Walk It Through: The Aging Parent
A tax break at sixty-five, a door-to-door pitch, the hospital, and the guardianship question.
A widowed father in his late sixties owns his home and lives on a small pension.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One parent's year. The tax deferral program, Medicaid and long term care, a conservator for money and elder abuse reporting are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Homeowner's exemptionThe exemption from property tax of the first $125,000 of a homestead's market value, or 50% of it, whichever is less, for a home that is owner occupied and the owner's primary dwelling.
- HomesteadA home occupied as the owner's principal residence, protected automatically against creditors up to $175,000.
- MinorA person under eighteen years of age. A minor who has been married may enter contracts and sue on them.
- Property tax reductionA reduction on the homestead's property tax for an owner in a listed group, such as sixty-five or older or disabled, with household income under the limit, claimed between January 1 and April 15, of up to $1,500 or the actual tax.
- Unfair or deceptive practiceA practice the consumer protection act forbids, such as selling used goods as new, for which a buyer who lost money may recover actual damages or $1,000, whichever is greater.
- Advance care planning documentA document any competent person eighteen or older may make naming health care agents and giving instructions on care, valid with the person's name, birth date, contact details, signature and the date signed.
- Surrogate decision-makerThe person who consents to care for a patient who cannot: a guardian, then the agent named in an advance directive, then a spouse, an adult child, a parent and other relatives, in that order.