Medicaid Planning & Asset Protection Congress has established a period of ineligibility for Medicaid for those who transfer assets.  The DRA significantly changed rules governing the treatment of asset transfers.  For transfers made prior to enactment of the DRA on February 8, 2006, state Medicaid officials will look only at transfers made within the 36 […]

Importance of Early Medicaid Planning, Avoid Medicaid Issues & Eligibility One of the greatest fears of older Americans is that they may end up in a nursing home. This not only means a great loss of personal autonomy, but also a tremendous financial price. Depending on location and level of care, nursing homes cost between […]

Medicaid Planning: Protection of Home & Irrevocable Trust Another method of protecting the home from estate recovery is to transfer it to an irrevocable trust.  Trusts provide more flexibility than life estates but are somewhat more complicated. Once the house is in the irrevocable trust, it cannot be taken out again.  Although it can be […]

Medicaid Asset Protection & Spending Down Applicants for Medicaid and their spouses may protect savings by spending them on noncountable assets.  These expenditures may include: In the case of married couples, it is often important that any spend-down steps be taken only after the unhealthy spouse moves to a nursing home if this would affect […]

Medicaid Planning & Reverse Mortgages Under our “system” of paying for long-term care, you may be able to qualify for Medicaid to pay for nursing home care, but in most states there’s little public assistance for home care.  Most people want to stay at home as long as possible, but few can afford the high […]

South Carolina Medicaid Estate Recovery and Lien Process When an individual receiving Medicaid benefits in the state of South Carolina dies, the state is required to attempt to recover from his or her estate to cost of benefits paid for care.  In August of 1993, Congress passed a law that requires states to recover amounts […]

Medicaid Planning & Immediate Annuities Immediate annuities can be ideal planning tools for spouses of nursing home residents.  For single individuals, they are usually less useful.  An immediate annuity, in its simplest form, is a contract with an insurance company under which the consumer pays a certain amount of money to the company and the […]

Medicaid Planning: Protection of House & Life Estates For many people, setting up a “life estate” is the most simple and appropriate alternative for protecting the home from estate recovery.  A life estate is a form of joint ownership of property between two or more people.  They each have an ownership interest in the property, […]

Medicaid Planning & Testamentary Trusts Testamentary trusts are trusts created under a will.  The Medicaid rules provide a special “safe harbor” for testamentary trusts created by a deceased spouse for the benefit of a surviving spouse.  The assets of these trusts are treated as available to the Medicaid applicant only to the extent that the […]

Medicaid Planning & Income-Only Trusts An “irrevocable” trust, on the other hand, is one that cannot be changed after it has been created. In most cases, this type of trust is drafted so that the income is payable to you (the person establishing the trust, called the “grantor”) for life, and the principal cannot be […]