Many families face tough choices when it comes to covering the costs of nursing homes or in-home assistance as they age, and it’s wise to be thinking about how to manage things in advance. In El Paso, TX, a Medicaid attorney can guide you through ways to secure your future with the care you need while keeping your house safe from being sold off to pay bills.
Medicaid Eligibility for Long-Term Care
Medicaid helps cover long-term care expenses for those who qualify, but to get approved, you have to meet some financial requirements. In Texas, a single person applying for nursing home coverage in 2026 must have monthly income below $2,982 and countable assets under $2,000. The biggest hurdle for most people is the limit on assets. “Assets” for this purpose include your bank accounts, investments, and some real estate, and Medicaid can place a lien on the home after your death through estate recovery. Every state is required to recoup costs paid for care when possible, but this recovery only happens if there’s no surviving spouse and/or a qualifying child still in the home.
Another rule to watch is the five-year look-back period. When you apply, Medicaid will review all your asset transfers for the past 60 months to check for gifts or any sales you made for a below-market price. If they find any, it could trigger a penalty period where you’re ineligible for coverage. The penalty length depends on the value of what was transferred, divided by the average monthly nursing home cost in Texas. This is why early planning is so very important.
Your Medicaid Attorney and Asset Protection
Hiring a Medicaid attorney early can make a real difference. An experienced attorney will know how to structure your finances in such a way that you’ll be able to meet the eligibility criteria without losing valuable assets like your home. For instance, they might recommend setting up an irrevocable trust, where you transfer ownership of assets like your house to the trust, which removes the home from your countable resources. Once it’s in the trust, the home is protected from Medicaid’s spend-down rules as long as that move was made more than five years before you apply for Medicaid help.
There are many types of trusts, and an attorney will help you find the right trust for your estate and financial realities. The whole long-term care plan needs to be made in conjunction with all your other plans for your estate. For married couples, you’ll also want to take into account the spousal impoverishment protections that are in place. These rules allow a healthy spouse to keep a certain amount of assets and income without that disqualifying the other spouse from getting the coverage they need. Your attorney will make sure you maximize all these allowances so both you and your spouse are protected, no matter what happens.
In the end, taking careful and thoughtful steps now is the best way to protect your home. For personalized help in the El Paso area, reach out to us now at Townsend Allala Coulter & Kludt.
A complete estate plan needs a set of core legal documents, and some plans will need additional documents specific to that estate’s unique makeup. Your El Paso estate planning lawyer will help you put together all the required documents, like your will and powers of attorney, and advise you on what else is wise for your situation.
Documents in a Complete Estate Plan
Last Will and Testament
This is the foundational document and arguably the most important, as it specifies how your assets should be distributed and names an executor to manage that process. Your executor needs to be someone you can trust and who has the financial acumen and objectivity to do it well. Your will can also appoint guardians for your minor children, if you have any.
As healthcare costs continue to rise, particularly for long-term care, understanding the nuances of Medicaid planning is increasingly vital for seniors in Texas. Medicaid planning involves strategizing to meet Medicaid’s strict financial eligibility requirements while preserving one’s assets. For residents of El Paso, TX, and the broader region, this process can mean the difference between losing everything to cover healthcare costs and securing needed care without sacrificing hard-earned savings.
Understanding Medicaid Eligibility in Texas
Medicaid eligibility in Texas is determined based on both income and asset thresholds. As of 2025, individuals must have a gross monthly income of $2,901 or less to qualify, with couples being limited to $5,802. Moreover, the maximum countable resources for individuals and couples are capped at $2,000 and $3,000, respectively. These figures exclude the individual’s home, one vehicle, and certain burial funds, among other specific exemptions.
Read the rest of this entry »If you have a loved one with special needs, it’s natural to be concerned about how they’ll be cared for after you’re gone. You can get a lot of peace of mind when you talk to an estate planning attorney in El Paso, TX.
1. Plan Out the Needs
The first step is to get a realistic understanding of precisely what your loved one will need. As you discover these needs, you will want to write out a letter of intent to guide future caregivers to understand what you want done for your loved one. Ideally, start with the daily routine, the basic medical care that’s always required, your goals for your loved one’s life, and whatever plan you have for getting there.\
What Is the Probate Process and Why Does It Matter?
Probate is a legal process that begins after someone’s death, and the point is to ensure that their assets are handled according to their wishes or, if their wishes are not clear, according to state law. This is a court-supervised process that can take time and cost money, and a probate lawyer in El Paso, TX can help you understand how it may affect your estate, help you plan to avoid probate as much as possible, or get you through a probate dispute if you’re already mired in one.
From a Probate Lawyer: What Is the El Paso, TX Probate Process, and Why Does It Matter?
Getting Technical
Probate is a judicial process that does two important things: first, it authenticates a person’s will, if they have one, and second, it appoints an executor to oversee the administration and distribution of a deceased person’s estate. If that person left a will, then the administration should be done according to the terms of the will, provided the will is legal and valid. If there is no will, then the executor will follow Texas intestacy laws to decide who gets what.
Why It’s So Important
The word probate comes from a Latin word that means “to prove,”and that has reference to its primary duty of proving, or authenticating, a will. This is important to avoid disputes. If you cannot prove that a person left a will or what that will is really saying, then you cannot have a fair distribution of their property or a distribution that follows their wishes. There must also be oversight to prove which will is valid if there’s more than one. Without probate, potentially any number of unscrupulous actors could try to claim parts of an estate.
