Episode 6: In this episode of Protect Your Nest, Attorney Brandon Lawrence provides an in-depth guide on the legal vehicles necessary for Medicaid nursing home preparation. He explains that in Kentucky, individuals must meet strict financial criteria, including a monthly income limit and a total asset limit. Beyond finances, applicants must be at least 65 years old or have a medical professional certify their need for 24-hour skilled nursing care. Brandon explains the challenge of the five-year look-back period, where Medicaid reviews all financial transactions prior to the application date to identify any attachable assets. To navigate this, he recommends using irrevocable trusts, which effectively remove assets from a person's "countable" resources by transferring ownership to the trust.
Brandon also explains how your situation might call for a Medicaid asset protection trust, an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) and explains how a Miller Trust (or Qualified Income Trust) can hold surplus funds to maintain eligibility. He also warns that without these vehicles, nursing homes can liquidate a family home through probate after a resident passes away to recoup costs. It's important to starting this planning as early as possible. Ultimately, Brandon's goal is to help clients use these tools to preserve their income and pass their legacy to the next generation.
Chapters:
00:40 Welcome and Introduction
04:32 The Medicaid Spend Down
05:49 Irrevocable Trust: Shifting Ownership to Protect Assets
09:21 Other Types of Trust
17:33 Legacy Preservation and Avoiding Estate Recovery
18:58 Conclusion
These are some short, simple ways, and also if you want to get some more in-depth conversation about these or go into more details, specifics on how to utilize these tools and some more tools, you can always contact me at LawyerForTheCity.org. You can email me, call me, and then we can set up an appointment and go in depth and look at what type of vehicle will be best for you. Would it be a revocable trust? Would it be an irrevocable trust? Will it be a Will? What are your plans? What are your goals for protecting your money for qualifying for Medicaid if you need to get into a nursing home? Because also in addition with the nursing homes, they only have a certain amount of Medicaid beds. All the beds are not allocated for Medicaid. You have a certain amount of Medicaid beds, and this is with memory care, with nursing homes and other type of senior facilities that serve the aging population.
The best thing that you can do is try to prepare early, as early as you can and to put yourself in the most advantageous position because obviously it's extremely important. And hopefully we're all going to age into a ripe old age, and some of us are going to need more assistance than others. And we don't really know what situation we're going to be in, if we'll have our spouse, if we won't, if we'll have our family around, if we won't. So we want to take the most precautions and make the best plan that's going to be most beneficial to us. And that's what we all strive to do.
There are tools out there to help you to do that, and you want to take advantage of them and go to a professional that can help you out and assist you with making the best plan most suitable for you. And I thank you for listening. Look forward to coming back and give you some more information on another episode of Protect Your Nest. And in the meantime, it's getting warm out there. The snow is melting, but still watch your step and take care of yourself. Until next time, this is Brandon Lawrence, the Lawyer for the City.
For More Information:
Website: www.LawyerForTheCity.org
Phone: (502) 996-7735
This podcast is meant to provide information and is not legal advice. Brandon's principal office is located at 101 N. 7th Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202.
