Elder Law and Medicaid Secrets Revealed.
Part 1.
“You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know.”
Think about those words. ‘You don’t know what you don’t know.’
This is your opportunity to know more because the more you know the better you can plan.
This blog post is big, it’s important so pay attention.
In this post I will reveal elder law secrets that can help you. It’s pulling back the carpet and giving away the farm time. These are the secrets you need to know to protect your hard earned money and property okay.
We’re talking pre-planning to protect against that long term health care situation.
It is estimated that 70% of seniors are going to need some type of long term care. I want to hammer that home. That’s a huge deal. That is what much of my time is devoted to fighting against.
All this makes me mad. I’m mad this morning.
With all the technology and advancements we have, people still do not know how to protect what is theirs. Do you know that, people (that means you) aren’t even aware of what they can do?
Now what am I talking about here? I’m talking about keeping hold of your assets, your property, and your retirement savings in your senior years.
So let’s go at it.
What will protect your hard earned money and property if you plan ahead?
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT).
This is one of the most important things you can learn. All of sudden they’re at your door. They’re saying you or a family member have to go into nursing home care, or a long term care facility. That day you need to understand what your options are, before it’s too late.
Watch the full interview here:
How does a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust work?
Imagine you have a big jar with a spout on the side in front of you. I’ve used this visual with my clients when I’m talking to them about this issue in my office.
This jar is your MAPT. You’re going to put some money in it right now. This is a way where we can put a portion of the money you have earned for retirement/ savings into that Medicaid Asset Protection Trust. Usually a half, or one third, or two thirds approach.
Now, you will need to set up a third party trustee, it could be one of your adult children that you really trust, or it could be a trust company that is set up. Once you’ve set it up they have a fiduciary duty to provide for your health and maintenance and welfare. This makes sure you stay in the same lifestyle you’ve become accustomed to. Income from your money will still come out of that spout on the side of the jar directly to you. It can be a direct deposit to your bank account if you want to use it that way.
Listen to the full podcast here:
What is the benefit of doing this?
First, imagine tapping the jar with a pen, that’s the clock ticking on the 5 year look back period. It starts that clock ticking. After that passes, everything in the jar is locked and protected from that Medicaid situation, that long term care situation.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, a look back period is a block of time in which Medicaid can look back to see if any of your assets have been transferred before applying for Medicaid.
You’re locking your money in to the MAPT and it’s protected after the date of those 5 years.
From the day you put anything into it, you can continue to put money or things in. You can put your house into it if you wanted to. It would be immediately protected against the look back period.
What would be the advantage?
Okay, here’s a big one.
A Ladybird Deed can protect your house immediately against Medicaid spending against the look back period. That’s the advantage of a Ladybird deed. You own it, it’s yours.
But what you can do with a Medicaid Asset Protection trust, apart from starting the clock ticking, is you can take your house and put it in the MAPT and all the rest of your property if you want. Once the look back period has passed, I can sell that house within the environment of the MAPT. The money stays there. It’s still in there from the proceeds of the sale.
It’s still protected.
However, if you have a Lady-Bird Deed and sell your house, you, personally, realize a large sum of money which if you were already on Medicaid, would short circuit that benefit and Medicaid would immediately stop paying.
So, with a MAPT, I can sell that house, what else can I do? I might be able to buy other property. Well in that environment of the MAPT, I could direct my trustee to do just that.
Future Presentations
There is a lot of important information that I want to give you but I do not have room for in this post. Because of this, I will be giving a number of presentations on Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts specifically, and on Medicaid crisis planning (part 2 of this blog post).
If you’re in a situation where your parent or parents are going to a nursing home, or you’re spouse is going there or already there, and you see the money disappearing, and it’s breaking your heart and your bank accounts, call our office at 704 259 7040.
We will schedule you a time to come in and meet with me, or pre-qualify you for one of these seminars. This is for people who need that information right now, right this minute.
Another Option for you.
In early February 2016, I have a book coming out called ‘Saving the Farm.’
We are going to have a book launch at the Life Enrichment Center in Shelby and everyone is invited to it. The tentative date for this event is Thursday February 11, and I will confirm that date and time in the coming weeks.
‘Saving The Farm,’ is a book on helping families with wealth preservation. I named it that because my grandfather was forced to sell his farm due to health care costs. This is one of the reasons I became an elder lawyer, to help others going through a similar situation.
It is not just about Elder Law topics, although you are going to get all the details about how to save your hard earned money and property right there.
If you do want to implement a plan however, you might want to give me a call but the book is going to give you a lot of topics that I can’t cover here.
You need this book so you know how to plan. I have boiled it down to about a hundred and fifty pages, so it’s quite concentrated. You can read it in a few sittings. It’s also a reference book about anything I’m talking about here or anything related, even senior dental care.
I hope the information here is useful to you. If you are one of those desperately searching for answers, then call me at my office 704 259 7040.
My name is Greg McIntyre and I am an Elder Lawyer.
Look out for special information about the ‘Saving the Farm,’ book launch party in February this year.
I look forward to seeing you there.
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Call me if you have any questions:
Greg McIntyre
Elder Law Attorney
McIntyre Elder Law
123 W. Marion Street, Shelby
704-259-7040
