On July 24-25, 2008, Connie Ashley and Kendra Bishop, of Krause Financial Services, attended Attorney Victoria L. Collier's educational program entitled "VA Benefits Aid & Attendance Income Workshop", in New York, NY.
The purpose of their attendance was to gain accreditation from the Department of Veterans Affairs for Krause Financial Services to offer Aid & Attendance benefit planning to elder law attorneys, and their clients. Even though the Aid & Attendance Program offers benefits to many qualified individuals, including those receiving home health care, Krause Financial Services is looking to help those elder law attorneys who have clients that are residents of assisted living facilities. In light of the above, the Aid & Attendance benefit offers a monthly stipend ($1,554.00 to single veterans, $1,842.00 to married veterans, and $998.00 to a widowed spouse of a veteran) to help qualified individuals pay for assisted living costs.
The Aid & Attendance Program has 4 basic requirements, to-wit: The Military Service Requirement, the Medical Necessity Requirement, the Monthly Income Requirement, and the Asset Requirement. The Military Service Requirement is satisfied by a showing that the veteran served during an active wartime, and was respectfully discharged. The Medical Necessity Requirement is satisfied by having the qualified individual obtain a physician's statement that he or she needs to reside in the assisted living facility. The Monthly Income Requirement is satisfied by having the qualifying individual show that his or her monthly income is less than the monthly assisted living costs. Finally, the Asset Requirement is satisfied by having the qualifying individual show that his or her non-countable assets are valued at less than $80,000.00.
In 99% of the cases that Krause Financial Services handles, the qualifying individuals have had substantially more than $80,000.00 in liquid assets. However, by implementing a few simple planning strategies, Krause Financial Services was able to qualify the qualifying individuals for the Aid & Attendance monthly benefit.
With the Aid & Attendance monthly benefit in place, the qualifying individuals were no longer concerned that they would exhaust their life savings and be forced to leave the assisted living facility.
