FINDING THE RIGHT FIT
Is Kristen Matthews Law Right for My Family?
Most families who ask that question are exactly the families Kristen works with every day. Below are the five situations Kristen’s clients most often describe when they first call. If these sound familiar, you’re in the right place.
The Five Situations
Do Any of These Situations Sound Like Your Family?
If you’ve found this page, you’re probably asking some version of the same question: is our situation serious enough to call a Certified Elder Law Attorney? Are we the right kind of family? Is it too late, or too early?
01. New Diagnosis
"My parent was just diagnosed, and we don't know where to start."
Parent with a new diagnosis: dementia, cognitive decline, or serious illness.
This is one of the most common reasons families call Kristen Matthews Law. A diagnosis creates urgency, but also, if you act quickly, opportunity. The earlier a Certified Elder Law Attorney can assess the situation (before assets are moved, documents are signed, and care decisions are locked in) the more options remain available.
- If your family received difficult news recently, now is the right time to call.
02. Nursing Home Admission
"My spouse needs nursing home care, and I don't know what we're allowed to keep."
Spouse entering or already in a nursing home and the healthy spouse needs protection.
That fear is understandable, and in many cases, it doesn’t have to be the reality. Pennsylvania law protects the spouse who remains at home in meaningful ways, but those protections are not automatic. They require a Medicaid application structured correctly, documents drafted with the right language, and an attorney who knows what the rules allow.
- If your spouse has recently entered a facility, or if placement is imminent, call Kristen Matthews Law before signing anything. The earlier we can review your situation, the more of your family's assets can be protected.
03. Advance Planning
"We're in our 60s or 70s and want to get ahead of this before something happens."
If you and your spouse are in good health and thinking about the years ahead, that timing is an advantage. Planning five or more years before long-term care is needed opens up the widest range of legal tools, including structures that can protect your home, your savings, and your spouse’s financial security in ways that simply aren’t available if you wait until a crisis forces your hand.
A planning consultation with Kristen doesn’t mean something is wrong. It means you’re making sure something doesn’t go wrong.
04. Existing Documents, No Elder Law Plan
"We have a will and a trust but we've never thought about what happens if one of us needs a nursing home."
This is something families often discover too late: a trust that is perfectly structured for estate planning purposes may create complications when Medicaid enters the picture. A power of attorney that covers everything a family expected it to cover may be missing specific language that Pennsylvania Medicaid caseworkers require. Documents that haven’t been reviewed in several years may not reflect current law.
If your family has done some planning but hasn’t specifically addressed long-term care costs, Medicaid eligibility, or asset protection in the context of a potential nursing home stay, a review with Kristen is the right next step. Most families in this situation find that some of what they have is correct, and some of it needs to be updated.
05. Acting Without Guidance
"We made some decisions on our own, and we're worried we may have done something wrong."
This happens more often than families expect, and it is often not as catastrophic as it feels. A gift made to a child without knowing about the look-back rules. Assets transferred with the intention of protecting them, but without understanding how Medicaid treats those transfers. A Medicaid application filed without legal review that came back with complications.
If your family acted on its own and now has concerns, the most important thing you can do is have an attorney assess the situation before taking any further action. In many cases, mistakes can be addressed or their impact minimized, but only if you stop and get a legal review before the situation is compounded.
Kristen does not approach these situations with judgment. She approaches them the same way she approaches everything else: with a clear-eyed assessment of where things stand, honest advice about the options, and a plan for moving forward.
What Kristen's clients have in common
They Have Something They Want to Protect.
Kristen’s clients all share one important thing: they have something they’ve spent a lifetime building, and they want to make sure it isn’t lost to a system they don’t fully understand yet.
And often when they first call, they aren’t entirely sure whether their situation is the kind of thing Kristen handles. It usually is.
- A home they've lived in for decades
- Savings that took a lifetime to build
- A spouse they want to see financially secure no matter what happens
- A parent whose dignity and comfort matters as much as anything else
- Client, Chester County, Three Generations
If you're still not sure
If You're Still Not Sure Whether This Is the Right Fit
A first conversation is not a commitment. It is a chance to describe what’s happening, hear an honest assessment of the options, and understand what, if anything, needs to happen next.
Many families leave that initial conversation with clarity they didn’t have before, whether or not they end up engaging Kristen for ongoing representation.
If something about your family’s situation is keeping you up at night, that’s reason enough to call.
Virtual consultations available. Distance is not a barrier to proper planning. We regularly assist adult children who live out of state while their parent is in Pennsylvania.