Elder Law Intake Forms & Client Questionnaires

Why Elder Law Intakes Demand Precision

Elder law matters almost never walk through the door as a single clean issue. The call usually starts with something like "my mother just went into a nursing home and we need to figure out how to pay for it," and within ten minutes you are untangling Medicaid eligibility, asset transfers that happened three years ago, a durable power of attorney that may or may not have been properly executed, and a family dynamic where two siblings want Mom in assisted living and the third insists she can come home. A thorough intake form is the only way to capture the full picture before the consultation turns into a three-hour fact-finding session on the attorney's dime. These fillable PDF elder law intake forms are designed by a licensed attorney to capture exactly the information you need at the front end of every elder law engagement.

Medicaid Planning and the Five-Year Look-Back

The Medicaid spend-down is where most families panic, and rightfully so. A single individual in most states must reduce countable assets to $2,000 before qualifying for Medicaid long-term care benefits. What counts as an asset, what qualifies as exempt, and what transfers trigger a penalty period under the five-year look-back rule are questions that require detailed financial disclosure at intake. Did the client gift $40,000 to a grandchild for college tuition eighteen months ago? That transfer will create a penalty period calculated by dividing the gift amount by the state's daily private-pay rate. Was there a transfer into an irrevocable trust four years ago that may or may not have retained a life estate? The intake form needs to capture every transfer, every account, every life insurance policy with cash value, and every piece of real property. Community spouse resource allowance calculations, minimum monthly maintenance needs allowances, and income-first versus resource-first state rules all hinge on facts that must be gathered at intake. Our questionnaire walks the client through a structured financial disclosure that surfaces these issues before the first meeting.

Guardianship and Contested Capacity

Guardianship proceedings are among the most emotionally fraught matters in elder law practice. When an adult child petitions for guardianship of a parent with advancing dementia, the intake must capture the alleged incapacitated person's medical history, cognitive assessments, existing advance directives, and the identities and positions of all interested parties. Contested guardianships, where siblings disagree about whether a parent truly lacks capacity or who should serve as guardian, require even more detailed intake documentation. You need the names and contact information for every family member who might appear at the hearing, any prior guardianship or conservatorship proceedings, the existence of a healthcare proxy or living will, and the current living arrangement. If the proposed ward is in a nursing facility, you need the facility's name, the admissions agreement status, and whether a representative payee is already handling Social Security benefits. Our intake form captures all of this in a structured format that prepares you for both uncontested and contested guardianship filings.

Powers of Attorney, Healthcare Proxies, and Advance Directives

A significant portion of elder law practice involves drafting and reviewing powers of attorney, healthcare proxies, and advance directives. The intake for these matters is deceptively complex. A durable power of attorney for finances is not a one-size-fits-all document: Does the client want gifting authority? Authority to create or modify trusts? Authority to change beneficiary designations on retirement accounts or life insurance? Each of these powers must be explicitly granted in many jurisdictions, and the intake form must ask the right questions to determine the scope of authority the client wants to delegate. Healthcare proxies raise their own set of questions: Does the client want artificial nutrition and hydration? Under what circumstances should life-sustaining treatment be withdrawn? Who is the alternate agent if the primary agent is unavailable? Veterans Aid and Attendance benefits add another layer, requiring documentation of military service, discharge status, and medical evidence of the need for the aid and attendance of another person.

Nursing Home Disputes and Admissions Agreements

Nursing home admissions agreements are contracts of adhesion that families sign under duress, often in the hallway of a hospital discharge unit. The intake for a nursing home dispute needs to capture when the agreement was signed, whether a responsible party was improperly required to sign as a guarantor (prohibited under federal law for Medicaid-eligible residents), whether arbitration clauses were included, and whether the facility is attempting to discharge or transfer the resident. Bed-hold policies, Medicaid pending status, and involuntary discharge notices under the Nursing Home Reform Act all require specific factual documentation that a general intake form will miss entirely. Asset protection trusts, Medicaid-compliant annuities, and personal service contracts are planning tools that require detailed asset and income information gathered at intake to be implemented correctly.

Our Elder Law Intake Form & Client Questionnaire set is available for $19.99 (complete set), $14.99 (intake form only), or $9.99 (client questionnaire only). Every form is a fillable PDF that works in any PDF reader, prints cleanly, and is designed by a licensed attorney who understands elder law practice.