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One major concern that many people have during the estate planning process is determining how they will pay for anticipated nursing home care. These facilities can cost thousands of dollars every month. Covering these costs can quickly burn through your assets.
Thankfully, there is a way to potentially save valuable assets and real estate from liquidation to pay for nursing home care. A seasoned estate planning attorney can help you create trusts to protect property, allowing you to qualify for Medicaid and keep assets in the family. Our knowledgeable Fort Lauderdale Medicaid lawyers can provide more information about this process and the important limitations involved in this strategy.
The final major expense that many individuals incur at the end of their lives is nursing home care. These facilities justify charging astronomical bills through a combination of skilled nursing care and being your home. In addition, nursing homes may place a lien upon a family home or other valuable property to obtain payment for their services.
Federal law recognized long ago that many people would be unable to pay for these services out of pocket or lacked assets to sell for cash. A major part of the Medicaid program provides direct payments to nursing homes on behalf of residents who would not be able to otherwise afford this care. Effective estate planning with the help of a well-versed attorney, could help reduce your assets to the extent that you can qualify for Medicaid when the time to move into a nursing home arrives.
Trusts are a popular way to limit your overall tax burden and shorten your asset list. A key thing to remember about trusts is that once you place assets under the control of a trust, those assets are no longer your property. This arrangement can serve to lower your overall asset ownership to help you qualify for Medicaid.
Unfortunately, the federal government recognized this strategy and amended the Social Security Act. Section 1917(c)(1)(B)(i) of the Social Security Act states that an application for Medicaid now includes a look-back period of five years. A look-back period enables Medicaid to evaluate your assets for five years to determine if you would have qualified for the program during this period. As a result, a trust that transfers assets out of your control must have gone into effect at least five years prior to your Medicaid application.
A proactive attorney could advise you on the best timing to transfer your assets into trusts, so your Medicaid application is not affected.
Effective estate planning seeks out every available way to retain assets for the foreseeable future. For many, this includes shielding assets from nursing homes when the time comes to make this move. Medicaid trusts can protect real estate, business holdings, and other valuable items from liquidation to pay for nursing home care. However, these trusts come with limits, namely the five-year look-back period.
A Fort Lauderdale Medicaid lawyer could help you protect your assets and qualify for Medicaid. This includes identifying assets that may be subject to liquidation and providing more information about the relationship between Medicaid and nursing homes. Call All Florida Real Estate Lawyers now, as the sooner you create the trusts, the better the chance he can protect valuable property.
