FREQUENTLY ASKED LONG TERM CARE & MEDICAID PLANNING QUESTIONS 1. - TopicsExpress



          

FREQUENTLY ASKED LONG TERM CARE & MEDICAID PLANNING QUESTIONS 1. SHOULD I TRANSFER MY HOME TO MY CHILDREN TO PRESERVE IT IF I NEED TO GO INTO A NURSING HOME? This is usually NOT the best way to protect your home for several reasons. One reason is that you may incur a large Medicaid transfer penalty should you need nursing home care and apply for Medicaid within five (5) years from transferring your home to your children. The transfer penalty will be based upon the full value of the Home. During the transfer penalty period you will have to privately pay the monthly nursing home bill. Additional risks are involved when you transfer home ownership to your children. The children now own your home. As the owners of the home, they can sell it, borrow against it and it becomes part of their estate. If the child dies, the house might now be owned by your daughter-in-law (depending on marital status and terms of your child’s Will) whom you don’t really get a long with and she might ask you to vacate the home or worse, decide to move in with you. The same concept applies if your child were to be involved in a lawsuit or have creditors who can attach judgments to the Home. By gifting the house to your children, they will receive the house with a “carry-over” basis. There are also negative tax implications to gifting the house to your children. 2. ARE THERE WAYS TO PROTECT MY PARENTS HOME IF ONE OF THEM SHALL NEED A SKILLED NURSING FACILITY FOR CARE? Yes sometimes there are better ways. If both spouses are living and one remains in the home, then that spouse will remain in the home. The ownership of the home will not prevent the other spouse from qualifying for Medicaid because a house is an exempt asset. Once the spouse enters the nursing home, the other spouse should consider transferring the Deed to the house to the community spouse. If the person entering the nursing home is an individual, then there are certain exempt individuals to whom the house could be...
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 19:15:45 +0000

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