Father has entered SNH. Has enough assets to private pay for about 1 year. My question is this. Should I split parents money, mostly CDs into 2 separate accounts for the spend down period. I would use father's account to spend on SNH and medical expenses. Keep Mom's accounts separate. Keep the joint checking account to pay for house and regular living expenses. Dad's income is around $2100/month. Mom's is around $1200.
Any Medicaid financial help links?
If that happens, it means he has to stay private pay till approved. And mark & mom will have to find $ to private pay till his Medicaid clears the application.
Btw for “income”, only his monthly income counts for his eligibility and for his copay to the NH. Her income not a factor for his eligibility. But their assets are considered joint. Problem arises IF she doesn’t spend all her income and it then flows over to become an asset. Medicaid has a ceiling on the CS asset limit. If she puts the max assets into it (most states are 120k) to start with and doesn’t pay attention, she could find herself over the allowed limit. She’s gonna have to submit her financials for his renewals. It'll show up.... If CS has real income & assets, they have to pay attention not to go over the limit.
www.nelf.org can help you find a certified elder law attorney that will be able to help you understand what you can or should do to ensure your moms quality of life.
was just going to divide the CD's when they come due into 2 separate checking accounts.
then use my father's account to pay the nursing home and his medical bills.
If she has CD or their joint but bank will allow moved to just her name, they might be able to stay as a CD for her asset. If the CDs are old, she might want to do this as they actually pay decent interest.
My mom was a widow and had CDs & Tbills. Once she went into IL, she closed them out as they set to renew and into her checking account. It was beyond hard to see stuff paying high interest rates being cashed out. See if bank will roll over to just her name later on if needed before they close them out.
Threading out what can or cannot be your mom’s asset & income for her to have as a CS aka Community Spouse is not at all simple. It is not a 50/50 split. The regulations for what is “income” for her & what her “asset” limits are depends on just how your state does Medicaid. There is no 1 single path.
CS situations, especially if she is a Younger spouse or healthy older spouse, can & should be set up differently than for a CS that is like months away from herself needing to go into a NH.
Actually moving their $ now to shelter what was jointly held assets into just her name could pose gifting transfer inquiry issues for his Medicaid application. If you don’t know just how to answer correctly any ? state asks of dad or mom within days of state correspondence to them, there could be penalty placed on dads application. Transfer penalty stuff is not for the newbie to wade thru.
Your parents have $ & enough apparently for him to 100% private pay for a yr or so. They have the $ to pay for an atty. a NAELA or CELA level of elder law attorney would be my suggestion for you to find. This site has a link at the bottom on the page for attorneys. Their website will list if the firm is NAELA or CELA.
Its little things that morph into a total butt rash. Like couples are allowed only 1 car as an exempt asset. If there’s 2 Medicaid denied. Most couples have a car each. But what to do that’s best is very interdependent on what mom’s probable future is.... like it may be better to get rid of both and she buys a new car and then the atty files for exemption to attached some of dads income that normally would be required to be his copay to the NH to instead be “waived” to go to her as she has that car note ATOP her regular living costs. At her $1200 a mo income, she may be viewed as having plenty of $ for her community living costs & needs zero extra.....unless she can show monthly expenses beyond what $1200 would cover. But getting this isn’t simple. Atty will know what is needed to increase her CSRA or MMNA above $1200. Community Spouse Resource Allowance, Monthly Maintenance Needs Assessment- think of it as kinda like old school alimony for mom. But doing it and doing it correctly not a DiY.
Also your dad at $2100 a mo, is kinda at the edge for max income. It really depends on the income max allowed by your state and before anything taken from it. Some states are under 2k for income limit. It’s something to clearly go over with atty about & way before he’s out of $.
If they are like most couples, they have each other as their life insurance beneficiary or worse have their Estate as beneficiary. If mom gets hit by a bus and predeceases dad, it totally clusterF his Medicaid eligibility.... as he now inherited $ via life insurance. These are just some examples of how stuff can go amiss. Really CS / NH situation not a DIY. Get an experienced attorney and try to do all this started over this summer.
Igloo is the AC guru for Medicaid, absolutely follow the recommendations because it will get your mom the most money possible and ensure that dad is approved.
Do you know what your states Medicaid cap for income is? My dad made 14.00 a month to much and that meant we needed to do a qualified income trust aka miller trust. So it can get complicated and take time to get all set up.
Please interview all the attorneys in your area that will give you a free consultation, this will help you pick the one that meets the needs for the best price available.
We used a certified elder law attorney and he was cheaper than an estate and tax attorney because that is what he does every day.
Best of luck and please let us know how you handle it. We learn from one another and your experience can help others. Thanx.
$14, that’s less than cost of suitcase of beer or 2 bottles of Costco Prosecco. Yet too much income to be LTC Medicaid eligible.
well thank goodness he was in a state that allows for Miller Trusts to be done..... I shudder to imagine if not.