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North Fulton Business Radio

Tips for Senior Transitions, with Pam Santoro and Sarah Watchko, Senior Resource Alliance of North Atlanta

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Tips for Senior Transitions, with Pam Santoro and Sarah Watchko, Senior Resource Alliance of North Atlanta (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 327)

Pam Santoro and Sarah Watchko bring real estate and legal expertise, respectively, to their work with transitioning seniors. They joined host John Ray to discuss implications of seniors remaining in their home as they age, availability of Medicaid and VA benefits to pay for long-term care, the prohibitive cost of not having appropriate legal documents in place, and much more. “North Fulton Business Radio” is produced virtually from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® in Alpharetta.

Pam Santoro, Realtor, Berkshire Hathaway

Specializing in luxury real estate, relocation, resale, and new construction, Pam Santoro has experience in both the selling and buying sides of a real estate transaction. Living in the North Atlanta area for over 25 years, Pam knows the communities and neighborhoods.

With 15 years in the Atlanta Real Estate market, she is both an expert and a professional. Her computer science/business background combined with being a seasoned negotiator enables her to get the best deals for her clients.

Call 678-656-6627 today to find your perfect home or to market and sell your existing residence.

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Sarah Watchko, Partner, Hill & Watchko, LLC

Sarah Watchko is a Certified Elder Law Attorney with Hill & Watchko, LLC in Alpharetta, Georgia. Hill & Watchko is a premier boutique wills, trusts, estates, elder law, special needs, and fiduciary litigation firm providing personalized, efficient, and reasonably priced services of the quality found in the typical large, downtown law firms. An Atlanta native, Sarah earned her law degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law in 2008. Sarah’s practice areas include traditional estate planning; long-term care planning, including Medicaid benefits for nursing home care and Department of Veterans Affairs pension benefits; special needs trust planning; and trust and estate administration. She is one of only eleven Certified Elder Law Attorneys (“CELAs”) in the state of Georgia.

While she serves clients of all agents in her planning practice, one of Sarah’s primary areas of focus is helping seniors and their families navigate the complex maze of long-term care and incapacity planning. She is also devoted to planning for individuals with special needs. Sarah is devoted not only to practicing with the highest level of technical expertise but also to establishing strong and meaningful relationships with her clients. Sarah lives in Roswell with her husband, Jeff, and their two young children.

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Questions and Topics in this Interview:

How to plan for long-term care as you age
Issues with remaining in the home and how to help aging loved ones
Issues with selling the home and how to help aging loved ones
Availability of Medicaid to help pay for long-term care
Availability of VA Benefits to help pay for long-term care
The importance of having the right Estate Planning Documents in place

North Fulton Business Radio” is hosted by John Ray and produced virtually from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.

Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

Gwinnett Studio

Georgia's New Power of Attorney Law: What Does It Mean For You?

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Millie Baumbusch, Blake Melton, Sarah Watchko, Craig Frankel

Sarah Watchko/Hill & Watchko

Sarah R. Watchko is a partner with the law firm Hill & Watchko, LLC, located in Alpharetta, Georgia. Her practice areas include elder law, estate, and special needs planning, long-term care planning with Medicaid benefits and Department of Veterans Affairs pension benefits, and trust and estate administration. Sarah is one of very few Georgia Certified Elder Law Attorneys (“CELA”) by the National Elder Law Foundation, the only national certifying program for elder law and special needs attorneys.

Sarah graduated magna cum laude from East Carolina University in 2005, and obtained a full merit scholarship to Wake Forest University School of Law, graduating from Wake Forest in 2008. She developed a passion for working with elderly and special needs clients during her time at Wake Forest School of Law’s Elder Law Clinic during the summer of 2007. Upon graduation, this led her to Atlanta Legal Aid’s Georgia Senior Legal Hotline, where she volunteered and eventually worked as a staff attorney. She entered private practice in 2009, and joined her current firm in 2013.

Sarah is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the Atlanta Bar Association, and the North Fulton Bar Association. She is accredited by the VA and is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers, the Fiduciary Section of the Georgia Bar, the Atlanta Bar’s Estate Planning and Probate Section, and the Atlanta Bar’s Elder Law Section, serving as chair of the Elder Law Section during its 2012-2013 term.

Blake Melton/Synovus Family Asset Management

Blake is a Senior Wealth Strategist at Synovus Family Asset Management, a multi-family office housed within Synovus Financial Corp., N.A. Prior to joining FAM in 2007, Blake was in private practice with Page, Scrantom, Sprouse, Tucker, and Ford. Blake earned his BA in Economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, his law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law (cum laude), and his LL.M. in tax from the University of Alabama School of Law (summa cum laude). He is also a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®). Blake is a member of the Georgia and Alabama Bars. He is highly involved in the Fiduciary Section of the Georgia Bar, is currently in the leadership of the Section, and is a frequent speaker at professional education programs. He is also a member of the Columbus and Atlanta Estate Planning Councils.

About Gaslowitz Frankel:

Gaslowitz Frankel is an experienced trial practice firm specializing in all aspects of complex fiduciary litigation throughout Georgia and the Southeast. With a focus on representing individuals, companies, banks, and fiduciaries in dispute involving wills, estates, trusts, guardianships, businesses, and securities law, their experienced and highly qualified litigation attorneys have tremendous credentials and a proven history of success.