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Carol Wessels

Wessels & Liebau LLC

Carol Wessels

Wessels & Liebau LLC

Carol Wessels

Wessels & Liebau LLC

Attorney Carol J. Wessels has been practicing elder law since 1991. She is the founding shareholder of Wessels & Liebau LLC in Mequon, Wisconsin 

Carol has been recognized as the Milwaukee "Elder Law Attorney of the Year" for 2014 by Best Lawyers publication. She has also been selected as one of the Top 50 Attorneys in Wisconsin and Top 25 Women Attorneys in Wisconsin for 2013  by Super Lawyers  publication. She has been named as a "Super Lawyer" in the field of elder law for over ten years. She was also recognized by the Wisconsin Law Journal as a "Leader in the Law" in 2013.  

She concentrates her practice on senior citizens and disabled persons, and their legal needs. Her areas of practice include advance directives and powers of attorney, psychiatric advance directives, Medicaid planning, special needs trusts, guardianship and probate. She is accredited by the Veterans Administration to handle cases involving Veterans’ benefits. She also represents victims of elder abuse in court cases to recover money or property that has been taken by a trusted person such as a power of attorney agent or a trustee. She handles contested litigation cases including defense of guardianships and other guardianship issues, appeals and fair hearings in Medicaid and Family Care cases, elder rights, probate, and other court cases.

Carol graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1988. Before going into private practice, she served as the Director of the SeniorLAW program at Legal Action of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, providing legal services to Milwaukee residents over 60, and supervising the benefit specialists in Southeastern Wisconsin. Carol also was a staff attorney at the Elder Law Center of the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups.

Carol lectures frequently on elder and disability law issues to audiences of all types. Carol and her senior dog, Jake, were featured on WISN Channel 12 news in November, 2012 in a segment on Estate Planning for Pets. Click here to watch the segment. She also appeared on The Dr. Phil Show in 2005 as an expert on legal issues involving people with mental illness. (Click here for a link to the segment on this show.) Carol has authored or co-authored publications including The "Independent Living" Eviction in Subsidized Housing, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys Quarterly Journal, Summer 2002; Treated with Respect: Enforcing Patient Autonomy by Defending Advance Directives , Spring 2005 Marquette Elder’s Advisor Journal; Senior Citizens and the Law, Center for Public Representation, Inc. (7th edition 1995); Advising Older Clients and Their Families, Housing and Medicaid Chapters, State Bar of Wisconsin (1997); Wisconsin Practice Series Methods of Practice, 4th ed., Guardianship Chapter update, West Publishing (2007), Adding Veterans Benefits to Your Practice, NAELA News, Vol. 22 #5 (2010), Be Careful What You Ask For…Why a Finding that Alzheimer’s is a Mental Illness Would Bring the Probate Courts to a Grinding Halt, Elder Law Journal of Wisconsin, Vol. 21, #4 (2011).

Carol is a former chair of the State Bar of Wisconsin's Elder Law Section Board of Directors and former chair of the Public Interest Law Section. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and is a past president of the Wisconsin NAELA Chapter board. She was co-selected as one of two WINAELA Chapter Members of the Year in 2013. She has been chosen by her peers as a Super Lawyer for over 10 years, and recognized in Best Lawyers in America for over ten years. She has been listed as one of the Top 25 Women Lawyers in Wisconsin by the Super Lawyer peer review process in 2012, 13 and 14. She was recognized in Super Lawyers as among the Top 50 Attorneys in Wisconsin in 2013 and 2014, and among the Top 25 Attorneys in Milwaukee in 2014. She is a Fellow of the Wisconsin Law Foundation. 

Carol is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Alzheimer's Association Wisconsin Chapter.

Firm Description

LONG TERM CARE, MEDICAID PLANNING & DISABILITY PLANNING

Medicaid planning (also called “Title 19” or “medical assistance”) including spousal impoverishment; Family Care; special needs trusts and community trusts; Social Security, SSI, Medicare, nursing home and home care issues, estate recovery.

LIFETIME PLANNING 

Drafting and enforcing health care powers of attorney, living wills, medical authorizations, financial powers of attorney, and other advance directives.

SPECIAL NEEDS PLANNING

Helping individuals with disabilities and their families create estate plans that maximize independence and keep public benefits safe. 

ESTATE PLANNING 

Wills, trusts, living trusts, non-probate transfers, beneficiary designations, planning for retirement benefits.

GUARDIANSHIP, PROTECTIVE PLACEMENT & CONSERVATORSHIP

CONSULTATION WITH PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEYS AND OTHER ATTORNEYS

Provide guidance and representation when a personal injury matter involves someone who is receiving or received public benefits. Help attorneys handling probates and trust administration when a beneficiary is receiving public benefits. Help a person who received a settlement or inheritance to take steps to protect benefits. 

