Elder Law, Medicaid, Veterans Benefits Planning: The Complete Pennsylvania Guide

Agenda / Content Covered

1. Ensuring Medicaid Eligibility While Preserving Assets
   9:00 — 9:50, Ashley Elias
   1. Medicaid LTC Eligibility Criteria: Excluded and Countable Assets
   2. Spousal Protections
   3. Asset Transfers, Gifts, Promissory Notes
   4. Prepayment of Qualified Expenses
   5. "Medicaid Pending" and Nursing Homes
   6. Trusts in Medicaid Planning
   7. Lookback Period Requirements
2. Medicaid Application, Appeals, and Fair Hearings
   9:50 — 10:40, Steven Miller
   1. Filing Medicaid Application: Forms and Procedures Update
   2. Hearings and Appeals Process
   3. Requests for Reconsideration and Fair Hearing Practice
   4. Correcting the Damage Done Before You and Reflecting Life Changes
   5. What Can be Done About Penalty Periods of Ineligibility
   6. Home and Community-Based Medicaid Waivers
   7. Other State and Local Benefits
3. Veterans Benefits, Claims, and Appeals Under the Current Rules
   10:55 — 11:45, Colleen Bratkovich
   1. Types of Veterans Benefits: VA Aid and Attendance, Disability, etc.
   2. Eligibility Update
   3. The Modernized Claims and Appeals System
   4. Forms and Procedures Update
   5. Discharge Issues
   6. Addressing Prior Transfers
4. Special Needs Trusts and ABLE Accounts
   12:45 — 1:35, Steven Miller
   1. SNTs vs. ABLE Accounts: Structure, Uses, Benefits, Eligibility, and More
   2. Types of SNTs
   3. Preserving Benefits Eligibility
   4. Qualified Expenses and Other SNT Trust Administration Issues
   5. Tax Considerations
   6. Key Provisions: Sample SNT Document Review
   7. Recent POMS Updates
5. Social Security Disability Application, Appeals, Briefing, and Hearing Process
   1:35 — 2:25, Steven Miller
   1. SSI vs. SSDI Benefits and Application Overview
   2. SSDI 5-Step Evaluation Process and Application: Forms and Procedures
   3. SSDI Claim Briefing and Hearings
   4. Leveraging Medical and Vocational Data
   5. Effect of SSDI on Medicaid Eligibility
   6. SSDI Appeals and Protecting Benefits
   7. Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) Fees
6. Post-Eligibility and Estate Planning Issues
   2:40 — 3:30, Colleen Bratkovich
   1. Coordinating Multiple Benefits
   2. Benefits Overpayment
   3. Loss and Restoration of Benefits
   4. Estate Recovery and Other Probate Issues Associated with Medicaid
   5. State and Local Benefits for the Aging and the Disabled
   6. Survivor Benefits
   7. Tax Implications of Benefits Planning
7. Legal Ethics of Representing the Elderly and the Disabled
   3:30 — 4:30, Michael Nalli
   1. Conflicts of Interest
   2. Attorney Fees
   3. Capacity Determinations
   4. Client Confidentiality

Accreditation Details:

COLLEEN D. BRATKOVICH is an attorney at Zacharia Brown and practices in the areas of Medicaid planning and eligibility, Veterans' benefits, and related estate planning and estate administration issues. She is admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Ms. Bratkovich is also accredited by the Veteran's Administration to represent veterans in their claims before the department. She earned her undergraduate degree from the Pennsylvania State University and her law degree from Duquesne University. Ms. Bratkovich is a member of NAELA and PAELA.

ASHLEY M. ELIAS is an attorney with Nalli, Elias & Associates, P.C., where her practice areas include estate planning, estate administration and related tax matters, and criminal defense law. Ms. Elias is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Beaver County Bar Association. Ms. Elias earned her B.S. degree from Point Park University and her J.D. degree from Duquesne University School of Law.

STEVEN D.W. MILLER is an attorney with Miller Law Firm, PC. Mr. Miller is a certified elder law attorney (CELA) through the National Elder Law Foundation. He concentrates his practice in the areas of elder law, estate planning, asset protection, tax law, guardianships, special needs, and life care planning. Mr. Miller counsels families of all ages in the area of wills and trusts, and also provides in-depth knowledge of Medicare and Medicaid planning. He is a VA accredited attorney and advises Veteran clients in the area of Veterans Administration benefits. Mr. Miller received his B.A. degree from DePauw University, his Masters degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and his J.D. degree from Widener University Commonwealth School of Law. He is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

MICHAEL W. NALLI is a sole practitioner with Nalli, Elias & Associates, P.C., concentrating his law practice in the areas of estate planning, estate administration and related tax matters, elder law, guardianship, and real estate. He is a member of the Beaver County Bar Association (Mock Trial Committee), the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Mr. Nalli earned his B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from Geneva College and his J.D. degree from Duquesne University.