In Michigan, a power of attorney for healthcare is known as a patient advocate designation. This document designates a patient advocate to make medical decisions for you if you are permanently unconscious or unable to communicate. Similarly, a power of attorney for finances allows you to select a trusted agent to make your financial decisions.

Planning ahead for incapacitation allows you to retain as much control as possible by selecting a person you trust to make major decisions for you if it ever becomes necessary. Our elder law attorneys can help you create and execute a financial power of attorney document and a patient advocate designation form as part of your comprehensive estate plan.

Contact an Elder Law Attorney Serving Birmingham, Michigan, Today

If you need help with elder law services, look for a law firm that focuses on the legal issues older people have. Some law firms treat elder law as a sideline or one service among many. Elder law is such a broad field that it’s always better to work with a law firm that has extensive experience in handling the issues you need help with.

Bingham Legal Group PC has worked with every aspect of elder law, and our attorneys have over 60 years of combined experience. We have the skill and the legal knowledge to find creative answers to challenging elder law problems. If you have any elder law issues in Birmingham, Michigan, either for yourself or a loved one, contact Bingham Legal Group PC today.