If your spouse or parent is facing the prospect of entering a nursing home, they do not have to lose all of their assets to become eligible for Medicaid. In the case of a married couple, we can still shelter most or all of the family assets by using special planning techniques that allow us to transfer the assets of the nursing home patient spouse to the “community spouse,” or the spouse not living in the nursing home. It all hinges on getting the right asset protection help.
The bridges manual, which is the codification of Medicaid rules, sometimes referred to as BEM or BEM’s, allow us to literally disinherit the nursing home spouse within one year of approval for nursing home Medicaid. As is always the case, if we can meet and plan with families before their loved one actually enters the nursing home, we can save even more assets and make this kind of planning and transition so much easier.
The simple act of transferring the family homestead into a revocable trust before the patient enters the nursing home allows us the opportunity to leverage the value of the homestead to save even more of the financial assets the couple may have.
If your parent or loved one is single we can still typically shelter as low as 50-75% of a single person’s assets while getting them approved for Medicaid. In Michigan we are allowed to use the “half loaf” planning technique which allows us to use a promissory note to gift assets to the child or other family member of the nursing home patient as a mechanism to shelter at least 50-60% of the remaining assets.
Once again, if we can help people pre-plan before entry into a nursing home, we can be much more effective in asset protection. Married clients and single clients alike can all benefit from the use of an irrevocable trust to plan ahead and shelter assets by getting ahead of the five year clock or five year look back period for Medicaid transfers of gifts.
Get Asset Protection Help: It’s An Investment Worth Making
If you are over the age of 65 you need to think about having a revocable trust and an irrevocable trust for asset protection planning relative to long term care. This planning is not expensive and ultimately well worth the investment in the long run.
If you or someone you love is in a nursing home and in need of asset protection services please call the Law Offices of Sean Patrick Cox P.L.L.C. at (616) 942-6404 for a free consultation.
The Law Offices of Sean Patrick Cox is a lawyer. Sean practices in two main areas, family law, and elder law. he has represented clients in complex divorce cases since 1994.
