While there is no way to guarantee that nothing will go wrong in a nursing home, some careful research and planning can help reassure you or your loved ones that you’ve made a good choice. Here are some things to consider when looking for a facility: Location. No single factor is more important to the quality of care and quality of life of a nursing home resident than visits by family members. Care is often better
Long-term care insurance is expensive. One way that some people reduce the cost is to buy a policy that will cover care only for a limited period of time (such as three years), as opposed to a policy that covers care indefinitely. Last year, almost a third of individual buyers purchased a three-year policy, according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. But is that sufficient coverage? To answer that question, the Association recently published
If you’re over age 65 and you’re preparing to move to another state – or even to another county – you’ll need to make sure your Medicare plan will still be in effect after you move. Whether your policy will still be valid depends in part on whether you have original Medicare or Medicare Advantage. If you have original Medicare, moving shouldn’t affect your benefits. Your Medicare plan will still be valid when you move. However,
The power of attorney is one of the most important estate planning documents you can have. It allows you to appoint someone to act for you as your agent if you become incapacitated. Without such a document, your loved ones won’t be able to make decisions for you or manage your finances. They’ll have to ask a court to appoint a guardian or conservator – an expensive and time-consuming process that could result in someone making
A home is usually the most expensive purchase people ever make. And as we’ve all learned recently, mortgage loans can be complex and a poorly chosen mortgage can cause many problems down the road. And yet, Americans spend very little time researching a mortgage. The average homebuyer spends only five hours choosing a home loan and gets only three quotes, according to a recent online survey of nearly 3,000 purchasers by Zillow.com. More than 30% of
People who use oxygen for medical reasons often smoke as well. (Frequently, smoking is the reason they have respiratory problems that require oxygen.) The problem is that smoking and oxygen are a dangerous combination. Oxygen accelerates fires and can turn a cigarette ember into a serious flame. Even after the oxygen is turned off, gas that has accumulated in a room or on a person’s clothing and hair can trigger a conflagration. For this reason, many
Mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration help many people to buy a home who couldn’t do so otherwise. That’s because lenders are often willing to loan to people with less of a down payment because the loan is insured by a federal agency. However, the FHA has just made it more difficult to obtain an insured condo loan. Generally, the FHA can insure a loan only if the condo project has been approved by the
A recent case from Maryland’s highest court shows that even people who deal with real estate simply as investors can be held liable for lead paint problems. The case involved a Maryland company that bought tax liens. The company’s business model was to buy liens, foreclose on delinquent properties, then sell them “as is” at a profit. The company was organized as a limited liability company, or LLC. In one case, the LLC foreclosed on a
New rules issued by Fannie Mae are making it harder for people to get mortgages for condominium units, particularly when the condo is new construction or a new condo conversion. The rules are designed to reduce the risk of foreclosures. However, they come at a bad time, because the real estate market is slow and many people have already been having more trouble getting mortgage loans. Fannie Mae can’t tell lenders what to do, but Fannie
A Florida couple created a trust to benefit their grandchildren. The trust stated that it was to benefit only grandchildren who were related by blood. One of the couple’s sons got divorced in 1971. A girl, Catherine, had been born during the marriage. The son acknowledged the girl as his child and paid child support for her. In 1999, however, when Catherine was 32 years old, a DNA test proved that she wasn’t really the son’s
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