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Hi there-
Planning ahead for my mom and figured I could get some insight here.
My mom will be 81 in February and I would describe her as someone who is in "okay" health.
As we know health can deteriorate sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly does it make sense to move her assets ( all liquid now) into one or more of her kids accounts?
The logic being that if she ever has to go into a nursing home or even assisted living that all her money won't evaporate and she can just have Medicaid pay for it?
Any thoughts or concrete knowledge on this situation would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
This is so sleazy in my mind. Her money should be used for her expenses. I believe it is immoral to hide or transfer your expenses to benefit your family (and then make the government pay for her care). Sneaky and wrong.
This is so sleazy in my mind. Her money should be used for her expenses. I believe it is immoral to hide or transfer your expenses to benefit your family (and then make the government pay for her care). Sneaky and wrong.
How about if you could buy favorable legislation to make it legal, not "sneaky" and, therefor "OK"?
To the original question: It's actually legal to do that but if you need that nursing home within five years of disbursing the assets it will be for nought. Medicaid will look back five years to see if the money was given away for what appears to be the purpose of getting Medicaid to pay and ding the estate to pay it back. If your mother transfers assets and can hold out for more than 5 years I supposed she and the relatives who got the money would be home free.
That would not be sneaky or illegal or immoral. It's all perfectly legal.
This is so sleazy in my mind. Her money should be used for her expenses. I believe it is immoral to hide or transfer your expenses to benefit your family (and then make the government pay for her care). Sneaky and wrong.
Well, people do it all the time. There are ads on the radio for lawyers who will set up a trust to hide the money and one of the radio commentators the other night was saying it's a good idea.
Maybe if we had affordable health care and nursing home care, people wouldn't have to impoverish themselves like this.
If you want to know what I have seen and think is wrong is people who hide their assets to get into subsidized elderly housing. This kind of housing (in the states I know of anyway) has long waiting lists and none is being built to replace the old falling apart 400 sq ft apartments. The people who have to live there certainly don't enjoy it, but they live there because they have to. Then there are these people who give their money, houses, etc. to their kids so they are poor and can get into housing. Usually it's a man who wants a bachelor pad. I knew a man who had an entire farm and a nice house, put it into his kids' names and took up a hard to get apartment in elderly housing. Knew another one who owned a business--did the same thing. It's a racket and they get away with it when they have a perfectly good place to live. So they keep most of their belongings at their real house and go there whenever they feel like it. But they also have their bachelor pad. In very old age, they usually end up back at their old home. Now THAT sort of thing is very wrong!
How about if you could buy favorable legislation to make it legal, not "sneaky" and, therefor "OK"?
To the original question: It's actually legal to do that but if you need that nursing home within five years of disbursing the assets it will be for nought. Medicaid will look back five years to see if the money was given away for what appears to be the purpose of getting Medicaid to pay and ding the estate to pay it back. If your mother transfers assets and can hold out for more than 5 years I supposed she and the relatives who got the money would be home free.
That would not be sneaky or illegal or immoral. It's all perfectly legal.
Gotcha...i actually just googled and saw that about the 5 year look back. I wonder is she would have to liquidate the assets or simply transfer the securities into different accounts.
And yeah, a lot of things are sleazy , yet are sanctioned by society. I don't want to turn this into a threads about all the awful injustices in the world so I'd like to stay on topic
That would not be sneaky or illegal or immoral. It's all perfectly legal.
The ethics of this type of medicaid planning are very dubious. So, might not be illegal but the immoral part is highly debatable. Here are some relevant links -
"That bit of relativism, however, does not erase a basic fact: Anyone who engages in legal Medicaid planning is attempting to qualify for a government program for the indigent when they do have at least some assets that could pay for their care.
The ethics of this type of medicaid planning are very dubious. So, might not be illegal but the immoral part is highly debatable. Here are some relevant links -
"That bit of relativism, however, does not erase a basic fact: Anyone who engages in legal Medicaid planning is attempting to qualify for a government program for the indigent when they do have at least some assets that could pay for their care.
You might want to read some threads on this forum and on the caregiving forum about Medicaid Nursing Homes. Then decide if you want to subject your mom to that if it's not necessary.
The main 2 articles are 14 and 23 years old so not sure if the same system is in place now
Were you inclined to ponder them, you will find that the ethical issues are quite unaltered by the passage of time. The program for the indigent that medicaid planning attempts to qualify for has become much poorer relative to the need. You will do what you like - but that'll not change the ethics of it.
Hi there-
Planning ahead for my mom and figured I could get some insight here.
My mom will be 81 in February and I would describe her as someone who is in "okay" health.
As we know health can deteriorate sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly does it make sense to move her assets ( all liquid now) into one or more of her kids accounts?
The logic being that if she ever has to go into a nursing home or even assisted living that all her money won't evaporate and she can just have Medicaid pay for it?
Any thoughts or concrete knowledge on this situation would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Her money is for her, and if she needs it for her care, good for her for having it available for that use. Many old people make sure they have money for their care in their old age, and that's what her money is for....her money being used for her care isn't "evaporating."
I'm saying it's her money, not yours, so stop trying to figure out a way to keep it from her.
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