SENiOR SPiRiT
by B.C. Kowalski
FINANCES are the last thing someone might think about when dealing with dementia - but it shouldn’t be When a loved one starts forgetting things, or starts exhibiting some of the other signs of dementia, money might be the last thing their loved ones would think about. The first priority is to get the family member help. And while that’s definitely important, one attorney is hoping to get people thinking about the financial aspects of dealing with dementia a little earlier in the process. Alan Hougum, of Hougum Law Firm here in Wausau, is hosting a seminar at noon today (Thursday, Jan. 20) online called Legal Planning for Dementia. The one-hour phone call will cover all the legal aspect of estate planning, wills and living trusts, power of attorney, advance health care directive and probate. Find the seminar here: bit.ly/lafi0120 The talk happens to coincide with the National Alzheimer’s Association’s push about financial wellness. The costs of dealing with Alzheimer’s or dementia can be enormous, the organization says. Lifetime care costs for someone with living with dementia averages $373,527, according to the organization. And an average cost of medical expenses outside of those covered by Medicare total more than $10,000 annually. Some other facts about dementia from the National Alzheimer’s Association: • Nearly half (48 percent) of care contributors must cut back on their own expenses – including basic necessities like food, transportation and medical care – to afford dementiarelated care, while others must draw from their own savings or retirement funds. • Nearly two out of three people incorrectly believe that Medicare helps pay for nursing home care, or was unsure whether it does. • Few individuals with Alzheimer’s or other dementias
have sufficient long-term care insurance or can afford to pay out of pocket for long-term care services for as long as the services are needed. • Of the total lifetime cost of caring for someone with dementia, 70% is borne by families — either through outof-pocket health and long-term care expenses or from the value of unpaid care • Alzheimer’s disease can also significantly impact the earning potential of an individual living with the disease or their caregiver. 18% of dementia caregivers went from full to part-time or cutback hours. • 9% of caregivers gave up working entirely. 6% retired early out of necessity City Pages sat down with Hougum to walk through some of the tips people need to know. The expenses of dementia are only getting more expensive — Hougum told City Pages the state average cost of a nursing home now is $9,300 per month, and they regularly exceed $10,000 per month. The rules around how much of an estate can be protected from nursing home costs are complicated, and they have changed recently too. That’s where a good lawyer can come in. Hougum makes it his specialty, he told City Pages. And often knowing those rules can save a lot of money. For instance, he points to a client whose wife was in a nursing home. He was down to $3,000 in assets. What he didn’t know, until it was too late, is that he could have kept $52,000 under estate laws while he was still living. The state could have collected that money after he passed, but while living he was still entitled to that money. Nursing home staff should have told him that, but didn’t. “It’s little things like that,” Hougum says. “Most of them (nursing home em-
ployees) are good people and they’re doing it because they care about seniors. But sometimes they don’t understand the rules. And clients don’t either.” Another woman with $400,000 in assets in a similar situation heard from two different attorneys that she could protect two different amounts of money. One had told her $52,000 and another told her $128,000. Which was right? A friend said ‘go talk to Hougum.” It turned out, Hougum told her, she could protect all $400,000. She didn’t believe him. “‘If I wrote it down on letterhead and signed it, would you believe me?’” Hougum asked her. Without getting into too much legal detail, Hougum told City Pages you can protect $52,000 essentially by signing your name; $128,000 by putting in a modest effort in signing three things; and the full $400,000 in her case takes a bit more — about two weeks of work, he says. It’s important to have that financial help because the disease doesn’t just impact the finances of the person with dementia; it affects loved ones too. Many caregivers start working part time or even retire early to take care of the person with dementia. “It’s not something they choose, there is no rhyme or reason for who gets this disease,” Hougum says. Hougum says the goal of the seminar is to help people understand more about the financial aspects of dealing with the disease and what they can do to protect themselves. “It’s a very low-impact way to find out about some of these things they might not know about,” Hougum says. “It’s free, and sometimes it’s just empowering to be aware of these things.”
Preserving a lifetime of savings and protecting one’s dignity requires a solid understanding of complex state and federal laws.
OUR ELDER LAW ATTORNEYS CAN HELP. Attorney Aric Burch
Attorney Jessica Merkel
Attorney Mark Munson
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January 20-27, 2022
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