Probate is also important when there is no will. This can happen for various reasons, but when it does, the probate court steps in to make sure that spouses and children are prioritized over everyone else in the distribution of the deceased’s estate. Finally, probate is crucial because certain assets, like real estate, cannot just be handed over to another person without a legal process. Probate ensures this happens smoothly.
How It Works
The process begins when the court validates a person’s will. This means the court looks to see that it is legal. If it is, the will should name an executor for the estate, and the probate court will then give this person the authority they need to oversee the assets of the estate. If there is no will, then the court will appoint an administrator to fill the role.
The executor then inventories all assets and determines their value. Once that’s done, creditors have a chance to bring any legitimate claims. These must be dealt with, and all taxes must be paid. Then, assets can be distributed to the beneficiaries, either according to the wishes of the testator or according to intestacy laws.
For help with your estate planning contact Townsend Allala Coulter & Kludt in El Paso, TX or Truth or Consequences, NM today.
Guardianship is a serious matter that involves taking away a certain amount of a person’s independence and agency over their own lives, and the courts in El Paso, TX do not lightly assign guardianship to an older person. But it’s absolutely necessary in some situations, and an elder law lawyer can help you set up a guardian, remove a guardian if it’s inappropriate, or change a guardian if needed.
Setting Up a Guadianship
There are two main types of guardianship. The first is guardianship of the person, and this is most common for those who either have a developmental or intellectual disability and are over 18, or for an elderly person who is experiencing dementia or other issues that make them unable to make good decisions for themselves. Guardianship of the person allows the guardian to make decisions about where the person will live, their healthcare and similar needs, and to manage small estates. If the person in need of guardianship has no more than $20,000 in assets and only gets Social Security benefits, then the guardian of the person is permitted to take care of their finances, though they must send an annual report to the court about the person they are watching over.Guardianship of the estate, or conservatorship, allows the guardian to manage the finances of someone who is unable to do so for whatever reason. Guardianship of the estate requires careful accounting of the ward’s estate and how it’s being managed, and in most cases, the guardian must get the court’s approval for nearly everything. This is essential to protect wards from guardians who may try to take advantage of their condition.To become a guardian, you will need to complete an application, prove that the person really needs a guardian, meet all challenges, talk over the duties with an attorney, pass a background check, and complete an online training course. Then you will need to apply with the court and can only function as a guardian once the judge has signed off on the guardianship. Guardianship has to be renewed each year, and the courts can rescind a guardianship at any time.
A will and a living will are two different things, but they’re both important parts of your estate planning. Talk to a wills attorney here in El Paso, TX to make sure your estate has everything it needs to protect you and your beneficiaries.
From an El Paso, TX Wills Attorney: What’s the Difference Between a Will and a Living Will?
A will is something that you write to guide your loved ones and the courts in distributing your assets after you pass away. A living will is a document that you create explaining what type of end-of-life treatment care you want: or do not want. A will controls all of your assets; a living will only speaks to medical intervention when you come to the end of life, if you are unable to make choices for yourself.
Having a living will in place means that your loved ones know exactly what you want to happen towards the end of your life. Not only does this document protect your interests personally, but it also protects your loved ones. It can be so difficult to have to make decisions about end-of-life care for a loved one, but with a living will in place, you’ve already made those decisions for yourself.
How Can You Protect Your Assets With a Living Trust?
Insights from Townsend Allala Coulter & Kludt in El Paso, TX
Protecting your assets for your loved ones is one of the most important steps you can take. Whether you are concerned about creditors, probate, or potential lawsuits, an estate planning lawyer in El Paso, TX can guide you in creating a living trust that protects what you have worked so hard to build.
If you are ready to explore your options, call Townsend Allala Coulter & Kludt at 915-533-0007 to discuss how a living trust can fit into your overall estate plan.
When you start preparing your estate plan, it’s important to understand how Texas law affects the decisions you’ll make about property, finances, medical directives, and guardianship. By working with an estate planning attorney in El Paso, TX, you can create a plan that reflects your wishes and meets all the necessary legal requirements.
Estate planning is more than preparing a will. You may benefit from trusts, powers of attorney, transfer-on-death deeds, advance medical directives, and guardianship designations. Texas law allows you to use these instruments to minimize probate, name trusted decision-makers, and prepare for unforeseen events. When you meet with an attorney, you can learn whether a revocable living trust, special needs trust, or irrevocable trust structure suits your financial situation and goals. You can also explore ways to handle digital assets and business succession, which generic forms often ignore. In short, your attorney will start by helping you understand all the options. From there, your attorney can help you:
Securing long-term care for your elderly loved ones, or for yourself, involves making some important medical and financial decisions. Our team helps individuals and families in El Paso, TX, organize the legal documents required to manage elder care effectively. Texas law provides several legal avenues for quality elder care, and with the help of an elder law attorney, you can navigate this new phase of life knowing your rights and entitlements under state law.
If you are unable to make your own healthcare decisions, the state of Texas uses the Medical Power of Attorney to name someone who will make health-related decisions on your behalf. In order for this process to work smoothly, you must sign this document while you are still mentally competent. Once your doctor determines that you can no longer communicate informed decisions, your designated agent may step in. The person you name should understand your values and preferences and be willing to speak with doctors and care providers on your behalf.
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