Manhattan Elder Law Attorney for Medicaid Planning and Long-Term Care
When an aging parent needs care, the decisions come fast and the costs come faster. A Manhattan elder law attorney helps you protect the family home, qualify for Medicaid the right way, and keep a loved one cared for without draining a lifetime of savings.
Elder law when the clock is already running
Most families do not call an elder law attorney until something has happened, a fall, a diagnosis, a hospital discharge planner asking where mom will go next. In Manhattan, where a single month of skilled nursing care can run more than fifteen thousand dollars, that is exactly the moment good legal planning pays for itself. We focus on what you can still do now, not on what you wish had been done five years ago.
Our work covers the full range of elder law issues: Medicaid eligibility, long-term care funding, healthcare proxies and living wills, and protecting assets from being consumed by care costs. If a loved one can no longer make decisions safely, we also handle guardianship so a trusted family member, not a stranger, holds the authority.
Medicaid planning that holds up
New York Medicaid has two faces: Community Medicaid for care at home, and institutional Medicaid for nursing home care, each with different rules and lookback periods. Done correctly, Medicaid planning can shelter the family residence and a meaningful share of savings while still qualifying for benefits. Done poorly, transfers trigger penalty periods that delay coverage for months.
We look at the whole picture, the five-year lookback for nursing home care, spousal protections for the spouse who stays in the community, and asset protection trusts that move the home outside Medicaid's reach when there is time to plan ahead.
Coordinated with your estate plan
Elder law and estate planning are two halves of the same conversation. The trust that protects a home from nursing home costs also decides who inherits it, so we align your estate plan with your care plan. And if a parent has already passed, we guide families through probate so the estate settles cleanly after the care chapter closes.
What a Manhattan elder law attorney handles
- Community and institutional Medicaid applications and appeals
- Medicaid asset protection trusts and the five-year lookback
- Spousal refusal and community-spouse resource protection
- Healthcare proxies, living wills, and powers of attorney
- Article 81 guardianship when capacity is already lost
- Crisis planning when a loved one is already in care
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does nursing home care cost in Manhattan, and will Medicaid cover it?
Skilled nursing care in Manhattan commonly exceeds $15,000 a month. Medicaid can cover it once eligibility rules are met, which is why proactive planning to qualify, while protecting as much of the home and savings as the law allows, matters so much.
What is the Medicaid five-year lookback?
For nursing home (institutional) Medicaid, New York reviews asset transfers made in the five years before you apply. Uncompensated transfers in that window can create a penalty period of delayed coverage. Community Medicaid for home care currently has different, more flexible rules, which is one reason timing and the type of care matter.
Can I protect my parent's apartment from being taken for care costs?
Often yes. A Medicaid asset protection trust can move a home outside Medicaid's reach when there is time before care is needed, and even in a crisis there are spousal and homestead protections that can preserve significant value. We tailor the approach to how soon care is likely to be required.
Talk through your family's situation
Speak directly with Alan Vaitzman, Esq. about Medicaid, long-term care, and protecting what your family has built. Free consultation, clear pricing.
Call (212) 413-4116 Send a message