$________ Legal Malpractice – Elder law – Plaintiff contends that defendant attorney negligently fails to advise that assets be placed in pooled trust, which would have made her eligible for MassHealth for a nursing home – Plaintiff paid nursing home at private rate for three years out of her own assets.

Witheld County, MA

The plaintiff nursing home resident contended that the defendant elder attorney negligently failed to advise her that over $________ in assets should have been placed into a "pooled trust," which would enable her to use the funds to pay for personal needs such as: an aide, clothes, eyeglasses, or cable TV; and such amounts would not have been calculated as part of her assets when determining if she were eligible for MassHealth to pay for the costs of residing in a nursing home. The plaintiff contended that as a result of defendant’s negligence, she paid for the nursing home costs out of her own assets, and also paid a higher rate than the nursing home would have been entitled to under MassHealth. The defendant denied that the plaintiff actually suffered damages.

The plaintiff countered that she had more than $________ in assets when she entered the nursing home, and that it was not until after such assets were unnecessarily depleted, that she became eligible for MassHealth.The case settled prior to trial for $________.