To qualify financially for long-term care Medicaid in Virginia, you must have countable assets (“resources”) totaling $2,000 or less. If you are applying for Medicaid and you are married, your spouse who is not receiving Medicaid may retain countable resources valued at one-half of your collective countable resources, or $120,900 (in 2017), whichever is lower. Countable resources include (but are not limited to) bank accounts, investments, retirement accounts, and real property other than your primary residence. Non-countable resources include one automobile, certain types of savings bonds and irrevocable prepaid funeral contracts, household goods and personal effects, and your primary personal residence, if you or your spouse are living there.
If you are applying for Medicaid to help pay for long-term care services in your own home, your home will not count against you. If you are applying for Medicaid to help pay for long-term care services in a nursing facility, but your spouse is remaining in the home, the home will not count against you. If you are single and applying for Medicaid to pay for long-term care services in a nursing facility, then the home will not count against you for a period of six months, beginning on the date you left the home. After you have been out of the home for six months, if there is no spouse remaining in the home, it is considered a resource available to you and from which you should be paying for your long-term care expenses. To avoid having the home counted against you at that point, you will need to make a good faith effort to sell the home, by listing it for sale at its tax assessed value. Failure to do so will mean that your Medicaid benefits end, and you will be responsible for the entire cost of your care.
There are steps we can take to protect your home and avoid having to list it for sale, with a little pre-planning. In certain situations, it makes sense to transfer a home to an irrevocable trust as a part of five-year planning before the need for long-term care arises (the transfer is subject to Medicaid’s five-year lookback period). In other situations, we may be able to use the “caretaker child” exception and transfer the home without penalty to a child who has lived with you and cared for you for at least two years, preventing you from requiring care in a facility during that time. There are other exceptions and strategies we may use, as well – transfers to a blind or disabled child or to a sibling who has lived in the home for at least a year and who has some interest in the property, for example, may be made without penalty.
Medicaid’s rules and regulations are intricate and frequently misunderstood. For questions relating to Medicaid eligibility and how you may qualify, work with a professional who is well-versed in this complex area of the law.
Ask Kit Kat – Fake or Real Fur
Hook Law Center: Kit Kat, how can you tell if fur is fake or real?
Kit Kat: Well, I know all the rage now is fake fur, but you have to be careful, because some retailers are still using real fur and advertising it as fake or ‘faux fur.’ The word “faux” is French for false or fake. To tell the difference, separate the fibers, and look to the base of the item. If you see a weave backing, then it is fake or faux. Also, the ends of the fur will be more blunt, and not tapered, as they would with real fur. I am not sure what the motivation to use faux fur is, but the practice is continuing. Frequent sources of real fur are factory-farmed raccoons, dogs, and rabbits.
Thank goodness the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) continues to monitor this situation. What they have found is not good news. All types of retailers from discount to high-end stores pass off real fur items as faux, when they are not. HSUS has alerted the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) that they have found 37 items sold by 17 retailers that are still using real fur. They make coats, footwear, purses, and keychains from the real fur. Up to now, the FTC has not fined any companies, but they have the power to do so. Pierre Grzybowski of HSUS says HSUS’ latest information is the result of 4 years of data collection. Until stronger action is taken by the FTC, the consumer can help by assuming that “anything that looks like animal fur might well be,” says Gryzbowski. Don’t fall for the fake products. Boycotting these items will speak volumes to retailers. (“Are you sure your fur is fake?” All Animals, November/December 2016, p. 9)
Distribution of This Newsletter
Hook Law Center encourages you to share this newsletter with anyone who is interested in issues pertaining to the elderly, the disabled and their advocates. The information in this newsletter may be copied and distributed, without charge and without permission, but with appropriate citation to Hook Law Center, P.C. If you are interested in a free subscription to the Hook Law Center News, then please telephone us at 757-399-7506, e-mail us at mail@hooklawcenter.com or fax us at 757-397-1267.The post Will Medicaid Take My House? first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>
Consider this example. Your mother created a Revocable Living Trust which divides one share of the trust among her then-living grandchildren, to be held in further trust for their benefit until they reach age 30, when they are entitled to an outright distribution of the remaining assets of their separate trust, and distributions are purely discretionary until age 30. When this trust was created, your daughter, who has Down Syndrome, was not yet born and like most people, your mother didn’t think to update her trust as a result of your daughter’s disability. When your mother dies, your daughter is 28 years old, is receiving SSI, lives in her own apartment that is subsidized by Section 8, and receives in-home support which is provided by a Medicaid waiver – she is happy and you know that your daughter’s current benefits and living arrangements provide a plan for her continued independence upon your death, and the loss of those benefits would jeopardize that plan. Your gut tells you that your daughter’s inheritance could be detrimental so you call Hook Law Center, and we inform you that a distribution of the assets at age 30 would cause your daughter to go over the $2,000 asset limit which would result in your daughter’s ineligibility for public benefits. We also explain that since your daughter is not yet 30, that pursuant to Virginia law, the trustee of the trust may exercise a decanting power by assigning trust principal or income to the trustee of a second trust (without the approval of the court of the beneficiaries) and that this second trust may be a special needs trust to protect your daughter’s public benefit eligibility.
