In this conversational office‑style video, Linda Goodner interviews estate attorney Ledry Jennings about common estate‑planning concerns. They explain that if both parents die without naming a guardian, the court must appoint one through a guardianship proceeding, underscoring the importance of naming a guardian in a will or power of attorney. They discuss Medicaid eligibility for nursing‑home care, noting that individuals must have minimal assets (about $2,000, a house, and a car) to qualify, while married couples have a higher exemption (around $154,000). They describe “crisis planning” for clients who have not pre‑planned. The duo clarifies a major misconception about wills: a will does not avoid probate; it actually initiates probate, which can take at least six months, be costly, and is public. Throughout, they stress that proactive estate‑planning—covering guardianship, Medicaid strategy, and probate avoidance—greatly reduces stress and protects families. The video ends with a call‑to‑action and the office phone number for further questions.
Questions this video answers
The family must go to guardianship court where a judge appoints a guardian; it is not automatic.
An individual can have only about $2,000 in assets (plus a house and a car); a married couple can have up to roughly $154,000.
No, a will actually initiates probate, which can take at least six months, be costly, and is public.
Yes, through crisis planning, which can still provide significant assistance even at the last minute.
Chapters
Hi, I'm Linda Goodner with L. Jennings Law. I'm Ledly Jennings, and we're going to do a little chat over some questions that we get all the time. So, Ledly, I'm going to ask you a couple of questions and you give us your best answer.
Pressure's on.
Yes. All right, so if both parents pass away and they haven't named a guardian for their child or children, what actually happens?
Well, actually, they have to go to guardianship court. Most people think just, you know, my parent or my best friend or my sibling would step in, but it's not automatic. So you have to take your family to guardianship court to get a judge to appoint a guardian.
Okay, and this might not be what the parents would have wanted if they could have decided ahead of time, right?
Because the judge doesn't know your family, he doesn't know who you would have chosen. So we usually say write it down, and we do that in a will and in a power of attorney. You choose the guardian for your kids.
All right, so let's say that, uh, you have someone that needs to go to the nursing home. And it's expensive, so you would like to get them qualified for Medicaid. Is it true that all of their assets can get tied up in order to get qualified for Medicaid?
It is. Either you have to private pay for the nursing home, which a lot of people do. It's about $8,000 or $9,000 a month, I think. Or you can get on Medicaid, but to get on Medicaid, you basically have to be broke. You can't have more than $2,000, a house, and a car. So anything other than that is open to Medicaid taking. But we have a lot of strategies where we plan with clients ahead of time to get ahead of those needs and save a lot of their wealth.
Okay, and even if you get to the last minute and you haven't pre-planned, there is such a thing as like crisis planning where we can still be a big help.
Yep, if it's too late and you're going to the nursing home tomorrow, have done no planning, we can still be a huge help like you said. They call it crisis planning.
Yeah. And there's a little bit of difference in planning if it's one person that's not married that needs to be qualified versus a married couple and one of them is owing and the other one isn't.
Yeah. A married couple can keep a lot more assets than a single person. Instead of that $2,000 mark, I think married couple goes up to about $154,000.
Okay. Kind of the next topic. We get a lot of questions about Wills. People don't really understand how a will works, but a will puts you in probate. So does it normally take a pretty good amount of time to probate a will?
Yeah, that's the biggest misconception of what we do is people think a will avoids probate and it doesn't. A will actually mandates probate. It acts as like a set of instructions for the court to follow, really a suggestion. But the downside to probates are it takes, you know, at least 6 months. That's the minimum length. But as you know, our probates can go a lot longer than that and they can be expensive, time-consuming, but mostly public. Everybody can look on courtconnect.com and see what you own.
In all of these scenarios that we've talked about, pre-planning is a lot better on the family. Guardianships, hard if people don't agree. Probate is hard for probating a will, and it could be hard on the family. And trying to get qualified for Medicaid is hard on the family. So really, in all three of these instances, if they do some pre-planning, then it's a lot better for the family.
Exactly. Yeah, if you just come see us and plan your estate ahead of time, we have a strategy for everything. And you've seen it. If they plan ahead, then and it's almost zero stress. If you don't plan ahead, then you're not going to like me as much because it's stressful.
Yeah, I'm not going to like you as much because I don't want it stressed.
Exactly.
So, all right, well, that's what we have for today. Uh, if you've got some questions you'd like for us to answer, feel free to call. Our office number is 501-501-9455, and we'll do our best to answer your questions.
