Living Care Radio Episodes

In this episode of Living Care Radio, host and elder law attorney, Darol Tuttle, discusses the five levels of estate planning. Analogizing in a fun way to a video game, Darol discusses the entry level of estate planning which is simply putting into place powers of attorney and so called "Living Will." More about Living Wills in a moment. Next, Darol introduces the idea of "Level 2" which is simply adding to Level 1 with a Last Will and Testament. It is imperative, if married, to include a trust created at death for the benefit of the surviving spouse that holds funds for his or her long term care. The reason that this is important is to finance skilled nursing costs with jeopardizing important Medicaid benefits. This is often overlooked in planning and can cause the assets of the surviving spouse to be depleted unnecessarily. Level three involves the use of a Revocable Living Trust or other devices to avoid probate. The rest of the show was dedicated to higher levels of planning to finance care.