Guardianship and Medicaid
Guardianship and Medicaid planning
When a parent's memory or health starts to slip, the grown children are often the first to notice and the last to know what they're allowed to do. We help you find out what's already signed, and fill in what's missing.
Which situation is yours?
If there's no power of attorney
A court can appoint a guardian to make personal or money decisions. We prepare the petition, the medical evidence and the hearing, and help you file the reports a guardian owes the court.
If care is coming soon
Nursing home care can use up savings quickly. Medicaid planning looks at what can be protected for a spouse, and what the rules allow, before an application goes in.
If your parent can still sign
The simplest fix is a power of attorney signed now, while your parent can still understand it. We meet at home or in care, and take the time it needs.
If you're the caregiver
Caring for a parent can affect your own plan, your job and your siblings. We'll talk through it with the whole family if that helps.
Questions from grown children
Can I just sign for my mother?
Not without legal authority. A power of attorney gives it, and if she can no longer sign one, guardianship may be the way. We'll look at which applies.
Will Medicaid take the house?
Not automatically. The rules on the home, a spouse living there, and what the state can recover later are specific, and planning ahead changes the answer.
Does my parent have to come to court?
Usually the court wants to hear from them or about them. We explain the process to your parent too, gently and in plain words.
Worried about a parent?
Tell us what's happening. We'll say what can be done this week, and what can wait.