• Super Lawers 2011 Feature Article

  Visit Ruthann P. Lacey's law firm in Tucker, GA, and you'll find a waiting area stocked with family photographs that trace her ancestry to the Nebraska plains. Her grandfather's old desk, from the farm on which she spent long hours as a child, anchors one wall. Read More.

  
  
• Special Needs Trust - A Planning Tool with Promise

  With one in every 26 American families reporting raising a child with a disability, interest in and demand for special needs trusts is on the rise. The prospective client may be a child or an adult with a lifelong disability or someone newly eligible, because of an accident or illness, for insurance-based programs such as Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Medicare benefits, as well as needs-based programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid. Read More.

  
  
• Georgia Long Term Care Medicaid Law — 2011

  The costs of long term health care can be staggering. For many people, being prepared to meet them can be an even greater challenge. Although some persons have amassed the necessary resources or insurance to meet the challenge, many others have few choices but to rely upon Medicare and Medicaid, the two government programs that have been established to provide assistance. Since neither of these programs provides exhaustive or universal coverage, it is important to fully understand which services are, and more importantly are not, covered by these programs. Read More.

  
  
• SSI and SSDI - What's the Difference?

  There can be great confusion with regard to the public benefits that may be available to an individual with disabilities. This is especially true with regard to monthly income benefits. Even individuals who are receiving monthly income through government assistance often do not know what benefit they are receiving and why they are receiving that particular benefit. Read More.

  
  
• Legal Foundations for the Future

  You’ve planned, budgeted, saved. You’re insured, and you may be debt free. But what would become of all this diligence if you suddenly became unable to continue to manage your affairs personally due to physical and/or mental infirmity? In an abundance of caution, these three documents should be cornerstones in every prudent adult’s legal and financial foundation... Read More.

  
  
• Government Programs for Private Resources: Alternatives for Paying for Long-Term Healthcare

  Due to continued improvements in lifestyle and medical technology, it comes as no surprise that as the Baby Boomers are now turning 60, Americans are also living longer. When today’s 40-year-olds reach age 65 in 2034, over 17 percent of the nation’s population will be age 65 or over. As a result, at least two out of five Americans can expect to need some form of long term health care during their lifetimes. Read More.

  
  
• Instructions for Use of a DMPOA

  A Durable Medical Power of Attorney (DMPOA) is a document under which you name one or more persons to help you make medical decisions while you are incapacitated. In it you — the “principal” — name someone you trust to act as your “agent” in making your medical and healthcare decisions in the event that you become unable to do so. You can and should, of course, still handle your own medical affairs as long as you choose to and are able to do so. Read More.

  
  
• Instructions for Use of a DFPOA

  A Durable Financial Power of Attorney (DFPOA) is a document under which you name one or more persons to help you handle your financial affairs while you are alive but incapacitated. In it you — the “principal” — name someone whom you trust to act as your “agent” in making your financial and property decisions in the event that you become unable to do so. With this document you can still handle your own financial affairs as long as you choose to or are able to. Read More.

  
  
• Georgia Implements Estate Recovery Program

  In accordance with Title XIX of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1396p, the State of Georgia has defined a process to recover the cost of medical assistance payments from the estates of deceased Members. The Official Code of Georgia gives the state the authority to recover these monies. O.C.G.A. § 49-4-147.1. In addition, the recovery methodology must adhere to statutory provisions of the Georgia Revised Probate Code of 1998, O.C.G.A. Title 53. Read More.

  
  
• Duties of the Executor

  Probate is the process by which an individual’s Last Will and Testament is “proved” to be valid, the creditors are paid, and the assets are distributed to the heirs as designated in the Will. To be valid, the Will must be properly drafted and must have been voluntarily signed by a competent individual. The executor, who was appointed in the Will, collects the assets, sells property if necessary, pays the bills, and then distributes the remaining assets to the designated heirs. If the court requirements have been fulfilled and all of the estate business has been completed, an estate in Georgia can be closed six months after it was opened. Unlike probate in some states, the probate process in Georgia is not necessarily expensive, time consuming, or complicated. Read More.

  
  
• Duties of a Trustee

  You have been appointed Trustee of a Trust. A Trustee is the individual or corporation that is entrusted with the administration of property on behalf of others.

  The assets owned by the Trust will include those assets that the Grantor (the one who established the Trust) or others have transferred to the Trust. Read More.

  
  
• Does my Child Need a Guardian?

  The question is always asked: "Do I need to ask the court to make me the legal guardian for my adult child with a diability?" The answer is nearly always the same: "it depends." Read More.

  
  
• Georgia Eliminates Adult Medically Needy Program

  Notice of Termination of Medicaid Benefits letter

  
  
• Probate in Georgia: Take it or Leave it?

  Probate is the process by which an individual’s Last Will and Testament is “proved” to be valid, the creditors are paid, and the assets are distributed to the beneficiaries as designated in the Will. Read More.

  
  
• Safekeeping Your Legal Documents

  You’ve planned ahead and have decided how you want your affairs to be handled. You have signed a Last Will and Testament (Will), a Durable Financial Power of Attorney (DFPOA), a Durable Medical Power of Attorney (DMPOA), and a Living Will. Now what should you do with these documents? Read More.

  
  
• Georgia Nursing Home Medicaid Update

  A number of changes have been made to nursing home Medicaid law at both the federal and state level recently, all of which affect how resources owned by an indiviudal applying for Medicaid benefits will be treated when determining his eligibility for those benefits. Read More.

  
  
• Planning for Aging Parents and their Children with Disabilities

  It has become a common scenario. A child is born with a disability, or becomes disabled at a young age. This child lives at home with his parents throughout his adult life. He is likely eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income, or Medicaid, though his parents may never have applied for benefits as they are proud people and don't take "welfare."Read More.

  
  

Attorney Curricula Vitae

• RUTHANN P. LACEY, J.D.
• HEATHER DURHAM NADLER, J.D.