Expert Home Care NJ - New Jersey Home Health

Expert Home Care delivers elder care services to the home. We help seniors in New Jersey plan for long term care. Here’s more information on whether you should consider a will or a living trust for your estate planning in NJ. We can be reached at  (800) 848-2336.

Wills

Wills are easier to set up. Wills can be less expensive to create and change. It allows you to name a guardian to care for minor children, something that’s not possible with a living trust, unless you implement a supplemental document with the will.

If you have debts, creditors face a cutoff date for bringing claims against your estate. They cannot seek assets from beneficiaries once ownership is transferred.

Living Trusts

For smaller estates, the setup and maintenance costs for a living trust may outweigh any “after “death savings. Yet estate planning attorneys, may say that a living trust is a more economical route, especially for those having an estate over $2 million for the 2008 tax year.

A will speaks for you only after you die. A living trust can help you while you’re alive a living trust can sometimes minimize probate at death.

Seniors in NJ should keep in mind when determing which to put in place that neither will change how property you own with another person is distributed at your death. And neither will affect assets with a designated beneficiary, such as individual retirement accounts or life insurance.

New Jersey Seniors - Beware of scams!

Beware of “free lunch” estate planning seminars and other scams that suggest that AARP endorses living trusts. AARP does not sell or endorse any living trust product. And trusts sold through these schemes often are more costly and don’t comply with state law.

Planning for home care in New Jersey can be difficult for most seniors. Deciding “how” to distribute your assets is another challenge for most aging Americans… Expert Home Care NJ has helped many seniors figure out “how to live independently at home and plan for the future when you can no longer care for yourself”. Call us when you need assistance with homemaker needs at (800) 848-2336.

Let’s talk about Wills or Living Trusts - most NJ elders and seniors cringe when thinking about which one is best for their assets.

The first answer to think about is who will get your money, your property, or even your favorite diamond ring or heirloom when you’re gone? We don’t like to dwell on these questions. The evidence? Few Hispanics have the main documents used to distribute property after death: only one in four has a will, and one in fivehas a living trust.

Yet if you decide early on exactly who gets what could relieve your loved ones of a the burden. After all, if you don’t decide, the government will. And you don’t want to go down that road!

Many seniors consider a will the best tool when making their wishes known to relatives. And in their opinion, the will is the best tool to carry out those wishes. That may be true in many cases. But according to some experts, a living trust, alone or with a will, offers a better solution.

Expert Home Care in New Jersey - (800) 848-2336, recently interviewed Mr. Donald D. Vanarelli, Esq. at The Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli, located in Westfield, New Jersey, providing a broad range of legal services for the elderly, the disabled and their families. They successfully guide clients through the complex areas of estate tax law, public benefits law, and court procedures.

We know that many NJ seniors often wonder “what is the difference between elder law attorneys and attorneys?” This can be confusing and many families and seniors wonder if both professionals are the same.

We interviewed Mr. Vanarelli last week and asked him to please tell us what, if any, are the differences. Mr. Donald D. Vanarelli helped to clarify the confusion for some of us who are often confused. Being a board certified elder law attorney since 1998, we thought he would be the best to help us understand “what elder law is”. 

According to The National Elder Law Foundation defines elder law in more detail, saying it encompasses each of the following areas:

• Health and Personal Care Planning
• Pre-Mortem Legal Planning
• Fiduciary Representation
• Legal Capacity Counseling
• Public Benefits Advice
• Advice on Insurance Matters 
• Housing Counseling 
• Income, Estate, and Gift Tax Advice
• Counseling with regard to age and/or disability discrimination in employment and housing
• Litigation and Administrative Advocacy

What Makes Elder Law Unique?
Elder Law is the only area of law defined by the clients served rather than the areas of law in which the attorney practices.

What is a Certified Elder Law Attorney?
Elder Law is a legal specialty which has been formally recognized by New Jersey’s Supreme Court through the American Bar Association’s accreditation of legal specialties program.

To learn more, please visit The Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli.

