Category Archives: Terminology

Transferring property to beneficiaries or heirs using legal documents that avoid a probate court administration. May also refer to avoid probate upon incapacity through the use of a trust agreement or durable power of attorney.

Document by which a person (principal) grants authority to another (agent) to perform specified acts on the principal’s behalf. The agent is referred to as an “attorney in fact.” The scope of a power of attorney can be limited to a particular purpose or general for all matters.

The transferring of property directly to the beneficiary at death without going through probate.

Missouri’s version of Medicaid. The purpose of the MO HealthNet is to purchase and monitor health care services for low income and vulnerable citizens of the State of Missouri.

One of two principal health care programs operated and funded by the government. Medicare is funded by the federal government, and benefits are available to anyone age 65 or older – providing they would be entitled to receive Social Security retirement benefits, whether or not they actually have retired – as well as anyone who has been receiving SSDI for at least two years.

Estate planning with the goal of limiting or protecting a person’s assets so that he or she can meet the financial criteria for Medicaid qualification.

One of the two principal health care programs operated and funded by the government. Medicaid differs from Medicare in three important ways:

1. It is run by state government
2. It is based on financial eligibility requirements, rather than the age of the recipient
3. It covers all “necessary” medical care. Medicaid provides care at a skilled nursing facility

An insurance policy intended to meet the medical and non-medical needs of a disabled or chronically ill patient.

Planning for the possibility of incapacity or disability regarding the control of your property, finance, and health care decisions.

A person who is unable by reason of any physical or mental condition to receive and evaluate information or to communicate decisions to such an extent that he is unable to provide himself with food, clothing, shelter, safety, or other care such that physical injury, illness or disease is likely to occur.