Riley2166 Asked June 2021
Senior gives all assets away so 5 year penalty kicks in? What happens if help is needed and there is NO family and NOT a single penny left?
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Let's assume a senior, in basically good health, gives all assets away and suddenly needs nursing care. Medicaid looks back five years and imposes a penalty time for value of assets given away. What happens to the senior who has NO family, no one to help for money, and has absolutely nothing? Who steps in and what happens to them?
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We are splitting our estate 5 ways, among our 5 kids. We wanted 10% of that bequest, in each case, to go to our church. Our attorney walked us through the benefits of 'asking' each kid to pay 10% of their own free will, as it will give them a sizeable tax break AND they will be 'safe' from any kind of lookbacks.
When we made the will all 5 of our kids were active members of our church. Now only one is, and all 4 of the 'fall aways' have stated they will still donate the 10% because we asked them to, not because they 'believe'. The $1500 spent on the attorney was money well spent.
This, is, of course, contingent upon the premise that we won't require so much care in our dotage that there is anything left to inherit. First we take care of ourselves and then whatever is left is for the kids.
I HOPE we are never dependent on the state for our care. We've saved and invested so we won't have that dynamic. I hope.
If every person who could not longer afford their NH fees were on the street, well, the streets would be choked with them.
So, here is how it works. Let say A is an elderly woman who attends church and for the last 20 years has given $50 a week in the collection plate. When Medicaid looks at the money over the 5 years, they would consider that money an exempt gift because there was no intent to defraud and therefore no lookback penalty.
What you said in the above quote describes your intent, therefore, money would not be an exempt charitable gift. Your money is for your care and you should not expect taxpayers to foot your bill.
Private pay then when you die leave the remaining to a charity.
If so - don't! Make a will, and trust to your basically good health and good luck to protect your assets from the predations of long-term care needs: your charities will benefit all the same. Surely it's a risk you just don't need to take.
I used to get solicitations from charities which somewhat arrogantly presumed a death bequest and provided the form with the solicitation.
Good luck.
If there’s no family & they are not competent or cognitive, I imagine they would become a ward of the state. So they get a state appointed guardian. Guardianship confers a good deal of power. If there was skullduggery on how those assets transferred, the guardian could perhaps get APS and law enforcement to look into if someone took advantage of a vulnerable adult. There’s always a paper trail on real property and bank transactions, where the $ went & to whomever will surface.