Call Expert Home Care provides help to seniors and elders in NJ - living independently at home. Please call 800-848-2336.

American’s lack of financial planning for the future also extends to long-term care insurance. More than half of Americans will need long-term care during their lives. But only seven percent of seniors own private insurance that could help them pay for this type of care, says the Journal of Financial Planning.

Long-term care is simply the help people need when a serious illness, injury or disability makes them physically unable to care for themselves. It can be expensive, with the cost for a year’s nursing home stay averaging $44,000 and adult day care typically $50 a day.

Medicare and Medicaid don’t cover many types of long-term care. And most people can’t afford to pay for it out-of-pocket. Consequently, family members are often left with the burden of providing care. Nearly half of adults age 50 or older provide some care to a family member or loved one, according to AARP’s “The State of 50-Plus America, 2004″. And 31 percent of caregivers quit work to care for an older person with a severe impairment, forfeiting thousands of dollars annually in wages and health benefits.

Many Seniors in New Jersey are Unprepared To Face the Future - What, me worry?

With life expectancy rising, Americans are facing retirement of 25 to 30 years or more. But many seniors are not financially or legally prepared for the future.

A lack of retirement planning is partly to blame. With Social Security benefits increasingly playing a smaller role in retirement funding, about 90 percent of people feel they will need to take on more responsibility for supporting their retirement, according to a recent survey by the American Council of Life Insurance (ACLI). However, only 44 percent of non-retirees say they are saving for retirement and are able to report how much.

A lack of planning is reflected in other areas as well. Currently, 57 percent of Americans don’t have a will — potentially leaving them without any say about their assets or the care of minor children after they die, reports legal Web site FindLaw. 

If someone dies without a will, their estate will be distributed according to a rigid legal formula and not as they may have wished. Legal experts advise anyone who is over the age of 18 and has assets, children or other dependants to create a will.

Call Expert Home Care when worried whether or not you can stay home comfortably. Please call 800-848-2336.

Do You Remember…when? Expert Home Care New Jersey shares with our readers a walk down memory lane!  If you need help caring for an aging parent, call us at 800-848-2336.

According to conventional wisdom, people who were kids in the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, or even maybe the early ’70s probably shouldn’t have survived.

Remember how:

• Our baby cribs were covered with brightly colored, lead-based paint.
• We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets. And there was nothing to stop us from sticking a fork in an electrical outlet.
• As children, we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. And we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. 
• Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was a special treat.
• We drank water from dirty garden hoses — not from bottles. Oh the horrors!
• We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from it.
• We spent hours building go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
• We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents?
• We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it — or punch harder next time.
• We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and mud pies. And contrary to what we were told, we didn’t put out very many eyes and the worms didn’t live inside us forever.
• You’re more resilient than you thought. Congratulations for having survived! 

Expert Home Care and call 800-848-2336. More on Sibling Rivalry & Elder Care in NJ

Continuing our post from August 22.. Sibling Conflict in Elder Care

Resolving these conflicts can be challenging. But ignoring the difficulties in a caregiving situation can create greater challenges. Ultimately, strained family relationships can impede a family’s capacity to provide the greatest quality of care to a parent. How can families come together in caregiving?

Here are some suggestions:

• Express your feelings honestly and directly. Let your siblings know their help is both wanted and needed.
  Keep family members informed regarding a parent’s condition.
• Be realistic in your expectations. Allow siblings to help in ways they are able and divide tasks according to individual abilities, current life pressures and personal freedoms. Assistance with errands, finances, legal work or other indirect care may be the best option for some family members.
• Express appreciation to your family for help they are able to provide.
• Accept siblings for who they are and expect differences of opinion.
• Try to respect other’s perceptions and find opportunities to compromise.
• If communication is particularly contentious, arrange a family meeting that includes an outside facilitator, such as your FCA Family Consultant, social worker, counselor, religious leader or friend. A trusted outside party can ensure that everyone’s voice is heard.
• If siblings are unable to help with care, seek other assistance to provide a respite for yourself.
• Call your local Caregiver Resource Center, Area Agency on Aging, Senior Center or other community resource to locate help.
• Try to forgive family members who continue to refuse to get involved in a loved one’s care. The only thing we have control over in a situation is our reaction. Attempt to work through your negative emotions to take care of yourself and move forward.

http://www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=868

The Family Caregiver Alliance offers good information to families across America when dealing with elder care. Visit their site often at Family Caregiver Alliance.

