As Elder Law Attorneys, we meet with clients on a daily basis who are on an emotional roller coaster. Life was rolling merrily along for them, then all of a sudden they received some bad news - Mom or Dad is in the hospital. After a few days, the news is worse - The Diagnosis is Alzheimer's AND Mom or Dad can't go back home - they are having to go to a nursing home. AND the kids have to select a nursing home for Mom or Dad to go to within 24 hours AND the nursing home costs $5,000 per month.
If your other parent is alive and living at home, no doubt all of this has hit them like a freight train. Will they still be able to live at home ALONE without assistance, or will they need assistance? If they do need assistance, what type will they need?
If Mom or Dad is single, some of the questions are: What do we do with the home? Will he get to return home? Should we sell the home? Where are his bank accounts? Are all bills paid? How will we pay for all of this?
We realize that when an adult child walks into our office, they are reeling from all of the above and more. This is where we try to slow down the process, take you by the hand and help!
Medicaid is the program that will pay for your parent's long term care - yes we have to get some information from you to start this process, but after that we will take the ball and run, doing everything necessary to get your parent qualified for Medicaid. This solves the financial part of the problem.
Secondly, our life care planners will meet with you and do everything possible to make sure that your parent gets the best possible care, in the least restrictive environment, without going broke.
The expense of doing all of this is not paid by you, the child, but out of your parent's spend-down - that is out of the money that they would otherwise have had to paid to the nursing home before they received Medicaid assistance.
The BEST PART is that by taking action: (1) We help your parent qualify for Medicaid sooner; (2) We help your parents preserve additional assets; (3) Our Life Care Planners work hard to make sure that your parent is receiving appropriate care.
If you are reading this, it is likely that something unexpectedly bad has happened to your parent. We can't fix that - but give us a call and we'll help to ease the pain.
Showing posts with label elder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elder. Show all posts
Friday, February 26, 2010
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Saving the Farm - Part 1
In our last blog post, we were discussing the concept of asset protection, or as it is commonly asked, “How do I keep the Nursing Home from taking Momma’s farm” (or house, or money or whatever).
As we mentioned in that blog post, the Nursing Home doesn’t have the power to “take” anything. When you move into a Nursing Home, you are really just renting a room with nursing services included. If you rented a room for a night at your local Holiday Inn, the issue of “will I have to pay this” would never come up. You would know up front what the cost was and you would know that you had to pay for the room if you were going to stay there for a night.
The owner of a nursing home is like the owner of the hotel – he just wants to be paid for the room. He knows that there are 3 primary ways he will be paid: (1) If Mom goes to the hospital first, stays there for at least 3 nights, then is discharged to the Nursing Home, Medicare will pay for up to 100 days (see separate blog post on Medicare Qualification); (2) After Medicare runs out, the resident will “private pay” meaning personally pay for the room out of their pocket until they have spent much of their money or other assets . (See separate blog post on Medicaid Qualification); (3) After they have paid most of their money to the nursing home for rental of a room, and otherwise qualified, they Medicaid will start paying the nursing home bill each month.
Now, all of that was a pre-curser of what we’re talking about today, which is how to I protect what I’ve got so I don’t have to spend it all down to get Medicaid. The answer is to plan ahead, meaning - do your estate planning at least 5 years before you move into the nursing home. Of course you don’t know if or when that will happen, so you have to be proactive and do your estate planning way in advance.
On February 8, 2006, President Bush signed into law, the DRA (Deficit Reduction Act). Among other things, one of the provisions of the act was a 5 year look-back rule. This means that if you give your assets to your kids (or anyone else) within 5 years of the time you apply for Medicaid assistance, they can “look-back” and pull that gift up to today. The result is that Mom won’t be able to get Medicaid for a while (figure according to a complicated formula) as a result of having made that gift. If your parent is in that situation, there are things we can do, but none of them are as good as the results we can get if you plan ahead.
One great way we can be proactive, plan ahead and protect assets, such as the family farm, is by use of a special kind of Irrevocable Trust that we will discuss in Part 2 of this post
As we mentioned in that blog post, the Nursing Home doesn’t have the power to “take” anything. When you move into a Nursing Home, you are really just renting a room with nursing services included. If you rented a room for a night at your local Holiday Inn, the issue of “will I have to pay this” would never come up. You would know up front what the cost was and you would know that you had to pay for the room if you were going to stay there for a night.
The owner of a nursing home is like the owner of the hotel – he just wants to be paid for the room. He knows that there are 3 primary ways he will be paid: (1) If Mom goes to the hospital first, stays there for at least 3 nights, then is discharged to the Nursing Home, Medicare will pay for up to 100 days (see separate blog post on Medicare Qualification); (2) After Medicare runs out, the resident will “private pay” meaning personally pay for the room out of their pocket until they have spent much of their money or other assets . (See separate blog post on Medicaid Qualification); (3) After they have paid most of their money to the nursing home for rental of a room, and otherwise qualified, they Medicaid will start paying the nursing home bill each month.
Now, all of that was a pre-curser of what we’re talking about today, which is how to I protect what I’ve got so I don’t have to spend it all down to get Medicaid. The answer is to plan ahead, meaning - do your estate planning at least 5 years before you move into the nursing home. Of course you don’t know if or when that will happen, so you have to be proactive and do your estate planning way in advance.
On February 8, 2006, President Bush signed into law, the DRA (Deficit Reduction Act). Among other things, one of the provisions of the act was a 5 year look-back rule. This means that if you give your assets to your kids (or anyone else) within 5 years of the time you apply for Medicaid assistance, they can “look-back” and pull that gift up to today. The result is that Mom won’t be able to get Medicaid for a while (figure according to a complicated formula) as a result of having made that gift. If your parent is in that situation, there are things we can do, but none of them are as good as the results we can get if you plan ahead.
One great way we can be proactive, plan ahead and protect assets, such as the family farm, is by use of a special kind of Irrevocable Trust that we will discuss in Part 2 of this post
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Spend This Saturday With Friends!
Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk
Join us as we lead our team in the Memory Walk for the Alzheimer's Association!
SATURDAY, APRIL 18th / 9:00 a.m.
If you are not part of a team yet, please join us at 9:00 a.m. on the North Little Rock Side of the Big Dam Bridge (4000 Cooks Landing Rd. in NLR). Or give us a call at 501.843.9014 and let us know you want to join our team!
We have long been supporters of the Alzheimer's Association and hope you will join us on April 18th, as we bring awareness to this important cause. Click here to learn more about the 2009 Central Arkansas Memory Walk.
Join our team! Call us today!
501.843.9014
Join us as we lead our team in the Memory Walk for the Alzheimer's Association!
SATURDAY, APRIL 18th / 9:00 a.m.
If you are not part of a team yet, please join us at 9:00 a.m. on the North Little Rock Side of the Big Dam Bridge (4000 Cooks Landing Rd. in NLR). Or give us a call at 501.843.9014 and let us know you want to join our team!
We have long been supporters of the Alzheimer's Association and hope you will join us on April 18th, as we bring awareness to this important cause. Click here to learn more about the 2009 Central Arkansas Memory Walk.
Join our team! Call us today!
501.843.9014
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