How We Can Help

Growing older is one of the best things that can happen to us in life. With maturity comes wisdom, experience, and memories. As one of the Northcoast area’s leading elder law firms, the team at Brumbaugh Law Firm works hand in hand with clients to form strategies that will help them make the most out of their second half of life. One such strategy is wealth protection planning– or the practice of legally protecting your assets from future issues like lawsuits, greedy creditors, divorce, and more. With the proper guidance from an elder law attorney and protection strategies that have been tried and proven, you can secure your wealth, keep it better protected from creditors, and safeguard it for the beneficiaries you’d like to receive it down the road. You can also use that wealth to help offset long term care costs for yourself, your spouse, or another family member. 

We’ve helped dozens of hardworking men and women protect their assets from claims of creditors by showing them how to insulate their wealth via an efficient and effective estate plan.

What is wealth protection planning?

While wealth protection planning (or asset protection planning) can include a number of different things, one of its primary goals is to set your estate and your personal assets up for success in the unfortunate event of a claim or lawsuit against you. For a bit of context, wealth protection planning functions similarly to liability insurance for a vehicle (in fact, in some cases, purchasing liability insurance for valuables is the first). Though the hope is that nothing bad befalls what you own, liability insurance provides that extra peace of mind that you’re covered even if the worst does happen.

When a loved one is diagnosed with a debilitating condition or disease such as ALS, stroke, COPD, MS, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, or Alzheimer’s, it can be an overwhelming and emotional experience. Noticeable differences in your loved one’s behavior, capacity, or care needs can be jarring for everyone involved. Planning and preparing for the changes and challenges ahead is crucial in these moments. 

We recognize you and your loved one may be unsure of the next steps, and you are likely experiencing some anxiety as you seek to envision the future and its accompanying implications and challenges. That is why we have leveraged our years of experience guiding families through these issues to develop a Care Plan that addresses the needs and goals of people with conditions like ALS, stroke, COPD, MS, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, or Alzheimer’s as well as the people who love them. At Brumbaugh Law Firm, we help you navigate care planning in Ohio, ensuring your loved one experiences appropriate care, support, and dignity throughout their journey.

Care Navigation Services can Include:

• Estate Planning, including Trusts and Wills, and  Powers of Attorney 
• Memory Care Planning 
• Longterm Care planning
• Medicaid planning

Are you or a loved one…

• Suffering from the effects of memory problems, dementia, Alzheimer’s, or Parkinson’s?
• Risking your own health and well-being by caring for a loved one?
• Worried about long term care costs and disability?
• Confused by Medicaid and overwhelmed by the rules about how to qualify for benefits to pay for care?
• Scared of becoming a burden to your children?
• Concerned about the future of a child?
• Concerned about protecting your hard-earned dollars?

One of the most dreaded and difficult issues a family faces is the reality that their loved one’s health is failing and he/she can no longer manage the day-to-day activities of caring for oneself. It could be the natural consequences of aging or perhaps a progressive disease such as Alzheimer’s or even an unexpected heart attack or stroke. Whatever the reason, the family is always under great stress.

At times like this, it’s important that you pause, take a deep breath and understand that there are things you can do. Good information is available and you can make the right decisions for you and your loved one.

Whether at-home care, an assisted living facility, or nursing home is the best choice, your family will have serious questions to consider: which agency or which facility is the best choice for our loved one, how will we pay for care, and many more.

If you have the ability to pay or have long-term care insurance, you may not have to rely on government programs. However, with nursing home costs ranging from $7000 – $10,000 per month in our area, few families can afford a long-term stay in a nursing home. If neither private pay nor long-term care insurance is an option for you, it is important that you understand the government programs available to you.

There is a great deal of confusion surrounding Medicare and Medicaid.

The reasons for Long Term Care Planning are simple. First, families must maintain enough assets to provide for the security of the healthy loved ones — they too may have a similar crisis. Second, the rules are extremely complicated and can be confusing. And third, the result of not planning and seeking good advice could result in spending more than necessary and family security could be jeopardized.

The team at Brumbaugh Law Office, led by Attorney Michael Brumbaugh and his wife, Pamela Brumbaugh, a licensed social worker, are experienced and dedicated to families experiencing these types of situations, whether early planning or crisis planning. It’s critically important that you consult with someone who understands these complex issues, who knows this area of the law, who is committed to helping others, and who will listen to you and the unique wants and needs of you and your family. Brumbaugh Law Firm assists families with these issues every day.

Probate is court-supervised estate administration. The probate process, in short, involves the administering and settling of an estate and estate assets after a person dies. Ohio has very specific rules about how probate proceedings are done, with strict probate court oversight in place to ensure the probate procedure is followed to the “t”. Probate will be required whether or not a person has a will, pending there were enough assets to the decedent’s name to require administration. Not all assets require administration. For example, jointly owned accounts may pass directly to the surviving owner. Similarly, assets with beneficiary designations including IRAs, life insurance policies and annuities may not pass through the court probate process (unless the estate was named as the beneficiary).

Probate can be time consuming, costly and difficult. If you’re creating your own estate plan now, you should take the time to learn whether avoiding probate is possible in your situation, and, if so, how to get started. If you’re the person handling an estate or a beneficiary of an estate, you should understand your rights and responsibilities under the Ohio probate laws. A licensed and experienced probate attorney can help you navigate the complicated world of probate rules, probate administration, and estate planning with ease!

Dealing with the bureaucracy of the Veterans Administration can be difficult and time consuming. We can help you navigate the Aid and Attendance Program for eligible war-time Veterans and their spouses or widows.