Caring for aging parents or ill relatives brings out the good and the bad in sibling and family relationships. Caregiving can be a time for siblings to come together and provide support for each other or it can be a time for stressful transition, causing strained connections and painful conflict.

A source of friction between adult children carries the existing legacy of family dynamics. Demands of caregiving bring up old patterns, unresolved issues, and tensions. Old family wounds are reopened and rivalries reemerge. Siblings can find themselves replaying their historical roles in the family, recreating old dynamics of competition and resentment as they vie for mom’s and/or dad’s attention and affection.

Other things arise such as denial over a parent’s condition. Siblings who are unable to accept the reality of a parent’s illness and refuse involvement may be protecting themselves from facing a parent’s eventual death and their own loss. This causes the active family caregivers to react with resentment, bitterness, and anger.

What is seen in families is that discord surfaces from the unequal division of caregiving duties. Usually, it is one adult child or sibling that carries the primary role of caregiving for mom or dad. This may be because he or she lives closest to a parent, is perceived as having less work or fewer family obligations, or is considered the “favorite” child. When this situation occurs, it can lead the overburdened primary caregiver feel frustrated and resentful and other siblings to feel uninformed and left out.

Go to http://www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=868

For help when caring for an aging relative at home go to Expert Home Care and call 800-848-2336.

Family ties: The role of siblings in NJ elder care - Expert Home Care and call 800-848-2336.

In North America today, it is very common for children to provide full time care to their aging parents, often within their own homes. Adjusting to the arrival of a parent into a home can be both rewarding and burdening, and it is important that the caregiver receives both emotional and physical support from the rest of his/her family.

Unfortunately, caregiving for a parent is a situation that can often be a source of tension for siblings. It can be difficult for families to agree on the best methods of care, and is not uncommon for non caregiving family members to feel left out. In order to make the adjustment easier on the parent and caregiver, it’s crucial that non active siblings leave the major decisions to the caregiver while still being there for support. Siblings should respect decisions made by the caregiver and keep in mind the sacrifices that he/she has had to make in order to care for mom or dad.

Families need to stick together to provide for the well-being of their family unit, and maintain a peaceful and happy environment for their elder members.

Many New Jersey seniors are at risk during the summer’s heat and humidity.  Seniors over the age of 65 in four North American cities revealed that while nearly 90 percent of the respondents were aware a heat warning had been issued, only about half of the people did anything about it.  Many thought the warnings were targeting the NJ elderly, and not them.

To make sure that both you and your elder loved one are safe, here are some important tips:

• Keep a glass of water in every room for quick access.  Drink plenty of fluids, even if you don’t feel thirsty.
• Dress in light-weight clothing.  Remove all heavy materials, long sleeves and dark colors from closets. 
• Stay out of the sun during the hottest times of the day.  Sunburn makes heat dissipation more difficult.
• Take a nap during high heat times or find a good television program or movie to watch.
• Keep shades down and blinds pulled. 

Most people know that extreme heat can make us sick. But we may think of heat-related illness as something that only affects people who are overdoing it like overheated marathon runners, professional athletes, or new recruits doing drills on military bases.

But most people who die from heat stroke in the U.S. about 400 every year, and possibly more don’t get it from overexerting themselves on a muggy day. In certain people during high temperatures, it’s all too easy to develop heat stroke while sitting perfectly still on the couch.

Heat stroke occurs when the body is unable to regulate its temperature. The body’s temperature rises rapidly, the sweating mechanism fails, and the body is unable to cool down.

Read the full article: Hot Summer Days Can Make Sick People Sicker.

Call Expert Home Care NJ if your elder needs Home Health Care in New Jersey at 800-848-2336.