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My Korean War vet uncle should qualify for A&A by service dates and LTC needs. He currently lives in AL and is paying out of pocket with his own funds. He is down to about $140K in his name and has $1500/month SS as his only consistent income.


Five years ago, an elder care attorney put the bulk of his assets in an irrevocable trust for Medicaid planning purposes. Since all he needs is AL right now, we hope to apply for A&A and then use the A&A and supplement it with money from the trust (trustee will pay AL directly from trust funds.)


Question: He will dip down below $129K in 2 months. He should qualify then, right? If he qualifies in 2020, will A&A retro back and pay him his full benefit for all care costs incurred in 2020?

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Article I found.

https://www.veteransaidbenefit.org/what-is-the-asset-net-worth-limit-for-aid-and-attendance-pension.htm#:~:text=Up%20to%20December%201%2C%202020,(Income%20for%20VA%20Purposes).
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Helpperson, these kinds of issues often turn on other factors which are hard for others like posters to identify, analyze and predict.   I think your best option is to contact the American Legion or VFW and ask for assistance.  They provide it for free, as it should be, since it's illegal to charge for advice although some attorneys do try to recoup their losses by "managing" the veteran's assets.  DON'T fall for that trap.

Are you in AL as well?   If not, is there someone who can help him get to the local VA center, or a state or county VA office so that he can get help?  Many of the staffers in these help centers are veterans themselves, and in my experience they often go out of their way to help other veterans in need.

In my area, the VA also provides some level of transit for veterans w/o their own transportation.
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Funny! If I recall, we didn't buy the Rolex because they do make you disclose any personal items over a certain value! Yes, that's why!
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I think that they now base eligibility on net worth, not assets any more, but I honestly don't know how the trust plays in to that. But I did recently go through the process for my dad and I know that they will retro the benefit back to the date they received the application, or the date they received a form called "Intent to File", they don't just automatically retro for the whole calendar year. It took us 8 months for the application to get approved and so Dad got a nice lump sum that we use to take a bit out of each month to pay for AL since the A&A + SS are still not enough. Let me know if you have any questions about the process! Good luck!
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Helperson132 Aug 2020
Thanks for that help. I'm pretty sure his net worth would also be $140K now. He gave the bulk of his assets to an irrevocable trust 5 years ago and hasn't given any money away since then. The whole thing is a little strange. For example, I could just prepay his AL for a few months and that would drop his net worth down to the level. I found this info on the web:

"VA regulations graciously provide an unlimited exemption for a veteran’s personal residence, the veteran’s vehicle, and personal belongings."

Well, if his personal belongings are excluded, why couldn't he just buy that Rolex watch that he always wanted? That would also drop his net worth down to the level where he would be able to apply. It seems there are ways to accelerate the asset draw-down to get below the threshold and not violate any rules.
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