By Megail Gaumer
Growing up I spent weeks of each summer on fishing trips with my grandparents and their camping club. While I was a generation removed, it gave me a great appreciation for “life in the retirement years” and the drive to help individuals to plan for it. I attribute much of my career choice to the experiences I had growing up closely with my grandparents… and yes, he is a client.
By Attorney Dan Vu
A Will does not avoid the unnecessary cost and hassle of probate.By Mary Roberts
Everyone needs to be passionate about something. For me it’s music. Basically I am the happiest when I am singing and playing my guitar. My cares all go away and I think of nothing else. I find the time spent doing what I love reenergizes me for the things that I really have to do in life. I don’t mind going to work at all or taking care of my household chores because I am looking forward to that next engagement when I can be out there doing what I love to do most. I can leave a full day of work and go to a job entertaining and have the energy to complete the day with a smile on my face.
The older we get the more we realize how important it is to do things we really dream of doing. This has been my passion and my dream since I was a young girl. I enjoyed it then and I enjoy it even more today. I can’t believe that even age will take away my love for country music, gospel music and seeing people smile when they enjoy the tunes to which they are dancing or just listening.
Best of all, my sister shares my love for We sign and entertain together. We see each other often and really treasure the time we are together sharing our passion and our dreams. We are teamed up with my brother-in-law and two other senior musicians who also share our love for music. Yes,Seniors can enjoy life too.
Find your passion and share it with others. That’s my motto.
By Roy Whited
Start the conversation with your spouse, parents or family today!
November is long-term care awareness month. If you haven’t started the conversation with your spouse or your family about the importance of proactive planning and how it can protect your assets and their family’s well being, November can be the perfect time.
Transferring this risk to an insurance carrier and protecting your assets from the devastating cost of long term care can make good economic sense. For more information about what choices are available for you as a consumer you can visit the website of the State of Insurance Department or you can just call our office at 1-800-798-5297 to schedule a free consultation.
For those of you who can’t afford the cost of long term care insurance or can’t qualify for the insurance you should learn about what other planning options are available to help protect your money and your home. Call 1-800-798-5297 for a free consultation with one of the Elder Law Attorneys of the Cooper & Adel Law firm.
What is the risk? What are the odds?
Odds are calculated using statistics from public sources that are deemed to be reliable. For more information on the sources you can call our office 1-800-798-5297.
(Taken in part from Westland Financial Inc.)
By Jeff Bell, Staff reporter – Business First
Centerburg – population 1,773 – would seem an unlikely host for a growing law firm, but that’s what the Knox County village has become.
Cooper Adel & Associates LPA, founded in the village nearly 20 years ago by attorney Thom Cooper, recently opened its fourth Ohio office and is looking to expand into the northeast part of the state and possibly Indiana.
It’s part of the firm’s plan to get closer to small-town folks in need of elder law services. Among them are farmers, Main Street business owners and other seniors trying to minimize their taxes, avoid probate and protect their assets from potential financial losses such as those caused by a catastrophic illness. Cooper Adel’s seven attorneys move across the firm’s four offices – Centerburg, Lebanon, Sidney and the new one in Wilmington in southwest Ohio – as their services are needed rather than working out of just one location.
“It’s important they be there to visit with the client,” Cooper said, noting the firm pulls in seniors from across much of the state.
The attorneys help clients plan for taxes and nursing-home stays, qualify for veteran’s benefits and set up trusts.
“We focus not only on estate planning,” he said, “but life planning.”
Leading an elder law firm with 35 employees and four offices wasn’t exactly the plan in the early 1980s when Cooper decided to go to Capital University Law School. At that time, he owned a business in Columbus that provided outsourcing services to stategovernments.
“I wanted to do something to work directly with people,” he said, “and the law seemed like a good area for that.”
After earning his law degree, Cooper started doing title work for a banker in Centerburg. His practice evolved from there as Cooper, moved by financial problems he had seen hurt older people, including his own family, decided to develop a specialty in elder law.
“For awhile,” he said, “it was about just keeping my head down. But I found there is such a need, and it just kind of happened.”
One of the developments in his firm’s growth was the hiring in 2005 of Mitch Adel, a Capital Law School graduate who was working as a criminal defense attorney in the Franklin County public defender’s office. Cooper made him a partner in 2009, and Adel now serves as the firm’s managing partner.
Adel said he decided to get into elder law in part because his grandfather told him it was an emerging field. He also waslooking for a change from the work he was doing.
“I didn’t see many smiles there,” Adel said. “It was a more difficult type of law – crime and jail. I see elder law as ‘happy law.’ You’re protecting people’s farms and houses.”
Squeezed by taxes, health care
Adel and Cooper said their practice ranges from working with the wealthy and farmers who are “asset rich but cash poor” to middle-class seniors wanting to leave something in their estates for their children.
“One of the things that separates us from the pack,” Adel said, “is we work with family. It’s not just mom and dad, but bringing in the children so everyone knows the plan.”
Changing tax laws and soaring health-care costs have increased the need for the help offered by the firm.
“Taxes are squeezing our clients,” Adel said, “and catastrophic health-care (bills) squeeze them. We help them make sure they keep their assets.”
And, the recession resulted in more liens being placed on homes and farms, Cooper said.
“That has become huge,” he said, “because it affects people at their core.”
