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From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: Before she died, my mother-in-law lived in my Bucks County, Pennsylvania house and required round-the-clock care, which I provided. My husband’s brother and sister did not even visit. Now that she has died, her estate is being divided up between the children. They refuse to compensate me for all the work I did caring for their mother. Can I make a claim to be paid?

Your mother-in-law’s estate is to be divided up between the heirs as her will dictates, or through the rules of intestacy if she had no will. Prior to the division of the assets, all creditors must be paid.

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: Before she died, my mother-in-law lived in my Montgomery County, Pennsylvania house and required around-the-clock care, which I provided. My husband’s brother and sister did not even visit. Now that she has died, her estate is being divided up between the children and they refuse to compensate me for all the work I did caring for their mother. Can I make a claim to be paid?

Your mother-in-law’s estate is to be divided up between the heirs as her will dictates, or through the rules of intestacy if she had no will. Prior to the division of the assets, all creditors must be paid.

Our Ask a Question mailbag often includes reader submissions wondering about whether long term care insurance makes financial sense.

As with all insurance policies, long term care coverage works out to be a great deal — if you actually use it. On the other hand, you could argue that you wasted money if you never have to claim your benefits.

Over the years I have had many Gloucester County clients who died without using their long term care insurance benefits. But there have also been clients who fell ill and, without strong policies in place, would have been forced to leave their homes.

Many readers have submitted questions recently about long term care insurance, especially from Atlantic County, New Jersey. Despite all the attention that Atlantic City gets in the news, Atlantic County’s core population mostly lives inland—with over 43,000 residents in Egg Harbor Township alone.

That population’s getting older all the time, too. Compare the 2010 Census results with its predecessor and you’ll see that, as in many parts of the country, citizens aged 65 and older make up a growing percentage of the population.

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: I am in a long-term, same-sex relationship with my partner. She happens to be much older than I, and I am concerned about the expenses of caring for her as she gets older. Would Long Term Care Insurance be a good option?

I have had clients use Long Term Health Insurance as a useful tool in their estate plan. Clients typically get the best use from this tool when they thoughtfully look ahead to the potential expenses of old age and work closely with their financial advisors. Specifically, I ask clients to examine whether their savings for retirement are adequate to address the costs of an unexpected, serious health problem.

Since more than 1 in 5 Gloucester County households include residents over age 65, Long Term Care should be a serious consideration in your personal financial plan.

As the “Boomer Generation” ages, the United States’ elderly population has become the most rapidly growing segment of our population. In 2010, the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) reported that the population of people age 65 and older in the United States had reached 40.3 million, or 13% of the total population. This number will only continue to rise and the NCEA has projected that by 2050, this population will grow to 20%.

As the elderly population continues to increase, the concerns for interest and asset protection have increased as well. According to the Elder Law Advisory, 48% of nursing home residents have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and the NCEA reports that approximately 5.1 million American elders have some type of dementia. Because their conditions can leave them with symptoms of confusion, they become more susceptible to manipulation and can be more vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and neglect. Unfortunately, approximately 90% of these abusers are family members.