The Journal of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (“NAELA Journal”) is a semiannual law journal containing substantive and scholarly articles by practicing members, professors, and other elder law professionals. The NAELA Journal covers elder law and special needs planning topics including: preservation of assets, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, disability, health insurance, tax planning, conservatorships, guardianships, living trusts and wills, estate planning, probate and administration of estates, trusts, long-term care placement, housing and nursing home issues, elder abuse, fraud recovery, age discrimination, retirement, health law, and mental health law. The Journal is a highly regarded law journal which can be found in law libraries and is accessible through Westlaw, Lexis and other legal database providers.

This month, my paper on the impact which financial exploitation of an elderly person has on the elder’s eligibility for Medicaid benefits was published in the NAELA Journal. The key question I explored in the paper was this: when a third party makes improper transfers of an elder’s property without the elder’s knowledge or consent, will those improper transfers negatively affect the elder’s eligibility for Medicaid? Is a timely question, I believe, since it is now a very common practice for an elderly or disabled person to entrust his or her finances to a third party, either by signing a power of attorney or simply “handing over the checkbook” to a relative or a trusted friend. These third parties, whether family members or outsiders, may financially exploit the elder, either through common theft by an outsider or the improper use of a power of attorney by a family member. As the elder population in the United States continues to increase dramatically, the financial exploitation of the elderly continues to be an increasingly serious problem. In the paper, I researched laws and cases across the country to examine how courts determined whether improper, unauthorized  transfers negatively affected the elder’s eligibility for Medicaid and other necessary public benefits. I hope that readers find the my paper useful in understanding the issues involved in the financial exploitation of the elderly and disabled.

My paper can be found here – The NAELA Journal