Long-Term Care Planning in Northwest Iowa

Peace of Mind During Life’s Transitions

Did you know that 70% of Americans 65 and older will need expensive, skilled, long-term care at some point in their lives?  

Did you also know that as of 2018, Medicaid covered care for 62% of nursing home residents and that number is expected to rise in upcoming years?

Did you know that in 2020, the average cost per year for staying in a private nursing home room in Iowa was over $85,000?

With these mind-numbing statistics, it can be scary to even think about planning for your future.  But we can help.

Our Approach

In a nutshell, Elder Law focuses on representing the needs of seniors and the disabled.  Elder Law is different from Estate Planning because Elder Law deals with what happens while you are living while Estate Planning focuses on what happens after you pass away. 

An Elder Law attorney can help protect their clients from elder abuse, nursing home negligence, Medicaid litigation, and Medicaid appeals.  They also help their clients get benefits from programs like Social Security Disability (SSDi) and Medicaid.

The team at Huizenga Law works to clear away the fog and confusion surrounding Long-Term Care planning and Elder Law in general.  We help our clients find security when facing an uncertain future.

Our clients find security by planning for incapacity or a future nursing home stay.  With our firm as a guide, our clients have access to knowledge about income tax, gift tax, and other estate tax laws so that they can be better informed when making decisions about how they want to plan for the future.

Your Goals

We serve clients from all financial and health backgrounds.  There is no one who can not benefit from long-term care planning.  By consulting an Elder Law attorney, you can accomplish goals such as:

  • Living in your house for as long as possible
  • Keeping the house to pass down to your children
  • Leaving an inheritance for your loved ones
  • Ensuring that your disabled child receives the care they need for their entire life
  • Protecting your child’s inheritance from their creditors, unforeseen predators, and 

Your Plan

At Huizenga Law, we never make the same plan twice because no two people are the same.  Each of our clients has specific needs and goals that need to be met, and their plan should reflect that.   

Although no two plans are identical, clients often have similar situations – especially when facing a nursing home bill.  For married couples, there are often three different scenarios that take place and we can help you prepare for them.  For example, what do we do if:

  •  Both spouses are healthy?  We start you on the path to proactive planning.  At this stage, you have the most options available in regards to paying for long-term care.  You also have a greater chance of being able to go above and beyond the goals you have set for your finances.
  • One spouse needs care?  This is the most common scenario.  In this scenario, the spouse who doesn’t need care makes a plan to live at home with money to provide for their needs.  On the other side, the spouse that needs care makes a plan to pay for care in order to live a longer, healthier life.  
  • Both spouses need care?  When both spouses need care, planning gets twice as complicated.  An Elder Law professional is crucial to achieving your goals while getting the care both spouses need.  Under their watchful eye, both spouses are taken care of while achieving some or all of their financial goals.

Once you get beyond these three scenarios, planning gets more complicated, but still possible.  Other scenarios our clients have include:

  • A second marriage
  • A spouse who has already passed away already
  • Never being married
  • Never having kids
  •  Being the last living relative among your family

In these scenarios as well, clients are often relieved to find that their goals and their needs can be met with some basic Elder Law planning. To look deeper into how our clients make a plan that meets their goals, check out our painless planning page or give us a call at 712-737-3885.

Sources:

Long Term Care Consulting Services. “Long-Term Care Statistics You Need to Know in 2018.” https://www.ltccs.com/blog/long-term-care-statistics-2018/#.Xu0Ga2hKiUk. 

Genworth. Cost of Care Survey. 2020. https://www.genworth.com/aging-and-you/finances/cost-of-care.html.

FARM PRESERVATION PACKAGE

In our community, farmland is often the foundation on which a family is built. If you’re a farmer, it’s likely that you inherited some part of the land you farm, and it’s even more likely that the farmland is an integral part of your personal legacy. Attorney Ethan Huizenga knows how important that farm legacy is, often passing from great-grandfather down through the generations to great-grandson or great-granddaughter. That’s why we’ve developed a special long-term care planning package that addresses the unique needs of farmers and farm families.