Planning for Couples with an Age Gap

Each estate plan is slightly different, but there are some challenges in estate planning that present themselves to different couples.  One common challenge is planning for married couples who have a significant age difference.

Perhaps the most obvious issue involves overall financial planning.  With age differences, one spouse is likely to outlive the other, perhaps by a considerable length of time.  The younger spouse may therefore feel more comfortable taking certain risks than the older spouse who is more likely to suffer from short-term financial dips.  It is important to balance the interests of both partners.  Couples of different ages require unique planning so that time horizons are meshed.  Retirement planning can be tricky if one spouse plans on working longer.  Similarly, long-term health care planning will be implicated by the age differential.  One spouse may need care earlier, though it is usually not prudent to automatically assume that the younger spouse will be able to provide the needed care.

A recent Morning Star article touched on many of these topics and mentioned a few other issues to consider for couples in this situation.  One point made in the story is that these couples often need to prioritize long-term care and life insurance.  Planning for disability is particularly crucial to couples, because family finances must account for both partners.  If one spouse is injured or faces a medical complication and is disabled, then family finances may be decimated if expensive, long-term care is needed.  In the worst-case scenario, assets are exhausted to care for one spouse while the second spouse remains healthy.  In order for the sick spouse to receive Medicaid support, assets for the entire couple must be below a certain level.  The healthier spouse can be left with little to no assets.  In these situations it is critical to get professional advice, as certain strategies can be employed in order to save as many assets for the second spouse as possible while still allowing the ill spouse to qualify for Medicaid.  This is particularly true for spouses with large age differences, because the younger spouse often needs assets to last for many years to come.

Family Input Can Help Detect Dementia Earlier

Recently, USA Today reminded readers of the role that family members play in catching the onset of cognitive mental diseases in seniors, such as dementia and Alzheimer's.  These issues are of particular importance in the legal context because mental issues can affect one's legal capacity.  The ability to conduct estate planning, receive Medicaid, or otherwise make prudent decisions for the future will be made more difficult if begun after dementia or Alzheimer's has set in. By the very nature of the condition, the one who is suffering from these issues has difficultly identifying the problem themselves.  That is why a family plays a crucial role in identifying the cognition problem and addressing it.  As the article notes, "dementia can sneak up on families. Its sufferers are pretty adept at covering lapses early on."  Often it is not until there is some major accident or life-threatening complication that adult children, spouses, and others become fully aware of the problem. To combat the challenges of early detection, experts urge family members to be more involved.  As part of the first "National Alzheimer's Plan," advocates are trying to raise awareness about the need for relatives to be diligent about a senior's actions to ensure mental cognition issues are caught as soon as possible.  One advocate noted, "family input should be mandatory...it's the only way to know if the person really is eating enough and taking her medicines as she claims, and not forgetting to turn off the stove."  In addition, there is a growing call for primary-care doctors to take a more active role in detecting dementia early.  For example, in a regular visit the doctor might ask "How are you doing?"  Usually the senior patient replies, "Fine," and then the matter is dropped.  This minimal discussion of basic life circumstances is too brief for the physician to have any way to ensure that the senior's mental condition has not reached a dangerous level. On top of that, as part of the early detection programs, government officials working on dementia and Alzheimer's issues are trying to get families to conduct advanced planning.  Having a Power of Attorney and Health Care Proxy are crucial as soon as dementia is diagnosed.  No one is fully prepared for the challenges that aging can bring--particularly conditions that attack the mind. No amount of financial preparation or long-term care plans can make the process easy.   However, the overall stress of the situation is less taxing when steps have been taken ahead of time to ensure that sticky matters like estate preparation and proper long-term care planning are decided ahead of time.