How an Elder Law Attorney Helps Special Needs Individuals and Families
Friday, October 13th, 2017 | Special Needs
The term “elder law” is not intuitively associated with planning for special needs. Often individuals with special needs and caregiving family members are far from “elderly.” So why should an individual with special needs or the parents or guardians of that person seek help from an elder law attorney? Elder law is a practice area […]
Read More »Protecting Elders from Identity Theft
Friday, October 6th, 2017 | Finances
This September we learned of the Equifax security breach that exposed the sensitive personal information of 143 million Americans. Identifying information such as names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and driver’s license numbers were accessed. You can visit www.equifaxsecurity2017.com to find out if your information or that of a loved one was exposed. While […]
Read More »Medicaid/TennCare: What Counts as a Gift?
Friday, September 29th, 2017 | Public Benefits, TennCare/CHOICES
When a loved one’s health takes a turn for the worse or the loved one enters long-term facility care, family members often plan to give away excess assets in order to meet resource limits and gain Medicaid benefits. If you find yourself thinking along these lines, stop now! This common mistake has severe consequences if […]
Read More »Medicaid Eligibility Myths
Friday, September 15th, 2017 | Public Benefits, TennCare/CHOICES, Uncategorized
Call an Elder Law Attorney Before Counting It a Lost Cause Just like when you catch a cold, the moment you start talking about applying for TennCare/Medicaid benefits, it is likely you will find yourself suddenly surrounded by “experts.” Tidbits of knowledge and advice are passed along like home remedies by well-meaning family members, friends, […]
Read More »TennCare Applicants: Beware of Conditional Assistance
Friday, August 18th, 2017 | Uncategorized
In recent months, TennCare caseworkers have been promoting a strategy called “conditional assistance” to help over-resourced applicants qualify for benefits. Conditional assistance is available to any applicant who has a single excess non-liquid resource and therefore does not meet the financial requirements to qualify for benefits. The TennCare policy manual defines non-liquid resources as real […]
Read More »You’ve Got Mail – So Check It Often!
Friday, June 16th, 2017 | Caregiving, TennCare/CHOICES
It may seem obvious that it’s important to check mail often and to respond when needed, but in the age of e-mail and online forms, sometimes so-called “snailmail” may be misplaced or forgotten – especially by those who have had to take over the task of checking the mailbox for a loved one. At ELET, […]
Read More »The Power of Denial in Decision-Making
Friday, June 9th, 2017 | Caregiving, Life Care Planning
Every family brings their own dynamics to the table when they start planning for the long-term care of a loved one. Complicated relationships and family histories, guilty feelings related to “not doing enough,” and the general stress of unexpected and unplanned-for transitions all have the potential to get in the way of establishing the best […]
Read More »People with Dementia Aren’t Children – So Don’t Treat Them That Way
Friday, May 26th, 2017 | Caregiving, Dementia
It is easy to think of a person with a dementia diagnosis as being “child-like.” After all, many of the behaviors associated with dementia – mood swings, tantrums, irrationality, forgetfulness, and vocabulary problems, for example – are similar to behaviors exhibited by young children. These surface-level similarities lead many caregivers of people with dementia to […]
Read More »Jill Shoffner, LCSW, Joins National Association of Social Workers
Tuesday, April 18th, 2017 | ELET News
Jill Shoffner, Elder Care Coordinator Manager at Elder Law of East Tennessee, joined the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) this month. With 132,000 members, NASW is the world’s largest membership organization of professional social workers. Its missions is “to enhance the professional growth and development of its members, to create and maintain professional standards, […]
Read More »Got TennCare? You Need to Know About Redetermination.
Friday, November 18th, 2016 | Public Benefits, TennCare/CHOICES
If you are currently a recipient of TennCare benefits, you may have to prove your eligibility again this year through a process called “redetermination.” This process may be every bit as challenging as your initial application, and if you are selected for redetermination, you will have a tight deadline for submitting evidence so as not […]
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