Elder Law Report

Greg McIntyre, J.D., M.B.A.
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Keeping seniors and their families informed and up to date on estate planning, elder law and other matters. We help seniors navigate the legal maze of aging in America.

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    How Adult Children Protect Aging Parents’ Care, Choices, and Assets

    Most families wait until a fall, stroke, or sudden diagnosis forces a scramble. We open up about how adult children can help parents plan early, keep control where it belongs, and avoid the most expensive and stressful mistakes—from lost capacity to long-term care surprises. We start with the heart of the matter: capacity. Once a parent can’t sign, choices narrow and families face court, delays, and mounting costs. We lay out conversation starters that honor dignity and independence, then translate them into action with the documents that matter: durable financial power of attorney, health care power of attorney, HIPAA authorization, wills, and targeted trusts. You’ll hear why a POA is not a loss of control but an expansion of it, and how springing language can wait until a doctor certifies the need. Then we tackle the iceberg: long-term care costs. We explain five-year lookback rules, why blind gifting backfires, and how Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts and careful titling can legally protect a home and savings. Pre-planning widens options and can save far more than crisis “spend-downs,” but we also share how skilled crisis planning can still salvage value when time is short. Along the way, we cover beneficiary designations, deed strategies, and even the rise of digital wills in North Carolina with secure, encrypted storage. Family dynamics can make or break the outcome. We stress that the parent is the client, not the child, and share the pitfalls to avoid: talking over mom or dad, forcing decisions, or sidelining siblings. To keep peace and prevent litigation, we outline five steps you can take this week: schedule a family meeting, gather account details, confirm existing documents and access, consult an elder law attorney, and revisit the plan every three to five years. If you want less chaos and more clarity, this conversation gives you scripts, tools, and a clear path to protect care choices, assets, and relationships. Subscribe, share this with your siblings, and leave a review telling us the first step you’ll take today.

    23 min

  2. 18 FEB

    North Carolina Spousal Rights: What Changes When You Marry, Divorce, Or Remarry

    Divorce, remarriage, and blended families can quietly rewrite your estate plan—unless you rewrite it first. We dig into how North Carolina law treats spouses before and after marriage, from inchoate rights in real property to the elective share and the year’s allowance, then map the steps that keep your wishes intact without sparking a courtroom brawl. Along the way, we highlight the silent saboteurs: beneficiary designations, joint accounts, POD/TOD forms, life insurance, and retirement plans that do not auto-update after divorce and can send your life’s savings to the wrong person. We share practical strategies for planning around a new marriage, including prenups and postnups, coordinated wills and trusts, and clear instructions that balance support for a spouse with protection for children from a prior relationship. We explain when a trust can calm family tensions, why an old will won’t shield your estate from a spouse’s statutory rights, and how elective share percentages scale with the length of marriage. We also cover real-world pitfalls—like estranged spouses who resurface at probate, and assumptions about common law marriage that don’t hold in North Carolina. If you’re separated, finalizing the divorce matters; if you’re newly single or newly coupled, updating every document and designation matters even more. We offer a concise checklist, candid examples, and legal context so you can act with clarity and avoid avoidable fights. Ready to protect your plan and your people? Subscribe, share this episode with someone navigating divorce or remarriage, and leave a review with your top estate planning question—we may answer it on a future show.

    15 min

  3. 10 FEB

    Protecting Love With A Plan

    Valentine’s Day is a perfect reminder that love isn’t just a feeling—it’s a plan. We sit down as father and son, both elder law attorneys, to map out clear steps that protect the people who matter most. From choosing a trustee for minor children to keeping your home out of probate, we explain how straightforward documents can prevent the messes that break hearts and budgets. We start with practical strategies for families with kids: creating a trust that funds education and daily needs, naming a trustee you trust, and using term life insurance with smart beneficiary designations so money lands exactly where it should. Then we move to the home, walking through how an enhanced life estate—often called a Lady Bird deed—lets you keep control while ensuring the property passes smoothly to your chosen heirs without court delays. Along the way, we show when a trust and a deed can work together to add control and protection. Spousal protection takes center stage as we unpack joint family trusts, general durable powers of attorney, and healthcare powers of attorney. Marriage alone won’t unlock IRAs, bank accounts, or real estate decisions; authority must be granted in writing. We share how to avoid costly guardianships, prepare for long-term care and creditor risks, and keep decisions in the family. Finally, we tackle blended-family pitfalls, explaining how intestacy can split assets in surprising ways—and why a clear will or trust prevents conflict and preserves peace. If you want your love to last longer than flowers, give your family clarity, not questions. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a nudge to plan, and leave a review with the one document you still need to sign.

