Estate Street Partners offers advanced financial advice to ensure maximum asset protection from lawsuits, divorce and Medicaid spend down
And now I would like to talk to you about elder care. On June 30 of 2009, the government has mandated rules and regulations on restricting the transfer of assets of the elderly. There is now a five year look-back provision if you apply to Medicaid to qualify for the nursing home – the Medicaid nursing home. These restrictive laws are intended to impoverish the healthy spouse.
Before you can qualify to receive, or to enter a nursing home, you must spend down your assets, which means that, if you are of the age where the nursing home may become an issue, in order to protect your wife, or the healthy spouse (i.e. you or your wife, whoever is not sick) you must do Medicaid planning 5 years earlier than the date that you went in to the nursing home. If you are the son or daughter of elderly parents, you should become fully aware of these very restrictive rules where the government is going to ask you to spend down all of your assets before you can become qualified for Medicaid eligibility. So if all of the assets are spent on the sick spouse, the healthy spouse has no place to go, so you, the son and daughter, will have to step in and support your mom or your dad.
You can avoid all the Medicaid spend down rules with proper estate planning. You can avoid the spend down of assets to cover for the costs of the nursing home by implementing the UltraTrust® irrevocable trust at least five years before the sick spouse enters a nursing home and at least five years before the application of Medicaid eligibility. Since you never know when you will need to apply for Medicaid and when your dad or mom or sick spouse will enter a nursing home it’s best to implement the UltraTrust® irrevocable trust for surefire asset protection.
Continue to read part 10 of 11 on the Ultra Trust® benefits as one of the best irrevocable trust plans for asset protection here: What is Ultra Trust® irrevocable trust asset protection?
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- Part 1 – Estate Street Partners
- Part 2 – What is the Ultra Trust®?
- Part 3 – What is a Trust?
- Part 4 – Asset Protection Plan
- Part 5 – Asset Protection Eligible Assets
- Part 6 – Irrevocable Trust Tax Benefits
- Part 7 – What is Probate?
- Part 8 – What is Estate Tax?
- Part 9 – What is the Ultra Trust®?
- Part 10 – Irrevocable Trust Benefits
Rocco Beatrice, CPA, MST, MBA, Managing Director, Estate Street Partners, LLC.
Mr. Beatrice is an asset protection award winning trust and estate planning expert.
To learn more about irrevocable trusts and senior elder care visit:
Helpful resources: Many readers also review Medicaid Irrevocable Trust, , and official Medicaid eligibility guidance before making final trust-planning decisions.
What readers usually compare next
Readers looking at Medicaid Spend Down Rules usually compare timing, control, and exposure before deciding what to do next.
Three practical points to keep in mind
- Timing matters because transfers and look-back rules can change what is possible.
- Funding matters because a trust has to hold the right assets in the right way to work as planned.
- Control matters because Medicaid planning works best when the structure matches the family’s actual care goals.
Helpful next steps
Readers often continue with Medicaid Irrevocable Trust, Irrevocable Trust, and FAQ. When government rules shape the decision, many readers also review official Medicaid eligibility guidance.