ELDER ABUSE

Advice and litigation for victims of financial abuse.

PROBATE & TRUST ADMINISTRATION

 

Hours

Day From To
Monday 9:00 AM 5:00 PM
Tuesday 9:00 AM 5:00 PM
Wednesday 10:00 AM 6:00 PM
Thursday 9:00 AM 5:00 PM
Friday 9:00 AM 5:00 PM

Cost

What Is an Elder Law Attorney?

Main Office

11649 North Port Washington Road
Suite 210
Mequon, WI 53092

On the web

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Medicaid 101
What Medicaid Covers

In addition to nursing home care, Medicaid may cover home care and some care in an assisted living facility. Coverage in your state may depend on waivers of federal rules.

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How to Qualify for Medicaid

To be eligible for Medicaid long-term care, recipients must have limited incomes and no more than $2,000 (in most states). Special rules apply for the home and other assets.

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Medicaid’s Protections for Spouses

Spouses of Medicaid nursing home residents have special protections to keep them from becoming impoverished.

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What Medicaid Covers

In addition to nursing home care, Medicaid may cover home care and some care in an assisted living facility. Coverage in your state may depend on waivers of federal rules.

READ MORE
How to Qualify for Medicaid

To be eligible for Medicaid long-term care, recipients must have limited incomes and no more than $2,000 (in most states). Special rules apply for the home and other assets.

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Medicaid’s Protections for Spouses

Spouses of Medicaid nursing home residents have special protections to keep them from becoming impoverished.

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Medicaid Planning Strategies

Careful planning for potentially devastating long-term care costs can help protect your estate, whether for your spouse or for your children.

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Estate Recovery: Can Medicaid Take My House After I’m Gone?

If steps aren't taken to protect the Medicaid recipient's house from the state’s attempts to recover benefits paid, the house may need to be sold.

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Help Qualifying and Paying for Medicaid, Or Avoiding Nursing Home Care

There are ways to handle excess income or assets and still qualify for Medicaid long-term care, and programs that deliver care at home rather than in a nursing home.

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Are Adult Children Responsible for Their Parents’ Care?

Most states have laws on the books making adult children responsible if their parents can't afford to take care of themselves.

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Applying for Medicaid

Applying for Medicaid is a highly technical and complex process, and bad advice can actually make it more difficult to qualify for benefits.

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Alternatives to Medicaid

Medicare's coverage of nursing home care is quite limited. For those who can afford it and who can qualify for coverage, long-term care insurance is the best alternative to Medicaid.

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ElderLaw 101
Estate Planning

Distinguish the key concepts in estate planning, including the will, the trust, probate, the power of attorney, and how to avoid estate taxes.

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Grandchildren

Learn about grandparents’ visitation rights and how to avoid tax and public benefit issues when making gifts to grandchildren.

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Guardianship/Conservatorship

Understand when and how a court appoints a guardian or conservator for an adult who becomes incapacitated, and how to avoid guardianship.

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Health Care Decisions

We need to plan for the possibility that we will become unable to make our own medical decisions. This may take the form of a health care proxy, a medical directive, a living will, or a combination of these.

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Estate Planning

Distinguish the key concepts in estate planning, including the will, the trust, probate, the power of attorney, and how to avoid estate taxes.

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Grandchildren

Learn about grandparents’ visitation rights and how to avoid tax and public benefit issues when making gifts to grandchildren.

READ MORE
Guardianship/Conservatorship

Understand when and how a court appoints a guardian or conservator for an adult who becomes incapacitated, and how to avoid guardianship.

READ MORE
Health Care Decisions

We need to plan for the possibility that we will become unable to make our own medical decisions. This may take the form of a health care proxy, a medical directive, a living will, or a combination of these.

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Long-Term Care Insurance

Understand the ins and outs of insurance to cover the high cost of nursing home care, including when to buy it, how much to buy, and which spouse should get the coverage.

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Medicare

Learn who qualifies for Medicare, what the program covers, all about Medicare Advantage, and how to supplement Medicare’s coverage.

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Retirement Planning

We explain the five phases of retirement planning, the difference between a 401(k) and an IRA, types of investments, asset diversification, the required minimum distribution rules, and more.

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Senior Living

Find out how to choose a nursing home or assisted living facility, when to fight a discharge, the rights of nursing home residents, all about reverse mortgages, and more.

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Social Security

Get a solid grounding in Social Security, including who is eligible, how to apply, spousal benefits, the taxation of benefits, how work affects payments, and SSDI and SSI.

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Special Needs Planning

Learn how a special needs trust can preserve assets for a person with disabilities without jeopardizing Medicaid and SSI, and how to plan for when caregivers are gone.

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Veterans Benefits

Explore benefits for older veterans, including the VA’s disability pension benefit, aid and attendance, and long-term care coverage for veterans and surviving spouses.

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