    11 min

  4. 4 FEB

    Plan Today Or Pay Tomorrow: The Real Costs Of Care And Probate

    Most families don’t lose wealth to bad markets—they lose it to long-term care costs and the slow grind of probate. We unpack a practical, two-part strategy that shields savings during life and delivers a faster inheritance after death, balancing control, care, and legacy without guesswork or jargon. We start by facing the numbers on long-term care and why paying out of pocket can drain even healthy nest eggs. Then we share how pre-planning creates options: trust structures designed for Medicaid compatibility, timelines that respect look-back rules, and coordinated spend-down strategies that preserve resources for a spouse and heirs. With the right lead time, you can qualify for benefits later without sacrificing the home or savings you worked for. From there, we turn to probate—the hidden risk that slows transfers and opens the door to creditor claims, including Medicaid estate recovery. You’ll hear how beneficiary designations, pay-on-death and transfer-on-death tools, and well-drafted trusts move assets directly to loved ones, cutting delays and reducing exposure. Coordination is everything: titling, beneficiaries, and trust funding must align so nothing slips back into the estate. The payoff is speed, certainty, and more value staying in the family. If protecting your legacy matters, this guide gives you a clear blueprint: plan for care, avoid probate, and keep options open. Subscribe for more elder law strategies, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review to tell us what planning question you want us to tackle next.

    8 min

  5. 28 JAN

    Emergency Planning For Seniors

    The moments that test a family rarely arrive with warning. A fall, a stroke, a winter storm that knocks out power for days—suddenly decisions pile up while the tools to make them are out of reach. We sat down to map a calm, practical path through those chaotic hours by focusing on two essentials: the health care power of attorney and the general durable power of attorney. First, we unpack how a health care power of attorney ensures your voice is heard when you can’t speak for yourself. You’ll hear how to choose a trusted agent, clarify your medical values, and make sure hospitals, primary care providers, and specialists already have your documents on file. Then we turn to the durable power of attorney for finances—why banks and credit unions should review it in advance, what authority your agent needs to pay bills and manage accounts, and how this quiet planning step prevents cascading problems during a hospital stay or evacuation. We also dig into the logistics that keep a plan working when the lights go out. A single, clearly labeled binder holds originals, copies, medication lists, allergies, insurance cards, and contact sheets for doctors and agents. We talk about digital backups, encrypted USB drives, and simple phone trees that function when cell service and internet fail. Drawing lessons from recent hurricanes and looming winter weather, we highlight how families who pre-share documents and roles move faster, feel calmer, and make better choices under pressure. By the end, you’ll have a checklist you can act on today: pick agents who know your wishes, place documents with providers and banks, centralize everything, and rehearse how to use it. If you want help tailoring a plan for your situation, visit mcelderlaw.com or book a free consultation at our Hendersonville, Charlotte, or Shelby offices. Subscribe, share this with someone you love, and leave a review so more families can find practical guidance when it matters most.

