“RAP” – Recognize the Risks, Abstain & Prevent, and Plan for the Future
Thursday, September 01, 2011
If you know or suspect you are at a high risk for developing cancer – or if you are one of the brave individuals or families already battling the disease – I cannot stress enough how critical it is for you implement a proper Asset Protection Plan as soon as you can. Even for those individuals who are not facing imminent crisis, planning is just as critical.
Asset Protection Planning and Incapacity Planning are the vital legal services where an Elder Law attorney guides the individual (or couple) through the complex Medicaid qualification, application, and approval processes. It may be necessary to employ a complex set of asset protection strategies, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in many cases.
Example: The median net worth of the average 65 year-old is $232,000. If you live in Northern Virginian, the average cost of a private nursing home room in 2010 was nearly $100,000.
If planning is engaged in soon enough, assets can be 100% protected from nursing home creditors, lawsuits, and general creditors. The good news is, even if someone is already in a nursing home paying the monthly bill, their remaining assets can be protected!
“RAP” – Recognize the Risks, Abstain & Prevent, and Plan for the Future.

Here is the truth: Proper planning can protect the assets from nursing home creditors, allowing Americans from all walks of life to legally and ethically qualify for Medicaid and Veterans Benefits, passing on an inheritance if they so choose, and enjoy the standard of living and quality of life they prefer.
With proper planning, a spouse who is able to stay at home can keep all of the couple's assets and much or all income while Medicaid pays for the nursing home. The most important goal is typically to ensure that the spouse remaining at home is able to live the remaining years of his or her life in utmost dignity and not have to suffer a drastic reduction in his or her standard of living.