• 475 Washington Blvd, Suite 200, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

Laura Butkute, Esq. — Medi-Cal Planning Attorney in Los Angeles

Laura Butkute, Esq. — Medi-Cal Planning Attorney in Los Angeles

CREDENTIALS AT A GLANCE

  • 📍 Elder Care Law California | Marina Del Rey, CA | Serving LA County, Long Beach, Orange County
  • 🎓 J.D. / LL.M. — UCLA School of Law
  • 🎓 LL.M. — Vilnius University, Faculty of Law
  • ⚖️ Licensed — California State Bar
  • 🏛️ Member — Estate Planning, Bankruptcy & Commercial Law Sections, Los Angeles County Bar Association
  • 📅 In practice since 2010 — 16+ years focused exclusively on elder law
  • ⭐ Avvo 5 Star Rating — | Google 4.7 Star Rating
  • 🤝 Pro bono volunteer
  • 📞 (866) 822-7211 | eldercarelawca.com

Laura Butkute has spent her entire legal career doing one thing: helping California families protect what they have built when a loved one needs long-term care. Since founding Elder Care Law California in 2010, she has focused exclusively on elder law — Medi-Cal planning, asset protection, estate planning, conservatorships, and powers of attorney — for families throughout Los Angeles and Orange County. In an area of law where the rules are complex, the stakes are high, and the margin for error is narrow, specialization is not a marketing choice. It is the foundation of every outcome she delivers.

Over more than fifteen years Laura has guided hundreds of Southern California families through Medi-Cal applications across every level of complexity — straightforward pre-planned applications, crisis admissions with Medicare ending, cases with significant look-back exposure, contested county denials, and multi-asset restructuring under time pressure. She has practiced through California’s full arc of Medi-Cal policy change: the period before the 2022 asset limit elimination, the years when California had no asset test, and the reinstatement of asset limits and the 30-month look-back effective January 1, 2026. That longitudinal experience — navigating the same families’ situations across rule changes that most attorneys had never encountered — is not something a newer practice can replicate. The family whose parent is in a nursing home and has been told they have too many assets to qualify. The community spouse who needs to know how much she can keep. The adult child who transferred money without understanding the look-back period. The homeowner who does not know whether their revocable trust has been properly funded — and whether the home is actually titled in the trust — to ensure the home avoids probate and the associated estate recovery exposure. These are the situations Laura handles every day — not occasionally, not as a sideline to other legal work, but as the entire focus of her practice.

Legal Education

UCLA School of Law — Master of Laws (LL.M.)

Laura completed her advanced legal education at UCLA School of Law, one of the top-ranked law schools in the United States. Her graduate legal training at UCLA gave her the doctrinal depth in trust law, property law, and public benefits regulation that underpins her Medi-Cal planning practice. California’s Medi-Cal rules are administered at the county level under a framework of state and federal law that requires both theoretical grounding and practical familiarity with DHCS policy — a combination that graduate legal training and 15+ years of case experience provides.

Vilnius University, Faculty of Law — Master of Laws (LL.M.)

Laura holds a second Master of Laws degree from Vilnius University, Faculty of Law — a rigorous European legal education that provides comparative law perspective alongside her California practice training. Her dual advanced legal education reflects the intellectual rigor and commitment to legal scholarship that she brings to every client engagement.

Bar Admission and Professional Affiliations

California State Bar — Licensed to Practice Law

Laura is licensed to practice law by the California State Bar and has maintained active, good-standing status throughout her career. Families who hire Elder Care Law California retain a fully licensed California attorney — not a paralegal, document preparation service, or unlicensed advisor — to handle the most consequential financial decisions of their lives.

Los Angeles County Bar Association — Estate Planning, Bankruptcy and Commercial Law Sections

Laura is an active member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, participating in the Estate Planning, Bankruptcy and Commercial Law sections. LACBA membership connects her to the broader legal community that shapes elder law practice in Los Angeles County — including emerging case law, legislative developments affecting Medi-Cal rules, and DHCS policy changes that affect how applications are processed at the county level.

Elder Law and Medi-Cal Planning — A Focused Practice

Most law firms that handle Medi-Cal planning do so as one service among many — alongside personal injury, immigration, business formation, or real estate. Elder Care Law California is different. Since 2010, the firm’s practice has been built around a single client: the Southern California family navigating the legal and financial reality of long-term care for an aging loved one.

That focus produces a level of expertise that a generalist firm cannot replicate. Laura knows how LA County DPSS processes long-term care Medi-Cal applications — the documentation requirements, the points where applications commonly stall, and how to respond when a county eligibility worker raises an issue that would stop a less experienced attorney. She knows the difference between a case where aggressive asset restructuring is needed and one where a straightforward, fully documented application will be approved quickly. She knows which transfers within the 30-month look-back window create real penalty exposure and which ones the county will accept with proper documentation. That knowledge comes from 15+ years of handling these cases — not from reading about them.

