Estate Planning Can Preserve Assets and Help with Medicaid Eligibility
The high cost of medical care affects everyone, and can devastate seniors who may face costly nursing home and health related costs. Planning ahead can preserve assets and help ensure Medicaid eligibility. If one lives in New York, there are Albany lawyers who specialize in elder law, including estate planning and Medicaid applications. Wherever one lives it pays to plan ahead to ensure that one’s assets aren’t threatened by escalating health care expenditures.
As people age they face many uncertainties. One of the major worries that older people face is that they fear their assets will be threatened by sky high medical costs. Many people work all of their lives to build up savings, own a home and make a comfortable living for themselves and their families. Without proper estate planning these assets could count against people when they go to make their Medicaid applications. The best time to plan an estate is before an emergency need arises. Lawyers can help people set up estate plans to arrange the transfer of assets upon death. They can also help seniors wisely arrange their financial affairs to help maximize chances for Medicaid eligibility.
Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that provides medical assistance to the needy. Many elderly depend on this program to pay for nursing home care. There are a number of points to consider when applying for Medicaid. There is an income test and a person’s assets have to be assigned as countable or not countable. These and several other criteria are taken into account to help make a successful Medicaid application. The sooner people begin their estate planning, the sooner elder lawyers can help with asset planning and gift plans to help ensure Medicaid eligibility. Even if a person is denied Medicaid, lawyers can review the application and see if there is a case to appeal the denial.
In addition to Medicaid application issues, there are many other estate planning matters that attorneys can address. One of these is a living will. A living will allows people to set up their wishes for their care in case they are not able to express them during an illness. Other important estate planning matters that lawyers can assist with are last wills and testaments, trusts, powers of attorney and advanced directives. All of these legal issues, when addressed early, can help people create a plan to preserve what they’ve worked so hard to accumulate. It’s advised that people obtain the assistance of an attorney to help with all of these estate planning matters.
Over the years many people work with attorneys for various matters, such as issues related to home ownership. Some people don’t set up estate plans until the need arises for nursing home care, and at that point, while establishing Medicaid eligibility is not impossible, it can be more difficult. It’s advised that people make some inquiries about estate planning with attorneys and ask questions about potential future need for Medicaid. These inquiries made today can help people set up estate plans that will bring peace of mind in the future.
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