    8 min

  6. 21 JAN

    How To Prepare For A Long-Term Care Crisis Before It Starts

    Hard conversations today can spare your family heartache and expense tomorrow. We walk through a practical plan to prepare for long-term care before it turns into a crisis, starting with simple, consistent communication and moving into the documents and strategies that keep you in control. We break down the two must-have documents—general durable power of attorney and healthcare power of attorney—explaining how they authorize a trusted person to act quickly for finances, legal matters, and medical choices. From there, we tackle the big question: how do you pay for care? You’ll hear the real math behind private pay, where long-term care insurance helps and where it doesn’t, and how benefits like Medicaid and VA can become accessible when you structure assets within the rules. Our goal is to replace guesswork with a clear path. You’ll also learn why early planning beats guardianship every time, how deeds and trusts can avoid probate and protect assets, and what a well-built “toolbox” looks like when a health event happens. Think of it as a domino plan: set up the right pieces while you’re healthy, so one call or signature sets everything in motion—bills get paid, care gets coordinated, and your wishes stay at the center. Whether you’re just starting the conversation or already facing care decisions, there are steps you can take to protect savings and dignity. If this conversation helps, share it with someone who needs a nudge to plan ahead. Subscribe for more elder law insights, leave a review to tell us what you want covered next, and reach out if you’re ready to put your plan in place.

    11 min

  7. 14 JAN

    Tech-Forward Estate Planning Today

    Paper binders and decade-old software don’t cut it for families making the most important legal decisions of their lives. We open the door to a tech-forward approach to estate planning—one that keeps the attorney’s judgment at the center while using smart systems to remove friction, reduce errors, and make every step easier to navigate. From secure, encrypted lifetime document storage to a streamlined intake process that captures assets and goals once and reuses that data across your plan, we show how thoughtful tools turn confusion into clarity. We walk through the education-first foundation—videos, articles, and a resource-rich website—so you can understand wills, revocable trusts, Lady Bird deeds, beneficiary designations, and long-term care risks before you sign a single document. Then we unpack how our proprietary decision support pairs with legal expertise to evaluate options, surface requirements, and keep everything compliant and consistent. The result is faster, more accurate planning without sacrificing nuance: whether you’re choosing the right trust structure, coordinating titles and beneficiaries, or preparing for Medicaid lookback periods and care costs. Security and client control stay front and center. With bank-level encryption, permissioned sharing, and fast access to PDFs, families can get critical documents to hospitals, advisors, or caregivers within minutes—without losing privacy. We also talk about why most legal industry software lags behind and how building our own systems helps us deliver timely, cost-effective service that actually fits how people live today. If you want an estate plan that is modern, secure, and deeply human, this conversation maps the path forward. If you found this helpful, follow the show, share it with someone planning for the future, and leave a quick review to tell us what topic you want next.

    6 min

  8. 7 JAN

    New Year's Resolution: Estate Plan And Prosper

    Resolutions fade; stress lingers. We chose a different start to the year by focusing on the one move that reliably lowers anxiety and protects what matters: a practical estate plan that actually works when life gets messy. From the gym to the law office, we connect the dots between lower cortisol, clearer thinking, and the documents that keep your family out of court and your assets out of harm’s way. We break down the essentials in plain language. You will hear why a general durable power of attorney and a health care power of attorney are the bedrock of real-world preparedness, and what happens when they are missing—delays, court-driven guardianship, and bills piling up when a spouse or child is locked out of decisions. Then we widen the lens to tackle the cost of long-term care, the quiet threat that can drain retirement accounts after a stroke, a fall, or a dementia diagnosis. Our approach centers on options: how targeted trusts can position savings for benefits eligibility without surrendering your values or your voice. For homeowners, we spotlight the Lady Bird deed—especially effective in North Carolina—which protects the primary residence, avoids probate, and has been strengthened under current Medicaid rules. It is a simple, reversible step that keeps you in control during life and guides the house to your chosen heirs later. Along the way, we share mindset shifts that make planning feel less like paperwork and more like freedom: tidy decisions, clear roles, and a cleaner slate for 2026. If you are ready to trade vague resolutions for real peace of mind, this conversation gives you a precise checklist and the confidence to act. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a nudge, and leave a review to tell us the first step you are taking toward an Estate Plan and Prosper year.

    11 min
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About

Keeping seniors and their families informed and up to date on estate planning, elder law and other matters. We help seniors navigate the legal maze of aging in America.

Information

  • Creator
    Greg McIntyre, J.D., M.B.A.
  • Years Active
    2013 - 2026
  • Episodes
    648
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Elder Law Report
  • Show Website
    Elder Law Report