By Bob Kueppers
Working at an Elder Law firm, we hear lots of interesting stories. Some people have managed to take a smooth path throughout their life, but for the majority of us we encounter a few obstacles along the way. Some of us even encounter major detours that seem endless. At Cooper, Adel & Associates, we want to help make your path as smooth as possible.
By Roy Whited
Every year, people with Medicare get to explore new choices and pick the health and drug plans that work best for them. This year, this Open Enrollment period is starting earlier- on October 15- and ending sooner- December 7. This gives people with Medicare a full seven weeks to compare and make decisions, and ensures that they will have essential plan materials and membership cards in hand on January 1, 2012 when new coverage starts.
There will be a wide range of health and drug plan options available across the country, including the original Medicare. Most people with Medicare can choose a Part D plan to help them pay for prescription drugs. And people who have chosen to enroll in a Part C Medicare Advantage plan for their basic health care services have the option of staying in that plan, choosing a different plan, or going back to the original Medicare program. Plans can change from year to year, so these are important choices that should be made with care. People can turn to www.Medicare.gov, call 1-800-MEDICARE, or consult with a local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) for help.
If you are enrolling for the first time or changing from one program to another, I would encourage you to make sure you understand what nursing home benefits are available to you as a Medicare beneficiary. Time and time again I talk to seniors who are shocked to learn how little Medicare pays for a nursing home stay. Remember Medicare only pays for skilled care in a nursing home. They only pay for the first 20 days before there is a co-payment required, and further, to get your bill paid in a nursing home, you must have a 3-day hospital stay prior to going to the nursing home.
The average cost of a nursing home in the State of Ohio is over $6,000.00 a month. Most long term stays are not covered by Medicare and the cost can be devastating to the average family. For those who can afford the cost, like the idea, and can qualify, long term care insurance can possibly be a solution. For those who can’t or don’t like the insurance idea there are certain planning techniques that can very helpful in protecting your assets from these situations. The sooner you start planning, the more effective you can be in protecting your life savings. Why not contact an Elder Law Attorney today to start the planning process?
By Kathy Cooper
I learned to drive in a ’57 Chevy with the gear shift on the steering column. I was really excited to be behind the wheel of that big, beautiful car, but I was struggling to shift gears, driving my dad nuts as I ground them over and over. My dad was a WWII vet, and that day, I got a dose of his master sergeant temper. After a few choice terms, he drove that Chevy up one of the few hills in Columbus, Ohio and put on the emergency brake. Now, behind the wheel, it was my turn: sink or swim. I had no choice but to get it right or slide back down the hill. I learned quickly.
Every day when vets come through our doors, I think about my dad. I want to make sure each of them gets the help they need so they can make it up the hill on their own!
At Cooper and Adel, we know about vets. We can help.
By: JM Megail Gaumer
More benefits, better choices and lower costs, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is encouraging people with Medicare and their families to begin reviewing drug and health plan coverage options for 2012. The Medicare Open Enrollment Period – which began earlier this year on Saturday, October 15 – and has been expanded to last seven weeks and will end on December 7.
This longer period will give seniors and people with disabilities more time to compare and find the best plan.
The Affordable Care Act, allows people with Medicare to get certain preventive services for free and can get more affordable prescription drugs. Additional benefits to people with Medicare include lower prescription drug costs through a 50 percent discount on covered brand name drugs in the coverage gap (also referred to as the “donut hole”), wellness checkups, and access to certain preventive care with no copayments – a benefit that all Medicare Advantage plans will offer starting in 2012.
This year CMS is highlighting plans that have achieved an overall quality rating of 5 stars with a high performer or “gold star” icon so people with Medicare can easily find high quality plans. People with Medicare can switch to an available 5-star plan at any time during the year.
People can contact Medicare at 1-800-MEDICARE or visit Medicare’s Plan Finder – available at www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan – people will see the enhanced star ratings for 2012. In addition to the enhanced star ratings for 2012 and new “gold star” icon, Plan Finder users will see an icon showing which plans received a low overall quality rating for the past three years.
We at Cooper and Adel are happy to assist in any way we can if you or your family have questions.
By Attorney Ted Brown
This is the first in a series of posts sharing my most notable ETA experiences so far to illustrate the pitfalls of poor estate planning.
As the Estate Administration Attorney at Cooper & Adel, I am one of the proud few that gets to see an estate plan in action. Most attorneys, myself included, spend time drafting documents and planning to get a client’s affairs in order so that they are ready for the day we all know will inevitably come.
However, I also get to see the results of that planning. I am the one that actually divides property according to the terms of the will or trust. This vantage point gives me the opportunity to see first hand, how well, or in some cases, how poorly, the client’s estate plan was conceived.
More often than not, and particularly with clients who have not dusted off their estate plan for many years, I find that the plan is not executed with the ease or precision that the client intended. This is why we always encourage our clients to stop in every three to five years to review their documents and make sure they are up to speed on changes in state law and that their current estate plan is serving them as well as it can.
If you had a will done when your kids were in preschool and you just returned from dropping them off at college, I would advise you schedule an appointment in the near future. Your priorities and goals as well as the most immediate risks to your future have changed. Some of the common problems I see at death, such as subsequent children being left out, assets that are not actually in a trust, accounts that do not have beneficiaries or property that is exposed to estate recovery liens, could all be avoided by a timely review with an Elder Law Attorney. Don’t wait. Waiting only brings you a day closer to your outdated estate plan turning into an estate administration crisis.
