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Should I Borrow Against My House to Pay the Nursing Home?
It is not too unusual for a child to try to cover the cost of a parent’s nursing home stay by taking out a home equity loan against the parent’s house. Wise move or not? Let’s assume Daughter took out...
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The Inheritor’s Trust
Many times Baby Boomer client has parents who have a fair amount of money, as does the Boomer client. If the parents simply leave their money to the child as an outright gift under the parents’ wills...
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Doesn’t Medicaid Exempt $12,000 per Year Gifts?
Many people are aware that there is some exemption for gifts, but the details are a little hazy. Usually it goes something like this, “I thought there was a $10,000 per person exemption for gifts, so...
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My Spouse Has to Go into a Nursing Home…How Much Can I Keep?
Most people know that in order to qualify for Medicaid coverage of a long-term stay in a nursing home, the nursing home resident cannot own more than $2,000 in cash or other “countable” assets. But if...
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Medicaid Annuities: How Do They Work? (Part 1)
In order to qualify for Medicaid, a single individual cannot have more than $2,000 in countable assets, and a couple cannot have more than $106,400. Any excess must be either spent down till it’s gone...
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Medicaid Annuities: How Do They Work? (Part 2)
Let’s take another look at how you can use Medicaid annuities. Say you’re single and in the nursing home, and you have about $100,000 of “excess” assets. What can you do to qualify for Medicaid...
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Medicaid and the Best Way to Title the Home
“Should I put the kids’ names on the deed?” “Should I take my wife’s name off the deed?” “Should I just sell the house now?” These and similar questions are some of the most important that clients ask...
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Life Estates in Medicaid Planning
Often an elder law attorney will suggest that clients transfer their home to their children, retaining a “life estate.” What does that mean, and what are the consequences of such an arrangement? When...
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Medicaid and Failure to Elect Against the Will of a Spouse
In a recent case in New Jersey a man died survived by his wife, who was then living in a nursing home. Under NJ law (as in most states) one spouse cannot disinherit the other spouse, no matter what the...
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My Neighbor Told Me About His Medicaid Planning – Can’t I Do the Same Thing?
Clients sometimes come to me having already done some home-brew Medicaid planning, probably because they got some tips from their neighbor or simply were afraid of the perceived high cost of lawyers....
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