Ronald William Ask

I protect assets for senior citizens.

When our parents and grandparents get along in years, they unfortunately become confronted with legal and financial challenges that very few of us are ever prepared for.

A stay in a skilled nursing home care facility could cost $5, to $6, a month.

Ordinarily, residential care and assisted living care can run about $2, per month, and more.

Couple the financial hurdles that they are facing with, to issues relating to health problems: mental, physical, and emotional, the fading ability to manage money and property, and to make prudent medical decisions, and our loved ones are suddenly confronted with daunting issues that would overwhelm a much younger and more able person.

We know what to do to help you.

We know how to help you obtain public benefits from resources such as Medi-Cal, or the V.A., even though your loved one owns a house, and has substantial money in the bank.

We can help you even though your loved one is already a resident in a skilled nursing home.

We can prepare durable powers of attorney, advance health care directives, and living trusts, in order to empower you with the authority to act on behalf of your loved one, should the need arise.

In situations when no or insufficient estate planning has been done, we can help you initiate and implement a conservatorship procedure.

Once public benefits have been obtained for the purpose of paying for skilled nursing care, the State of California targets the family residence for a Medi-Cal claim, to recoup the funds that have been advanced to care for your loved one. These claims can easily reach six figures. This occurs when your loved one passes away, or when the spouse of the institutionalized person passes away.

An important part of our service is to protect your loved one’s assets, including their home, from the Medi-Cal claim. We don’t hide assets. What we help you do is perfectly lawful, in fact, encouraged.

Sometimes, these assets must be re-positioned. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, from an incapacitated spouse to a well spouse. That’s part of what we can do.

After death, we are able to initiate probate proceedings, when no estate plan has been put in place. We can do trust administration, will contests and trust litigation.

We bring petitions into court to protect elderly people from elder abuse, and we bring petitions for Special Needs Trusts to protect property inherited or distributed to people that are impaired or developmentally disabled. This procedure protects both the property they are to receive, as well as their ability to receive public benefits, such as SSI.

We are your full service elder law, estate planning, probate and conservatorship law firm. If it’s needed by an elderly person, or the heirs of a deceased person, we are ready to provide this service.