With the aging of the United States population, older individuals are becoming an increasingly larger part of society. With aging comes additional expenses of paying for medical care and possibly nursing home care. This is particularly a problem for people with too many assets to quality for governmental assistance programs, but not enough assets to pay for all of their needs.

Because of a recent increase in health care costs, the government has made it much more difficult for individuals to qualify for governmental assistance benefits if the applicant has any significant assets. Additionally, an estate recovery system was recently implemented in the State of Georgia in order to allow the State to recoup expenses paid on behalf of a recipient.

Nevertheless, with proper planning it may still be possible for a person with medical care needs to receive assistance benefits from the government. Similarly, proper planning can help avoid an inadvertent termination of government assistance benefits to someone who is already receiving them. For instance, rather than creating a trust that provides for general support distributions to a family member, it is possible to create a so-called "special needs trust" that only provides benefits that would not be provided by governmental assistance programs. Thus, the governmental assistance program benefits would not be terminated due to the existence of the special needs trust.

Elder law and disability planning is a complex area of the law that is always changing. We at Blasingame, Burch, Garrard & Ashley can help you or a loved one navigate this difficult area of the law.