As a U.S. veteran, if you need nursing home care, you may be entitled to one of the first-class VA nursing homes we have here in Alabama. Your wife, however, will not be so fortunate. If she needs nursing home care, she will have only three ways to pay for that care: 1. Out of your assets and income; 2. From a long-term care policy, (if you have one) or 3. Medicaid.
Medicaid has some strict rules that must be observed before their coverage will begin. One rule says that, in general, your countable assets must be $2,000 or less in order to qualify for benefits. Many people would prefer that their modest life-savings be used to help their grandchildren with educational expenses or be left to their children as an inheritance, rather than being used to pay for a service that Medicaid would otherwise provide. The problem is that they don’t do anything to make this happen until it is too late to protect their estate!
It costs about $6,000 per month to stay in a nursing home. You do the math to see how long your life-savings will last before you run out of money. Most people are destitute within 15 months of entering a nursing home. The average stay in a nursing home exceeds four years, by the way.
When you set up a Medicaid/Asset Protection Trust, you are transferring your assets out of your names now, which starts the Medicaid five-year clock to tick. This means that, five years from the date your trust is funded, you can apply for Medicaid benefits and your assets will be completely protected. Establishing your trust now starts protecting your assets now, not later when the rules might have changed, when you might not be as healthy, when you might not even have the mental capacity to put any plans in place. Of course, you don’t have to apply after five years, but if you need to, your assets will not be subject to the spend-down requirements of Medicaid and your home will be protected from a Medicaid lien.
An additional benefit to establishing your trust is that you will also qualify for the VA benefit known as Aid and Attendance, which may pay you up to $1,949 per month in a tax-free pension benefit. Even after your death, your widow is eligible for over $1,000 per month in widow’s benefits! If you qualify for this benefit, your status as a veteran changes for the better, meaning that if you do need a VA nursing home, you move up near the front of the line. Your wait might be 3 to 6 months with the benefit whereas without it, your wait might be years.
What is it really worth to protect your entire estate, avoid costly nursing home bills, qualify for a veteran’s pension benefit and avoid probate at your death? You be the judge. Call us today to learn more.
Who can predict the future? No one knows how healthy they will be next week, much less next year. You can protect your entire estate from having to be spent for nursing home expenses, IF YOU ACT NOW. 205/823-8916.
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