Elder Law

Elder law is the area of legal practice focused on the legal and financial challenges that arise as people age. It draws on estate planning, public benefits law, trust law, and administrative law to address a set of concerns that are distinct from those of a younger client: what happens if I need nursing home care, who will pay for it, what will be left for my family, and who will make decisions for me if I cannot make them myself.

At WCSS, elder law planning is not a separate product from estate planning — it is an integrated approach that treats long-term care exposure as one of the central planning problems of later life, alongside estate distribution, business succession, and asset protection. Our clients are Arkansas families who have built something worth protecting and want to make sure it passes to the right people in the right way.

Not every family has the luxury of five years. For families facing an immediate nursing home placement — or who are already paying privately for care — the question is not how to avoid spend down, but how to do it strategically.

Spend down does not have to mean surrendering assets without purpose. Even in a crisis, federal and Arkansas Medicaid rules permit a range of planning options that can preserve meaningful resources for a spouse, children, or other family members. The key is knowing what the rules allow and acting before the application window closes.

For married couples, the community spouse — the husband or wife remaining at home — is entitled to retain a protected share of the couple’s assets and a minimum monthly income allowance. Medicaid-compliant annuities can convert countable assets into an income stream for the community spouse, accelerating eligibility for the spouse in the nursing home without requiring those assets to be spent on care.

For individuals and couples alike, certain expenditures reduce countable assets without triggering Medicaid penalties: paying off a mortgage or vehicle loan, purchasing a vehicle, making needed repairs or improvements to the home, prepaying funeral and burial arrangements, and paying for legal, financial, and care-related services. These are not loopholes — they are expenditures the Medicaid rules expressly recognize as legitimate.

The options available depend on the specific asset picture, the timing, and whether a spouse is involved. Even families who believe it is too late to plan often find that a prompt conversation with an elder law attorney reveals more options than they expected.

If a care need has already arrived, call us before you spend another dollar on nursing home costs.

Long-term care insurance is not the right tool for every family, but for those who are still insurable and have assets worth protecting, it can be one of the most effective planning instruments available. A well-structured policy can fund years of care — at home, in an assisted living facility, or in a nursing home — and delay or reduce Medicaid involvement.

Arkansas participates in the national Long-Term Care Partnership Program, which creates a direct link between qualifying private LTC insurance and Medicaid. Under a Partnership-qualified policy, every dollar the policy pays in benefits generates a dollar of Medicaid asset protection — meaning those assets can be retained even if Medicaid coverage becomes necessary later, and are shielded from estate recovery after death.

We work with clients to evaluate whether LTC insurance makes sense given their age, health, asset picture, and planning objectives, and to understand how a Partnership policy interacts with other elements of their plan.

When a person loses the capacity to manage their own affairs and no power of attorney is in place, the law provides a remedy: guardianship. A guardianship proceeding requires a petition to the probate court, a hearing, and a judicial appointment of a guardian of the person and — if needed — a conservator of the estate. The guardian or conservator is then subject to ongoing court oversight, including annual accountings.

Guardianship is sometimes necessary and can be an important tool for protecting someone who is being exploited or is unable to protect themselves. But for most families, the right plan is to ensure that a well-drafted power of attorney makes the guardianship proceeding unnecessary in the first place.

When guardianship is unavoidable — whether because no planning was done, because the existing documents are inadequate, or because the situation requires court supervision — we guide families through the process and help them understand what ongoing obligations guardianship carries.