Core Practice Areas

  • Medi-Cal Planning and Asset Protection — qualifying families for long-term care Medi-Cal while protecting the maximum amount permitted under California law
  • Estate Recovery Protection — structuring trusts to protect the family home and other assets from DHCS recovery claims after death
  • Spousal Impoverishment Planning — maximizing the Community Spouse Resource Allowance and Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance for married couples
  • Share of Cost Reduction — identifying and applying every applicable income deduction to reduce the monthly nursing home contribution
  • Crisis Medi-Cal Planning — qualifying families for Medi-Cal when a loved one is already in a nursing home and Medicare coverage is ending
  • Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts — integrated planning that addresses both Medi-Cal eligibility and post-death asset protection in a single engagement
  • Conservatorships and Powers of Attorney — establishing legal authority to manage the affairs of aging family members who can no longer act independently

What Families Should Know About Working With Laura

She handles the process front to back — and families never deal with DPSS directly. From the initial eligibility assessment through asset restructuring, application preparation, document gathering, county liaison, and final approval, every step is managed by the firm. LA County DPSS, Orange County SSA, and Long Beach’s South Special District all have their own processing practices and documentation requirements. Laura and her team know each county’s process and act as the primary point of contact throughout — which means families are not navigating those bureaucratic systems alone during what is already one of the most stressful periods of their lives.

She quotes a flat fee before any work begins. There are no hourly billing surprises at Elder Care Law California. After the free initial consultation, the firm quotes a flat fee for the engagement — covering everything from asset review through Medi-Cal approval. Families know exactly what they are paying before they commit. In a practice area where the financial stakes are already significant, predictable legal fees are not a small thing.

She has seen every scenario — and knows which strategies actually work. Over 15+ years, Laura has handled cases ranging from straightforward pre-planned applications to complex crisis situations with significant look-back exposure, contested county denials, pending estate recovery claims, and multi-asset restructuring under time pressure. That depth of experience is the difference between an attorney who knows the rules and one who knows how to apply them in the real situations California families actually face.

Speaking, Pro Bono Service, and Community Involvement

Featured Speaker — Cedars-Sinai Dementia Resources Speaker Series

Laura was selected as a featured speaker for the Cedars-Sinai Dementia Resources Speaker Series, addressing families and caregivers navigating Medi-Cal planning and long-term care legal issues in the context of dementia and cognitive decline. The Cedars-Sinai speaker series brings together medical, social work, and legal professionals to provide families with practical guidance at one of the most disorienting points in a caregiving journey — when a diagnosis has been made and the family must begin making legal and financial decisions they have never faced before. Being invited to speak in that context is a reflection of the trust that one of the nation’s leading medical institutions places in Laura’s expertise and her ability to communicate complex elder law concepts clearly to non-legal audiences.

Pro Bono Legal Service at Southern California Senior Centers

Laura believes that access to quality elder law advice should not be limited to families who can afford it, and she has backed that belief with action throughout her career. For years she has volunteered her legal pro bono hours at senior centers throughout Southern California — providing free legal guidance to seniors and their families on Medi-Cal eligibility, estate planning, and long-term care planning questions that many cannot afford to have answered by a private attorney.

This commitment to Southern California’s senior community reflects the same conviction that has shaped the entire practice: that elder law matters most to the families who are least equipped to navigate it alone, and that an attorney with genuine expertise in this area has a responsibility to make that expertise accessible. The pro bono work also keeps Laura connected to the full range of situations real families face — including the ones that do not fit the standard planning scenarios — which sharpens the practical judgment she brings to every paid engagement.

Third-Party Ratings and Verification

Laura’s credentials and client ratings are independently verified across multiple platforms. Families researching elder law attorneys can confirm her standing, read client reviews, and verify her California license through the sources below.

What Families Say About Working With Laura

“Elder Care Law is the firm you need if you’re having difficulty getting through the maze of documents required to file for Medi-Cal. I hired Laura’s firm on 10/25/19 and had Medi-Cal approval for my sister on 12/24/19. Miraculous!”

— Susan C.

“Within a couple of months, Laura and her team got my mom approved for Medi-Cal. She and her team are efficient, transparent, reasonably priced, and advocated for us when the county was being difficult. Our only regret is not finding Laura years earlier.”

— Evelyn G.

“I had visited another elder law attorney who charged me $600.00 per visit and did not know how to file an application. After calling Laura Butkute we had a Medi-Cal case number and within a week an ID card.”

— Joan

“Laura handled health care related matters for our father, as well as set up a trust. She easily accommodated her schedule to meet with us, was professional, answered all questions, never seemed rushed, was easily accessible over the phone, and most importantly she showed a genuine caring demeanor.”

— Armen I.

“Calm and professional. During a very stressful time Laura guided me through the process on qualifying my husband for Medi-Cal after he suffered a severe stroke. She also helped me setting up a trust necessitated by these changes in my life. Many thanks to Laura and Elder Care Law.”

— Anonymous

Read more from families Laura has helped throughout Los Angeles and Southern California.

Schedule a Free Consultation With Laura’s Team

Every engagement starts with a free consultation — no obligation. We assess your situation, explain your options, and quote a rate before any work begins. In-home appointments available throughout Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Orange County.

📞 (866) 822-7211  |  Free Consultation  |  eldercarelawca.com