Making the move into a long-term care facility will throw any person’s life into chaos. Around the clock nursing care or inpatient rehabilitative services can be both stressful and expensive. In fact, these facilities have the ability to place liens on people’s homes and other property to pay for their services.
It is understandable that people would want to avoid this fate. While the Medicaid program covers the cost of most long-term medical care, it only applies to people who cannot afford it on their own.
Fortunately, a Raleigh Medicaid Trust lawyer may be able to help. By creating a Trust with the idea that a person may eventually need to enter a nursing home, parties can preserve their personal property and still qualify for Medicaid. Therefore, it is highly advisable to contact a seasoned trust attorney when creating an estate plan.
Many people in the area eventually require long-term care, and often move to an assisted living facility to meet this need. While this can be beneficial for many, it can place a substantial financial burden on them and their family. It is not unusual for long-term care facilities to charge thousands of dollars a month for both residential and nursing services.
The federal government recognizes that many people cannot afford these services and created the Medicaid program to cover most, or all the costs associated with nursing home care. However, this is only possible if a person has no assets from which to draw funds. This includes a family home that they may sell. Understandably, this creates a difficult choice for people who are already in frail health. Thankfully, effective estate planning with the help of a Medicaid Trusts attorney in Raleigh can help to solve this problem.
For most people, they want their family home to remain in the family in the event of their passing. Unfortunately, nursing home care can require the sale of this home for the funds necessary to pay for services. However, with proper estate planning, homeowners can avoid this result.
The most effective way to keep a home in the family is to place that home in an Irrevocable Trust. These Trusts function to transfer ownership of real estate to another person. As part of that agreement, the Trustee can allow the original owner to keep living on that property. This helps to lower a person’s assets when considering whether they qualify for Medicaid nursing home payments.
Unfortunately, Medicaid learned of this process and now has expanded the restriction on the Medicaid Trusts. In 2005, Congress lengthened the lookback period when determining a party’s eligibility for nursing home benefits. In section 1917(c)(1)(B)(i) of the Social Security Act, Medicaid can now examine a person’s finances for the previous five years when determining eligibility. For this reason, people in Raleigh should contact our attorneys now to place their home in a Trust to satisfy Medicaid’s new, lengthened requirement.
Not every part of estate planning has to do with what happens when a person dies. Many documents and plans can help to preserve a family’s future long before a death, such as the formation of an irrevocable Trust to protect the family home from the expenses involved with Medicaid.
Medicaid can provide funds for nursing home treatment, but only if a person cannot make those payments themselves. Medicaid will consider a home as an asset subject to liquidation for this purpose. However, if a party transfers control of this property to another through an irrevocable Trust, the home may avoid a forced sale. A Raleigh Medicaid Trust lawyer can help to craft these plans that work to keep a home within the family. Reach out today to learn more.