Trusts can shield your assets from the high cost of home care making you eligible for home health aides through the Medicaid program. Trusts start the five year “look-back” for institutional care, making you eligible for Medicaid benefits to pay for a nursing home. Trusts can ensure the inheritances you…
Articles Posted in Medicaid Asset Protection Trust
Asset Protection is Inheritance Protection
Two overriding questions govern your choices in an elder law estate plan. First, what will happen to your assets when you pass away? Second, what will happen to your assets if you need long-term care? A comprehensive plan covers both issues. You must protect assets from going to long-term care…
When Does a Trust Make Sense
By now most people know that trusts avoid probate which is required with a will — if there are “probatable” assets, in other words those in your name alone. While many assets can be set up to avoid probate by putting joint owners on or by naming beneficiaries, titles to…
Eight Good Reasons to Plan Your Estate
Makes sure your estate goes to whom you want, when you want, the way you want. Most estate plans leave the assets to the next generation outright (i.e., in their hands) in equal shares. However, with a little bit of thought on your part, and some guidance from an…
Saving Half on the Nursing Home Doorstep
What do you do when a client comes in to see you and says that his mother is going into a nursing home and she has $300,000 in assets. In fact, mom scrimped and saved all of her life to have this nest egg and now she desperately wants to…
The Four Basic Protections of Elder Law Estate Planning
Elder Law Estate Planning is an area of law that helps us maintain control of our lives and assets in four basic areas. First, Elder Law is planning for disability which includes naming people who will make decisions for us if we become incapacitated. You choose the people who will…