Long-Term Care Lawyer in Boca Raton
Strategic Planning for South Florida Families at Every Stage
Nursing home care in South Florida runs $9,000 to $12,000 per month. Assisted living in Palm Beach County averages around $5,617 per month. Medicare covers none of it beyond the first 100 days of skilled nursing after a qualifying hospital stay. For most families, Medicaid becomes the primary path to sustained coverage, and qualifying requires planning that often starts before a crisis.
At LEEP LAW GROUP, we help families throughout South Florida prepare for both situations: proactive planning years before care is needed and urgent planning when a loved one requires placement now. Free consultations are available virtually or in person.
Call (561) 760-9685 or reach us online to schedule your free consultation with a Boca Raton long-term care lawyer today.
How We Help Florida Families with Long-Term Care Planning
Families typically come to us in one of two situations:
- Proactive planning – You want to prepare in advance for future care needs, protect assets from the cost of care, and make sure legal documents reflect your wishes.
- Crisis planning – A loved one suddenly requires nursing home placement or assisted living, and immediate action is necessary.
Medicare doesn’t cover extended custodial care. Private pay at South Florida rates depletes savings quickly. Florida’s Statewide Medicaid Managed Care Long-Term Care program (SMMC-LTC) may cover nursing home care, assisted living, and home- and community-based services for seniors who meet both medical and financial eligibility criteria, but qualifying requires careful adherence to strict financial rules. Without a plan, families often face rapid depletion of savings, financial insecurity for a healthy spouse, penalties from well-intentioned asset transfers, and delays in securing care.
Even in a crisis, options remain. Crisis planning is narrower than advance planning, but it may still help accelerate eligibility and protect meaningful assets when handled correctly.
Our Long-Term Care Planning Process
Effective long-term care planning is both a legal and a financial matter. It requires a detailed look at your health, your finances, and your long-term objectives. At LEEP LAW GROUP, we integrate strategic planning with compassionate guidance through the following steps:
- Consultation. We begin by understanding your current situation. Is care needed immediately, or are you planning ahead? We listen carefully to your concerns and outline the legal landscape in clear, straightforward terms.
- Comprehensive financial and care assessment. We review income, assets, marital status, and projected care costs, identifying which assets are countable under Florida Medicaid rules and which are exempt. Timing is critical, particularly when the five-year look-back period may apply.
- Strategic planning and asset structuring. Based on your circumstances, we design a customized strategy. This may involve lawful asset repositioning, spousal planning techniques, income structuring, or other protective measures permitted under Florida law. Every recommendation is tailored to your family’s goals and risk tolerance.
- Medicaid coordination and compliance. When Medicaid benefits are necessary, we verify that all steps meet eligibility requirements, helping you avoid costly mistakes that could trigger penalties or delays in coverage.
- Integration with estate planning. Long-term care planning doesn’t stand alone. We coordinate all strategies with your broader estate plan so that asset protection efforts align with your legacy objectives, including any irrevocable asset protection trust structures already in place.
- Ongoing guidance. As care needs or financial circumstances change, we remain available to adjust the strategy. Long-term care planning is dynamic and may require updates over time.
This structured approach means you understand not only what we’re doing, but why.
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Focused Practice That Protects Your Legacy
By dedicating our practice exclusively to estate planning, elder law, and probate, we deliver the depth of knowledge your family deserves.
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Clarity You Can Rely On
We simplify complex legal processes into clear, straightforward steps so you always know your options and feel confident moving forward.
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Trusted by Hundreds of Florida Families
Our reputation is built on real relationships, proven results, and the confidence families place in us during life’s most important moments.
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Compassionate Guidance Through Life’s Transitions
From planning ahead to navigating loss, we walk beside you with empathy, patience, and clear guidance at every stage.
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Personalized Strategies That Honor Your WishesWe take the time to understand your goals, your family, and your future so every plan is thoughtfully tailored to reflect what matters most to you.
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Free Consultations Available
We believe in helping families take the next step with confidence, which is why we offer free virtual consultations for select case types to discuss your options without obligation.
