Wow! great show today on the Charlotte Today Show! Greg, Colleen and Eugene talk about Lady Bird Deed’s and how they can SAVE YOUR HOME. Get the LBD Map here: mcelderlaw.com/lbd or call: 704-749-9244 to learn more.
Speaker 1: Well, many people work their entire lives to pay off their home just to lose them in the end. How is this happening and how can it be prevented?
Speaker 2: For that, we turn to Greg McIntyre with MacIntyre Elder Law. Greg, good morning, welcome to Charlotte Today, we’re glad you’re here.
Greg McIntyre: Thank you very much, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Okay, so let’s talk about this. A lot of people receive longterm care in their older years, whether it’s a nursing home or assisted living. How is longterm care resulting in people losing their homes?
Greg McIntyre: Yeah, so many people work 30 years to pay off a mortgage, they pay three times to the bank what they actually bought the house for. Then, because of the high cost of longterm care and they need it, maybe they have to roll to a benefit like Medicaid to pay for that care, that runs up a large lien that then ends up taking the house when it passes, say, to the children for example. That’s how people lose their houses all the time, all across this county and the state, and really across the country, frankly.
Speaker 1: Well, you say there’s a protective deed to go ahead to mitigate against that so what is this deed that we’re talking about?
Greg McIntyre: Sure. It’s called an enhanced life estate deed, it’s built off the framework of a traditional life estate deed, it’s nicknamed a Lady Bird Deed, so a Lady Bird Deed and that’s a hot buzzword in the estate planning and Elder Law world over the last few years.
Speaker 2: Lady Bird Deed.
Greg McIntyre: Lady Bird Deed.
Speaker 2: Okay, so how is this different from other deeds, can you explain it to us?
Greg McIntyre: Absolutely. A Lady Bird Deed would allow, say, a senior and/or spouse, senior or spouse, to own their home for the rest of their lives and then pass it on directly to whom they want to. Let’s say, for example, the kids. Outside of the will and estate process automatically, when the last one of, say, husband and wife passes away and Medicaid which has a look back period, three years for assisted living, five years for nursing home Medicaid, if you have to apply for that because of the high cost of care, then even if you put a Lady Bird Deed in or own the house within that period, it’s okay because it’s Medicaid policy in North Carolina to allow that and to allow the home to then flow through.
Greg McIntyre: They know they can’t back recover it and that has helped many, many people over, say, the last seven, eight years that we’ve been using them, protect the home, save the farm so to speak, and keep that in the family.
Speaker 1: Basically, it’s a pass through to my kids?
Greg McIntyre: Let’s say deed planning passes outside of the probate estate. North Carolina is not an expanded recovery state so where liens attach private creditors or the state have to go through the probate estate to put a lien on that property.
Speaker 1: Gotcha.
Greg McIntyre: It passes outside of that directly to the beneficiaries or the grantees, so to speak.
Speaker 2: Greg, you’ve put together this Lady Bird Deed Map, we showed it on the screen a moment ago, you’re holding a copy right there. How can viewers get a copy of that if they’d like one?
Greg McIntyre: Again, as you may know by now, I’m a very visual thinker so I put exactly what happens if you’re one of the 70% of seniors that need longterm care and have to roll to Medicaid. If there’s a Medicaid lien to pay for that care, how that can attach in probate, not get to, say, the kids. Then, how a Lady Bird Deed, and I’ve listed some of the attributes of the Lady Bird Deed, actually helps pass that outside of the probate estate directly to the children.
Greg McIntyre: To get a Lady Bird Deed Map, go to mcelderlaw.com/lbd. We abbreviated it. Mcelderlaw.com/lbd. Then the Saving the Farm Book, which we talked about before, we’re going to give away a free audio book, an eBook copy of Saving the Farm if you go get that Lady Bird Deed Map today as well.
Speaker 2: Saving the Farm, there’s a copy of the book right there. You wrote this really to help people with a lot of these issues, kind of what you’re talking about today, among other things.
Greg McIntyre: I couldn’t find a book like it out there that really spoke directly to the consumer, directly to seniors and their families, so I wrote Saving the Farm, a Guide to the Legal Maze of Aging in America. We’ve sold tens of thousands of copies of that book, given away a lot too, and we’re going to give away a copy of that today if you go to mcelderlaw.com/lbd to get the Lady Bird Deed Map.
Speaker 2: That’s the website to go to to get a copy of that. Greg, thank you so much for being here today. Appreciate, pleasure, thank you.
Greg McIntyre: Yes, thank you, thank you very much, thanks for having us.
Speaker 1: Protect your home.
Greg McIntyre: Absolutely, protect your home, sometimes it’s the biggest asset.
Speaker 1: I know, protect your home. All right, thank you. Well, coming up on Charlotte Today, it’s time to pull out the warm winter coats. How to help our neighbors stay warm this winter when you clean out your coat closet.
Speaker 2: To get a good night’s sleep the answer might be a bed in a box.
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