After a Medicaid recipient dies, the state must attempt to recoup from his or her estate whatever benefits it paid for the recipient’s care. This is called “estate recovery.” For most Medicaid recipients, their house is the only asset available, but there are steps you can take to protect your home. Life estatesFor many people, setting up a “life estate” is the simplest and most 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, but…
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 cost of home care for very long. One solution is to tap into the equity built up in your home. If you own a home and are at least 62 years old, you may be able to quickly get money to pay for long-term care (or anything else) by taking…
While reverse mortgages may look like no-lose propositions on the surface, they also have some significant downsides. First, the closing costs for these loans are about double those for conventional mortgages. For example, closing costs on a $110,000 reverse mortgage for a $200,000 home would be more than $10,000. These costs can be financed by the loan itself, but that reduces the money available to you. Reverse mortgage payments also may affect your eligibility for government benefits, including Medicaid. Generally, these payments will not be counted as income as long as they are spent within the same month that they…
You may have heard that transferring assets, or helping someone to transfer assets, to achieve Medicaid eligibility is a crime. Is this true? The short answer is that for a brief period it was, and it’s possible, although unlikely under current law, that it will be in the future. As part of a 1996 health care bill, Congress made it a crime to transfer assets for purposes of achieving Medicaid eligibility. Congress repealed the law in 1997, but replaced it with a statute that made it a crime to advise or counsel someone for a fee regarding transferring assets for…
In order to be eligible for Medicaid, you cannot have recently transferred assets. Congress does not want you to move into a nursing home on Monday, give all your money to your children (or whomever) on Tuesday, and qualify for Medicaid on Wednesday. So it has imposed a penalty on people who transfer assets without receiving fair value in return. This penalty is a period of time during which the person transferring the assets will be ineligible for Medicaid. The penalty period is determined by dividing the amount transferred by what Medicaid determines to be the average private pay cost…
Prepaying for your funeral is one way to ease the burden on your family following your death and make sure your wishes are carried out. But pre-paid funeral plans come with risks, so you need to exercise care when purchasing a plan. Funerals are expensive and can take a lot of effort to plan. To help relieve your family of some of this expense and effort, you can pay for your funeral in advance with a pre-paid funeral plan purchased through a funeral home. In addition to making things easier for your family during a difficult time, pre-paid funeral plans…
When it comes to long-term care costs, the charges for home care are now rising faster than those for nursing home care, according to Genworth’s 2019 Cost of Care survey. In the past year, the median annual cost for home health aides rose 4.55 percent to $52,624, while the median cost of a private nursing home room rose only 1.82 percent to $102,200. Genworth reports that the median cost of a semi-private room in a nursing home is $90,155, up 0.96 percent from 2018, and the median cost of assisted living facilities rose 1.28 percent, to $4,051 a month. But home…
ESTATE PLANNING WEBINAR Thursday, 8/20/2020 10.30 am Webinar Presented by local Attorney,David Wingate, of the Elder Law Office of David Wingate, LLC. Call 301-663-9230 to register, or email kristin@davidvingate.comYou may also register on our website at davidwingate.com Wen you should begin planning Why your last Will may not be enough The most important document that everyone needs More changes to POA laws How long-term care depletes your estate Why long-term care planning protects your estate Types and uses of trusts How a trust affects probate Trusts to protect your assets Trusts that provide for future generations Important differences between revocable…
None of us are immune from the ravages of dementia, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. Many things contribute to the possibility of developing these diseases. Be aware of the warning signs! Make sure you have your “legal and financial ducks in a row” before it’s too late. Remember, no one wakes up and says, “I think I’ll have a stroke today.” Call our office today at 301-663-9230 to schedulean Initial Consultation or attend our next workshop. For a complete list of upcoming seminars, visit our website at www.davidwingate.com. Peace of mind is only a call or click away! For an Initial Consultation…
Alzheimer disease is a heartbreaker. Not only is it awful for the patient but is devastating for the caregiver. Someone who hasn’t dealt with Alzheimer’s disease, can’t imagine the stress of constant pacing, up at all nights of day and nights, the fidgeting, the safety concerns, and of course the memory loss. Imagine the heartbreak you feel looking into the now empty eyes of your spouse of 40 or 50 years and recalling all the wonderful times you spent together and then sitting down and crying over the horrible truth that your spouse no longer recognizes you. Your marriage vows…
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