Beginning Medicaid Planning In New York

This article uncovers:

• How to leverage Medicaid for long-term care.
• The power of a trust as it relates to long-term care.
• How spousal refusal cant help you if going to a nursing home.

How Can I Get For Medicaid To Help Pay For Long-Term Care? Can I Give Away My Assets To Qualify?

Typically, you cannot “qualify” for Medicaid, but you can financially position yourself now so that you would qualify for it in the future.

To do this, the best thing to do is to have a revocable trust in place. After that, figure out the value of your assets and what you need to live on. Whatever you can put into your revocable trust, put into it. Assuming you stay relatively healthy, all assets in the trust would be exempt after five years.

Although you could give your assets away to qualify, it is not advisable. This is a very legitimate question that people ask a lot. This approach works, but once you give money to a beneficiary, it is theirs. Keeping it in a trust does not confer it immediately. Say you give $300,000 to your son. If he got into an accident or otherwise squandered the funds, you would be unable to use it for Medicaid. Not the case with a trust. In addition, the creator of the trust, or the settler, can change the trustees at any time. You can replace them with anyone else.

If I Need To Go To A Nursing Home, Does My Spouse Have To Lose Everything Too?

For starters, you do not have to lose everything, nor does your spouse.

If you go into a nursing home and you are single, a good Medicaid attorney could probably save you about half your assets in your Medicaid law case. If married and going into a nursing home in New York, there is spousal refusal. This would essentially transfer all of your assets — individual and shared — to your spouse. What’s better is that these transfers are exempt and do not cause problems in the five-year look back period.

With the guidance of a skilled attorney for Medicaid Law Cases, you can have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that we’ll make it look easy. For more information on Medicaid Planning in New York, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (516) 888-5381 today.