Recent changes in federal and state legislation may have affect on your estate or retirement planning.
New legislation is being issued in many states across the country which allows a court to seize new assets for purposes of medicaid recovery. Now, a state may be able to recover medicaid related health-care costs from a person’s joint bank accounts, real estate, annuities, or other assets. Obviously, this can have a big impact on a person’s overall estate.
The change in legislation in many states is related to the national economy and budget shortfalls. In fact, there has been discussion for some time on changes to federal legislation as it relates to medicaid recovery. However, often times it is up to individual states to legislate on the recovery of health-care costs related to medicaid expenditures from individual, personal estates. The reason for this often relates to a state’s power to essentially “police” their own citizens rather than allowing the federal government to do so.
If you are a medicaid recipient and believe that you may be facing large medical expenses which medicaid may reimburse, your should talk to a qualified Apple Valley MN estate planning attorney about your estate.
I have an 8 year old revocable living trust on my house. The main reason I did this is to protect it from being eaten up by a nursing home some time in the future so that I could leave something to my children. Now I have been reading that sometimes a living trust can make me ineligible for medicade. Is that true?
If so what would be the best thing to do?
Hello. I cannot give legal advice through this forum. Furthermore, I am not sure what state you are in or where you are posting from. The law changes depending on what state you live in. However, it does sound like the minor would be a candidate for a Special Needs Trust. I do not know what kind of trust you currently have, but that is my first thought upon reading your comment. I would be happy to speak further with you about this issue if you contact my office. Thank you.