A local financial expert is encouraging families during Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month to protect the assets of aging loved ones before they experience a mental decline.

Roy Abramowitz says by establishing an irrevocable trust, which gives control of the assets to a third party like a son or a daughter, those assets can be protected from debt collectors.

He also says when one applies for Medicaid for long-term care, there is a five-year look-back period, so the sooner family members set up a trust, the better.

"They're your dividends, interest, capital gains, rental from a house. You transfer your primary residence into the irrevocable trust, you still can live in it. Upon your passing, then it goes to your beneficiaries," Abramowitz explains.

He adds once a trust is in place and the person who established it dies, their assets go directly to the beneficiaries without having to go through probate court.