Challenges Families Face in Long-Term Care Planning
Florida Medicaid imposes strict financial eligibility thresholds. For 2026, a single nursing home applicant may have no more than $2,000 in countable assets and no more than $2,982 per month in income. Married couples have additional protections: the community spouse resource allowance (CSRA) allows the healthy spouse to retain up to $162,660 in countable assets, helping protect them from impoverishment. Spousal impoverishment protections like the CSRA exist because depleting one spouse to qualify the other creates its own serious hardship.
Exceeding those limits doesn’t automatically disqualify a family. A Qualifying Income Trust (QIT), sometimes called a Miller Trust, may allow eligibility for applicants whose monthly income is above the standard threshold by redirecting excess income. Families over the asset limit may also have lawful options to reposition countable assets, depending on timing and circumstances.
The most common challenges we see include:
- Determining which assets are countable versus exempt under Florida Medicaid rules
- Avoiding penalties from gifts or transfers made within the 60-month look-back window
- Protecting the well spouse from financial hardship while the other qualifies for coverage
- Making sound decisions under pressure during a medical emergency
- Coordinating legal, financial, and medical considerations at the same time
Errors in Medicaid planning can be expensive and difficult to reverse. Working with an experienced long-term care attorney in Boca Raton can reduce the risk of missteps that delay coverage or trigger periods of ineligibility.
Key Legal Documents for Long-Term Care Planning
A strong long-term care plan is built not only on financial strategy but also on the right legal documents, so your wishes can be followed if you become unable to speak for yourself. We review and prepare documents including durable powers of attorney, health care advance directives, HIPAA releases, and living wills to help ensure that decision-makers have clear authority when it’s needed most. A health care surrogate designation names a trusted person to make medical decisions on your behalf; a living will documents your preferences regarding life-sustaining treatment. Having these documents in place makes it easier for family members to communicate with hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and nursing facilities in the Boca Raton area and can help avoid guardianship proceedings in the Palm Beach County court system, a process that is more costly and time-consuming than planning in advance.
We talk with you about who you trust to handle financial matters, who should make medical decisions, and how you want difficult choices about treatment and end-of-life care handled. By coordinating these documents with your broader estate and Medicaid planning, we help reduce conflict among family members and support planning that reflects your values.
Trusted Long-Term Care Attorneys in Boca Raton & South Florida
With more than 2,400 cases handled in estate planning, elder law, and probate, LEEP LAW GROUP understands both the technical demands and the emotional weight of long-term care decisions. Founding partners Tara Wood and Christine Venezia bring over two decades of combined experience in estate planning and elder law. Both have been selected to Super Lawyers, and Christine Venezia holds a perfect 10.0 Top Attorney rating from Avvo, reflecting consistent peer recognition and strong client satisfaction.
Families choose our firm because we combine:
- In-depth knowledge of Florida elder law and Medicaid regulations, including the SMMC-LTC program
- Strategic, personalized planning tailored to your family’s actual circumstances
- Clear communication without unnecessary legal jargon
- Compassionate, family-centered service in proactive and urgent situations alike
- Virtual meetings and electronic document handling alongside in-person appointments
When you work with our long-term care lawyers, you can ask how Florida statutes, Palm Beach County procedures, and federal benefit programs interact in your specific situation. We walk you through how decisions made today may affect Medicaid eligibility down the road, how your estate plan should reflect long-term care needs, and what documents a facility, hospital, or court may require. Our goal is to make each step understandable and manageable rather than intimidating.
Call (561) 760-9685 or use our online contact form to request your free consultation with a Boca Raton long-term care planning lawyer.
Client Experiences That Speak for Themselves
Real stories. Real peace of mind.
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“This was a great experience”- Rene J.
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“Tara was so knowledgeable and patient explaining every detail”- David W.
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“From start to finish, and they really took the time to make sure everything was handled correctly”- Fernando B.
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“Got everything I needed to get my affairs in order”- Snyder B.
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“she listens and strives to understand before answering questions”- Timothy E.
