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Planning for the Second Half of Life:

Asset Protection Focused Estate Planning

As with anything in life, your estate planning needs to change as your life changes. In retirement, the
greatest risk to you & your assets is the potential for long term care crisis – and the attendant costs for that
care – to decimate your estate. Statistics show that between 50-70% of all people over age 65 in the U.S.
will need long term care at some point in the future, with the average length of stay between 3.5 to 4 years.
Does your financial plan account for $6,500-$7,500 per month in extra expenditures for a long term care
event? Over four years, that could equate to over $360,000 at today’s cost – and the cost always, always goes
up each year. Most are unprepared for this very likely event and. In fact, most people have never given a
thought to planning for long term care. This is where a Board Certified Elder Law Attorney, or CELA for short,
can help. There are only nine CELAs in the state of Georgia.

Without planning for long term care, a family could lose everything they have saved to a spend-down, and
also their home to the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program. Most of the clients of The Smith Law Firm are not
concerned about protecting against estate taxes because they do not have over $11.2 million in assets (the
new Federal Estate Tax limit for 2018). Instead they want to avoid probate & make their passing as simple as
possible for the family, protect against long-term care a provide a legacy to their children. One of the best
tools a Certified Elder Law Attorney has in his/her tool box to assist with these goals is the modern asset
protection trust. We never recommend just giving your assets away to children or others for numerous
reasons, not the least of which is that you lose control.

Incorporating long term care planning and an Asset Protection trust into your estate planning makes sense
for many families for a variety of reasons. Typically clients like the flexibility, asset protection, and simplicity
provided by the Asset Protection Trust. With this type of trust, you can:
• Stay In Control
• Avoid Probate
• Provide Asset Protection for Your Children
• Provide Asset Protection for You
• Protect Against Long-term Care Costs
• Protect Against Lawsuits
• Avoid Trustee Problems
• Leave a Legacy for the Next Generation

The utilization of these types of trusts is
critical to anyone looking to plan ahead
to protect their estate from long term care
costs, while also remaining in control
of the assets in their estate.

Elder Law . Estate Planning . Asset Protection . Special Needs Planning
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