Boston & Braintree Medicaid Planning and Asset Protection Lawyer
I help clients navigate the complex Medicaid eligibility rules and properly plan for the possibility that they or their spouses may require nursing home care.
Medicaid Eligibility
Medicaid, administered in Massachusetts by MassHealth, will pay nursing home and long-term care expenses for medically and financially eligible individuals. Medicaid planning involves implementing appropriate and permissible strategies to protect your assets while at the same time meeting future medical needs.
Irrevocable Trusts
One planning strategy for protecting assets involves the use of trusts. When assets are placed in a qualifying irrevocable income-only trust, those assets are no longer owned by the person who created the trust, and five years after the transfer, those assets will not prevent that person from qualifying for Medicaid.
As a result, the transfer of assets into a qualifying irrevocable trust must take place at least five years before you apply for Medicaid long-term care benefits. Otherwise, the applicant will be subject to a period of ineligibility. Generally, asset transfers done in the five years before you apply for Medicaid benefits to pay for a nursing home may cause you to be ineligible for benefits.
We Can Help
Medicaid planning poses unique challenges to every family and requires individual solutions. I strongly recommend that no one should attempt Medicaid planning without the guidance of an experienced elder law attorney. Your wish for asset protection must be tailored to your circumstances and goals and must comply with Medicaid and public benefits rules and laws.
