There are few areas of estate planning more complicated or confusing than Medicaid planning. As people are living longer, it becomes more and more likely that we will spend the last years of our life receiving long-term care. The cost can easily be $60,000 annually or more, depending on the necessary level of care. And because the state has strict income and asset limitations before you can qualify for Medicaid to pay the bill, people without planning must essentially become impoverished before they are eligible.
You have worked hard, saved, and invested for your retirement years. You have real estate, tax-deferred retirement plans, annuities, business interests, and other savings, and each of these assets can be protected with the right planning.
At Tallgrass Estate Planning, we help clients with Medicaid planning in two different ways:
1. If you or your loved one needs long-term care immediately, we can help you create a strategy to spend or otherwise transfer your assets efficiently without violating Medicaid rules so that you become eligible for Medicaid as quickly as possible. Some clients also retain us to manage the Medicaid application process for them.
2. If there is no immediate need for long-term care, we can help protect any number and type of assets ahead of time so that they are not subject to a "spend down" when long-term care is needed.
Medicaid Asset Protection Trust
Sole benefit trust
First-party special needs trust
Medicaid-compliant annuities for tax-deferred assets
Promissory notes
Spend-Down strategies
