What Are the Rules for Medicaid Qualification (Part 6)? - Some Simple Planning Options

Below are possible options to keep in mind when considering Medicaid planning. As in part five of our series, your Medicaid planning advisor can best help you determine how the rules apply to your specific circumstances in your specific locality. Before you get into the specifics, however, it’s always a good idea to familiarize yourself with the general federal guidelines for Medicaid qualification that apply everywhere.

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• If you are married, your home is exempt and cannot be taken if one spouse applies for Medicaid. If you are single or widowed, up to $552,000 of equity in your home is exempt (many states have raised the limit even higher). Some states permit a “Homestead Exemption” which protects a married or single applicant’s home regardless of value. Transferring your home to your children will result in immediate ineligibility for...

Revocable Living Trusts (Part 2) with Nicole Wipp

This is Part 2 of a two-part series on Revocable Living Trusts. To listen to Part 1, Click Here.

Options

When it comes to revocable living trusts, people often don’t know the options that they may be able to include to protect loved ones.  When given these options, however, many people definitely want them!  Know the different types of options you can have to help those you love and help ensure your money goes to who you want, when you want, in the way you want.

Thank you for listening!

Be a SMART PLANNER!

Contact Us Today at (248) 278-1511. We Can Help.

The information in this podcast is not intended to be, nor should it be, construed as legal advice. It is for informational purposes only. For advice, specific to your situation, consult with a qualified attorney.

What Are the Rules for Medicaid Qualification (Part 5)?

As in part four of our series, your Medicaid planning advisor can best help you determine how the rules apply to your specific circumstances in your specific locality. Before you get into the specifics, however, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the general federal guidelines for Medicaid qualification that apply everywhere.

Let's Continue....

Do I Have to Wait 60 Months?

The Asset Transfer "Box”

Many people believe that if you give your assets away, you must wait 60 months to qualify for Medicaid. This is not the case. The 60 month requirement only applies to the financial disclosure you must provide, not eligibility.

Think of it this way: When you go to apply for Medicaid, imagine you’re bringing a box with you. In that box is every financial transaction you’ve made for the previous 60 months. That is all you need to provide – if you made a transaction 61 months ago, it’s not...

Revocable Living Trusts (Part 1) With Nicole Wipp

How Do Revocable Living Trusts Work?

In this episode, host Nicole Wipp discusses what a “RLT” is and the importance of “funding your trust” – a commonly missed step.

You will learn:

• What the primary purposes of revocable living trusts are
• What a revocable living trust does NOT do for you
• Common misunderstandings as to how this trust works
• What trust funding is and why it is critically important

This is Part 1 of a two-part series on Revocable Living Trusts. To listen to Part 2, click here.

Be a SMART PLANNER!

Contact Us Today at (248) 278-1511. We Can Help.

The information in this podcast is not intended to be, nor should it be, construed as legal advice. It is for informational purposes only. For advice, specific to your situation, consult with a qualified attorney.

As part 3 of our series, your Medicaid planning advisor can best help you determine how the rules apply to your specific circumstances in your specific locality. Before you get into the specifics, however, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the general federal guidelines for Medicaid qualification that apply everywhere.

Let's Continue...

Allowable Income

How much income are you allowed under Medicaid law?

There are different answers for the “community spouse” and the individual who resides in a nursing home.

• Nursing home residents can only keep $60 a month as a personal needs allowance – the rest of their income must go to help cover the cost of their care.
• If the resident is married, the community spouse can keep between $1,966.25 - $2,980.50 a month (in 2015), including income from the nursing home spouse.
• Many states permit the community spouse to retain all of their individual income without limit. In other states, the community spouse...

As in part two of our series, your Medicaid planning advisor can best help you determine how the rules apply to your specific circumstances in your specific locality. Before you get into the specifics, however, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the general federal guidelines for Medicaid qualification that apply everywhere.

Let's Continue....

PROPERTY LIENS

In addition, the state can place a lien on an unmarried Medicaid recipient’s home, unless certain dependent relatives live on the premises or the state permits a “Homestead Exemption”.

Sale of the property, while the person receiving Medicaid is still living, could result in the loss of Medicaid coverage (due to excessive assets) and an obligation to use the sale proceeds to satisfy the lien that Medicaid places against the home.

There are exceptions to this rule. Satisfaction of the lien is not required if the applicant returns home prior to their death or one or more of the following...

What Are the Rules for Medicaid Qualification (Part 2)?

As in Part One of our series, your Medicaid planning advisor can best help you determine how the rules apply to your specific circumstances in your specific locality. Before you get into the specifics, however, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the general federal guidelines for Medicaid qualification that apply everywhere.

Let's Continue....

ESTATE RECOVERY

What happens to a Medicaid recipient’s estate when he or she passes away? Like so much else, that depends on whether they have properly planned to protect it.

When a Medicaid recipient dies, the state may attempt to recover the benefits paid to that individual from his or her estate – that is a requirement under federal Medicaid law. However, the state cannot proceed with this recovery process if any of the following applies:

• if the recipient’s spouse is still living
• if the recipient has a child under age 21
• if the recipient has a...

What Are the Rules for Medicaid Qualification (Part 1)?

Medicaid is a federal program that provides health coverage for people with limited assets and incomes. It covers the cost of nursing home care for those who meet the program’s economic requirements for eligibility, and in several states, it will also pay for care in your home!

Though it’s a federal program, Medicaid is administered by the states. Federal law empowers each state to enforce Medicaid eligibility rules according to its own interpretation. This means that application of these rules can vary significantly from state to state and, in some states, from county to county. Qualification for care in your home is also different for qualifying for care in a nursing home.

Your Medicaid planning advisor can best help you determine how the rules apply to your specific circumstances in your specific locality. Before you get into the specifics, however, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the general...

Most people, when thinking about estate planning, are focusing on what happens when they die.

This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.

There are many legal tools that can be used to enhance the quality of your life and to reduce the burden to your family when disability – which is inevitable for most of us – happens.  It is also important to understand that the right kind of estate planning may be a necessary component in ensuring that your spouse or children “left behind” are not left in poverty or overwhelmed. 

The first step in estate planning is education. One of the biggest challenges I face as an attorney is making people understand that things they “think they know” aren’t necessarily true.  When it comes to estate planning – What you don’t know can hurt you.

Provided within the Family & Aging Law Center Blog, we're looking at some aspects of how estate planning works. Hopefully,...

POWERS OF ATTORNEY

The Facts...

If you become sick or disabled, either temporarily or permanently, who will make decisions for you?

• A Power of Attorney allows you to appoint someone you trust to handle your affairs if you cannot do so. 
• If you are unable to do it yourself, your family will be prevented from paying bills, getting records, helping you get treatment, pay doctors or qualify for Medicaid, or making other important decisions on your behalf, if you do not have comprehensive, well written, and specific Powers of Attorney in place.
• Without comprehensive, well written and specific Powers of Attorney, your family may have to file a court proceeding, seeking guardianship of you (for health care decisions) or seeking conservatorship (for financial decisions). This process involves the Court, several lawyers and usually at least $4,000 to $50,000. A Power of Attorney might cost $200 - $500.
• There are two main types of Powers of Attorney:  financial and health...