Medicaid asset protection trust. Met with an attorney last week to discuss this.
For my mom who’s 84. She declined to do this.
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I have a friend who wants to research implications of possibility of Disability designation prior to SS/Medicare (I think age is 64). Any recommendation for helpful websites or other resources?
There are two kinds of disability, SSDI which is based on earnings, and SSI which is not. I don’t know much about SSDI but I have worked with several psychotherapy clients who were turned down multiple times for SSI until a law firm got the documentation they needed for approval. Your friend’s city or state should have advocates that can help.
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Agree. And sometimes, it is safer for someone to be in an assisted living or skilled nursing facility (in terms of physical environment - one floor living, wide doorways, etc. And in terms of trained staff who know how to “move” you from the bed to the bathroom, to a chair, etc.)
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I am glad to hear about this and will look into for my parents - thank you!
DH was just telling me my parents (who are prepping to move into a retirement community) should not sell their 2nd home so they have a bunch of cash - but wouldn’t real estate be considered an asset?
Consult an attorney about all of this. There is a 5 year look back for a Medicaid application but once the trust starts every month it’s in trust is a month less that you don’t have to pay for.
An elder attorney will explain all of this. We just met with an attorney and got another opinion about Medicaid asset protection trusts.
There are also 2nd home trust but I don’t know how they fit into qualifying for Medicaid.
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We are going to have new wills made in a couple of weeks. Any suggestions!
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Only suggestion: work with a reputable estate attorney licensed in your state! 
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Great idea to work on your will (and also “incapacity docs” - power of attorney, health care proxy, healthcare power of attorney; names can vary by state but you get the idea).
While you are at it, it’s a good idea to check the beneficiaries and alternates (including stock POD - Pay on Death) on your accounts. Those designations will supersede your will. Having this list correct is important to 1) avoid probate where that is the intention, such as designating spouse as beneficiary 2) ensure you don’t have any old beneficiaries listed that are not as intended or have passed away
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I am!
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Yes. We were asked to bring all of this with us…and we have it all.
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We made new wills etc. a year or so after moving to San Diego and settling my mother’s estate. Our estate planning specialist was referred by our realtor. After sending an update a few years back, I learned she had been appointed as a Superior Court judge and we’d been reassigned to another associate. I was annoyed that we hadn’t been notified of the change but there’s nothing much more we ever need to do until we die, so oh well.
Fidelity gives some good advice:
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Important suggestions from other posters (especially regarding beneficiaries on your accounts!). You can be most efficient with your attorney’s billable hours when you pre-think some situations in advance, however.
Since you have college age “kids” I suggest writing wills that can evolve over the next 10-15 years.
For example, if you’re hit by a bus and have 18-23ish year olds…do you want them to have all your bank, brokerage, retirement accounts, house, etc. all at once…?
Or would you prefer to have your assets go into a trust that perhaps your sibling(s) or attorney manage until your kids are a certain age?
If hit by bus before kids turn 30 than ____, if after 30 then ______
This isn’t part of my will, but I’ve also written out what I call a Personal Money Statement that I’ve shared with my sibling that outlines how all of my assets are invested, account numbers, passwords, details, and most importantly guidelines, such as my overall portfolio is 80/20 and I’d like her to rebalance twice a year (and how to do this).
I’ve also let her know that I’d like my son to know that he can keep the house if he wants, and that decisions about anything don’t need to be made right away - not to worry. (I talked with my son about this part this year, but if I’m hit by a bus tomorrow, he’ll need to hear it from her, too!)
I also prefer that she keep the actual portfolio balance private until he is 25 years old, then she and my son will co-manage the portfolio for 5 years, and then at 30 years old he’ll drive solo.
But part of my personal money statement is also: this is how I’d be handling things if I were there; I’d like you to continue with my underlying thinking as seems prudent, but I trust you to make the best decisions with future changing circumstances.
My youngest kid graduated from undergrad in 2010.
One of our kids will be designated to handle our finances if we can’t, and the other medical. They are 35 and 38…so they can handle this.
We don’t really have a complicated estate.
@Marilyn we have already chosen our estate lawyer. This is what she does primarily. She helped us when my mom died and we were very pleased with her…and her office.
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If one of your kids and not the other will be designated to handle the finances, do both your kids know that? (And vice versa on the medical?).
If they don’t, it can be a good idea to chat about it either together or separately in the interest of their future relationship as siblings.
For some families one child handling things could bring up resentment (“Mom and Dad always treated me like I was the screw up, and she was the smart one” or “Sally/Bob was always their favorite”). While for other families it could be a relief (“thank goodness they put Michelle/Michael on handling all the accounts, I wouldn’t want to do that if you paid me”).
In any event, chat about it so that it doesn’t impact them in an unanticipated way after you’re gone.
(In my case, we’ve had family meetings with my sister and I and our 80 something parents; there are some things I handle, some things my sister handles, but we’re careful to ensure that we both feel like we’re playing to our strengths and are working as a team.)
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Yes. One kid is a doctor, and the other works part time for a financial planner. They both are well suited for the jobs…and yes, they agree with this.
And they know that communicating well will be needed and are prepared to do so. These are 30 something kids…not HS or college students.
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It can be a good idea to split duties across kids, share the workload - executor, POA, medical. We have friends who are doing that.
We actually did our wills in a community class (presented by a lawyer, who also brought a notary along). Most people will want to consult a lawyer, but for our purposes where almost everything is set up with spouse beneficiary (kids alternates) it is OK. We could for free have new wills (and trust if desired) for “free“ from our fee-only financial planning firm… we may do that down the road.
The strong advise from the lawyer was to not assign co-executors. We opted to pick our older kid as executor etc, since she’s the one who lives locally and was an econ major. But I suspect there would be a lot of collaboration (and hiring of lawyer help) someday.
I’m not saying that co-executor designation is never appropriate for other families. It’s just something to research and ponder carefully.
We just met with an elder attorney to update some things for my mom. And he said, please no co-executors! It’s ok because my sister said that she didn’t want to be an executor and would decline it.
So I guess I’m it. By no choice of mine. Story of my family
We will only have one executor…the kid who lives IN our state. We will discuss this with the lawyer because there is a chance neither kid will be residing where we will be residing. So…will try to figure that out.
We want to also make sure as much as possible does not have to go through probate.
POA or whatever for finances will be handled by one kid, and health stuff by the other. Sorry I wasn’t clear on that.
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I have 3 kids and a revocable trust.
There are three main responsibilities: alternate trustee, power of attorney, health care proxy.
Each kid is primary for one of those roles, but they are also secondary and tertiary on the other roles in the event that someone is unable or unwilling to fulfill at the time.
I also named 1 of my siblings to fulfill any roles if designee was under the age of 35. In a few months, she will be off the hook when my youngest hits that milestone.
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