. In this article, our Chicago senior planning attorneys explain the Medicaid eligibility and requirements and the Medicaid look-back period.For low income individuals, Medicaid is a health insurance program that mot only covers the elderly, but children as well. For the elderly to be eligible for assisted living, nursing, or in-home care, thy must have limited assets and income. All Medicaid applicants must meet an income threshold in order to successfully apply for and, potentially receive, coverage. The requirement is not universal and varies. The “look back” period is a specified period of time dating back from the date an individual applies for Medicaid. In Illinois, the “look back” period if 5 years - meaning when reviewing an application, the applicant’s records are checked for suspicious transfers of assets.

 In this article, our Chicago elder law attorneys explain how Powers of Attorney can help avoid the costly and time consuming process of guardianship proceedings by directly stipulating who will handle the affairs in case of incapacity or disability. If a person becomes mentally incompetent through disease, injury or old age, their immediate family can't simply take over the management of their major life decisions or financial affairs.

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In this article, our Chicago elder law attorneys discuss how trusts are uses in order to prevent Chicago probate proceedings. Probate matters see the courts distributing assets of a deceased individuals' estate to heirs and creditors. Probate proceedings are a long and costly process and can be avoided by implementing a revocable living trust that transfers money and other estate assets to it during a lifetime.  The revocable living trust is a legal entity that owns the assets and property during the creators lifetime and that creator has control of it during their lifetime as well as can stipulate what happens to those assets upon their death.