While we have had to decant an old irrevocable trust into a special needs trust on a number of occasions, the question has often been whether this new second trust would be considered by the Social Security Administration and Medicaid offices to be a first-party special needs trust subject to a Medicaid payback, or whether this new trust would be considered a third-party supplemental needs trust. The first notable case pertaining to this issue was In the Matter of the Application of Alan D. Kross (N.Y.Surr.Ct. (Nassau Cty.), No. 2012-369907, Sept. 30, 2013). In that case, Daniel Schreiber was the beneficiary of his grandfather’s trust. Pursuant to the terms of the trust, Daniel was entitled to discretionary distributions of income and principal until age 21. Upon the age of 21, Daniel was entitled to mandatory income distributions paid at least quarterly, half of the principal at age 25, half of the remaining principal at age 30, and the balance of the trust assets at age 35. These mandatory distributions would have disrupted Daniel’s eligibility for SSI and Medicaid, so the trustees filed a petition requesting the court to approve the decanting of trust assets into a new third party supplemental needs trust prior to Daniel’s 21st birthday. The court determined, in addition to other things, that because the old trust was a third party trust, the decanting of the trust assets occurred prior to Daniel’s right to receive the mandatory distributions. Therefore, decanting into the third-party supplemental needs trust was proper, and that no Medicaid payback would be required for the new trust. The New York State Department of Heath appealed the decision, which was upheld by Supreme Court of New York, in Matter of Kroll v. New York State Department of Heath.
The breadth of this case’s impact is not yet known. It may be that this case, only sets a precedent in New York when a beneficiary has not yet obtained the age to receive the outright distribution, or it may extend to all states and in cases where the distribution standards of the trust cause the trust to be an available resource. Regardless of the impact, those of us that focus on helping persons with special needs now have something we can turn to in considering how the decanting of a trust into a special needs trust may be treated in the future.
Ask Kit Kat – Pet Sitters
Hook Law Center: Kit Kat, what should someone look for in the ideal pet sitter?
Kit Kat: Well, there are several things you can consider when deciding to hire a pet sitter. Some need a sitter while they are away at work, and others only require them while they are away on vacation. My parents use a local pet sitting service called Critter Care. They’ve used it for many years going back to the early 1990s. Over the years, we’ve had several caregivers, but all have been excellent. Critter Care screens its employees; they are bonded, so the hard work is done for you. During each caretaking session, the caregiver keeps a daily log of when they arrive and leave your house. They also write observations about how your pet(s) behaved while they were tending to them. As a bonus, they will take in the mail and trash and even water plants that might be in flower pots. Fees are based on the number of pets and number of visits needed. Since we are an all-cat family, once a day is sufficient, but they will come as often as you like. We really like this, because we get to stay in our own house, and do not have to go to the vet and hear dogs barking at all hours of the day and night. We cats find that very off-putting!
Other possible sources for finding pet sitters are through national associations such as the National Association of Pet Sitters (NAPPS) and Pet Sitters International. Or your vet may have some recommendations. Sitters through associations usually have the advantage of being able to read reviews of the possible candidates. Make sure before hiring someone, you actually interview them and see how they interact with your pet. Sometimes your instincts are the best guide. Wendy Pridgen of Boyds, Maryland says, ‘Sometimes you just have to trust your gut and go with what feels right to you.’ And if Ms. Pridgen’s experience is any guide, there will be ups and downs in the process. At first, she hired a college student, and things worked out for a year. Then, the college student became erratic. She used her to take care of her 2 large dogs who needed to be walked during Ms. Pridgen’s long work days. There were signs the student wasn’t coming, so Ms. Pridgen left a broom by the door the student would enter. Ms. Pridgen exited by another door. When she found the broom hadn’t been disturbed, she knew the student wasn’t taking care of her dogs. The student was fired, and she eventually found a new one through a listing on a bulletin board of a local convenience store.
So, be aware that when you hire a pet sitter, it’s like anything else. Sometimes your first efforts will not be successful, but you keep on trying until you find a good fit for both you and your pet. (Ruthanne Johnson, “Someone to watch over them,” All Animals, November/December 2016, p.34-37)
Distribution of This Newsletter
Hook Law Center encourages you to share this newsletter with anyone who is interested in issues pertaining to the elderly, the disabled and their advocates. The information in this newsletter may be copied and distributed, without charge and without permission, but with appropriate citation to Hook Law Center, P.C. If you are interested in a free subscription to the Hook Law Center News, then please telephone us at 757-399-7506, e-mail us at mail@hooklawcenter.com or fax us at 757-397-1267.The post Decanting an Irrevocable Trust to Protect Public Benefit Eligibility first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>