When you are advised to get your “paperwork in order,” it can be crazy making: Benefits? Attorney? Living Will? Where do you even begin to look. Well, online.
Here are a few but very useful sites to help you start that paper trail. From the Benefits CheckUp site to determine eligibility, to the American Bar Association “Aging Tool Kit,” these are highly esteemed groups who have got your back.
Good luck, and let us know if you, reader, find a source that has helped you a lot and you’d like to share with others, at info@alzlive.com
Legal and Financial
- BenefitsCheckUp. A search tool developed by the National Council on Aging to determine eligibility for 1,300 benefit programs that help pay for medications, health care, utilities and so forth.
- National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Search by location for members of the association. Provides questions to ask lawyers about qualifications and areas of expertise, and a wide-ranging resource list for the elderly.
- National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Free fact sheets and shoppers’ guides for long-term care insurance, annuities and Medigap policies.
- Insurance Information Institute.
- Reverse.org. A consumer’s guide to reverse mortgages from a non-profit with no ties to the industry. Links to the AARP’s calculator for choosing such policies.
- ReverseMortgage.org. Similar calculator and search tool to find local lenders, with links to their Web sites.
- Nolo. Do-it-yourself legal advice. Wills, powers of attorney and other documents.
- Senior Law Home Page. Advice from a New York law firm on the legal and financial issues facing the elderly. state forms for powers of attorney, health care proxies and living wills.
- U.S. Living Will Registry. Free state-by-state forms.
- American Bar Association Aging Tool Kit. Offers a 10-step process for making end-of-life decisions with worksheets, suggestions and links.
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