What is Elder Law?

At Biddinger, Schrot & Rolando, PC, we take a comprehensive approach to elder law and long-term care planning. We design customized plans to help seniors and the people who love them manage the legal, financial, physical, social, and emotional challenges that come with growing older. This frequently involves preserving assets against the high cost of long-term care by combining the strategies and tools of estate planning, Medicaid planning, life care planning, asset protection planning, and more. It also involves helping families explore the most suitable options available for long-term care and easing transitions if facility placement is required.

We help our clients plan in advance for the possibility of needing long-term care in the future. In addition, we help families cope with what is often called a Medicaid crisis. This is a situation where an individual must move into a long-term care facility on short notice (or has already moved into one) and been informed that he or she is ineligible for assistance from Medicaid. As we shall see, such a situation is indeed a financial crisis for most families.

The Cost of Care in Michigan:

Americans are living longer than ever before. Most of us will need long-term care at some point in our lives, and approximately 20 percent of us will require long-term care for five years or more.

Perhaps you are wondering how much long-term care costs in Michigan? In Genworth’s 2020 Cost of Care Survey, the average annual cost of a private room in a Michigan nursing home was nearly $110,000, with a semi-private room averaging more than $103,000 annually. Looking at the figures in 2024, a private room in a Michigan nursing home hovers between $120,000 and $144,000, with a semi-private room not far behind at over $110,000 annually. In some circumstances, long-term care costs considerably more, and prices are expected to continually rise in the future. Sadly, many families exhaust their life savings within two years of a family member entering a nursing home.

Ready for some good news? We can help you qualify for assistance from Medicaid and other sources to pay for the care you need while simultaneously preserving your life savings.

Long-term Care Planning:

Long-term care planning, also known as Medicaid planning, is for those who are healthy now but want to ensure that if they become incapacitated in the future, they will be able to receive necessary care without losing their life savings. We can create an Estate Plan to protect your assets and allows you to manage your financial and personal affairs in the event of incapacity or disability. Please see Long Term Care Planning for more details about how to preserve your assets against future tong-term care costs.

A Medicaid Crisis:

If you or a loved one has already entered a nursing home (or must enter one soon) and been told you are ineligible for assistance from Medicaid to cover the cost, do not despair! The laws governing Medicaid eligibility are complicated and ever-changing. Few people truly understand them. We do. 

Our attorneys and Medicaid specialists have helped hundreds of families in crisis navigate the Medicaid system and obtain the long-term care they need while preserving hard-earned assets. Even if you have applied for Medicaid in the past and been denied, we may still be able to help.

It is important to note that many people believe they can become eligible for Medicaid by simply giving their assets away or selling them to loved ones for next to nothing. Of course, you can do whatever you wish with your assets, but improper gifting can jeopardize your eligibility for Medicaid for months or even years. Please visit our Medicaid Crisis Protection page for more details about Navigating a Medicaid Crisis.

Whether you are interested in advance planning or are faced with a Medicaid crisis, we can help. To learn more about how we can protect you, your loved ones, and your hard-earned assets, we invite you to contact us at your earliest convenience to schedule a personal meeting with one of our Thumb of Michigan Elder Law and  Medicaid planning attorneys.