Law Offices of Hoyt & Bryan
by Laura Breen Galante
Partners Peggy Hoyt and Randy Bryan are double Florida Bar board-certified attorneys in wills, trusts and estates, and elder law, making The Law Offices of Hoyt & Bryan in Oviedo the only Florida law firm with two lawyers holding dual board certifications. It all adds up to world-class service in estate planning, elder law, and trust and estate administration.
Estate planning, or asset protection planning for long-term care, is essential to retain control over your estate. Hoyt & Bryan works with seniors and families to establish foundational estate-planning documents including wills, living trusts, financial powers of attorney, healthcare powers of attorney, a living will, and often a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust, or MAPT. The benefit of having a MAPT is to hold assets so that if you need to apply for Medicaid benefits – to pay for nursing-home care, for example – those assets won’t count toward your resource limit.
Planning ahead is ideal as the current cost of nursing-home care is about $10,000 per month, and that number will only go up. Peggy says the best time to establish a long-term care plan is when clients are in their 70s and are healthy in mind and body. There is no downside to setting up a MAPT. If it is unused during your lifetime, at the time of your death, the beneficiaries of your MAPT will receive distributions from the trust.
Unfortunately, many clients wait until a crisis occurs – such as dementia, a stroke, or a health emergency – and the family member is no longer competent to manage their own care. At that point, the courts become involved, and care management becomes complicated, stressful, and expensive.
The easiest way to get started is to attend one of Hoyt & Bryan’s free monthly workshops called the Truth about Medicaid Planning. They are held virtually and at One Senior Place on Douglas Avenue in Altamonte Springs. This September, the firm will also host its annual special-needs conference. Check out all the helpful events at HoytBryan.com.
Leave your long-term care planning to the double Florida Bar board-certified attorneys at The Law Offices of Hoyt & Bryan, the family-friendly law firm that offers advice you can trust from people you can trust even more.