You’ve worked your entire life to build your assets and wealth, so why should you need to sacrifice all of it to get skilled nursing home care? Asset protection is possible when you work with an experienced elder attorney services firm like Elder Attorney Services Long Island. We can help you to explore your asset protection options and take advantage of Medicaid without losing everything you’ve worked so hard to build.
7 Common Asset Protection Mistakes
- Relying Only on a Will or Living Trust: Wills do not take effect until your death. Living trusts can have benefits over a will, but they also will not protect your assets from nursing homes or the government.
- Relying on Medicare or Health Insurance Only: Health insurance or Medicare cannot independently cover the entire cost of a nursing home. The average cost of long-term nursing home care well exceeds ten thousand dollars a month, and without a smart plan that incorporates multiple funding sources, many families will deplete their savings rapidly.
- For 2020, the monthly Medicare Nursing Home Care rates are:
- Nassau/Suffolk: $13,407
- NYC (Bronx, Kings, Manhattan, Queens, Richmond): $12,844
- Northern Metropolitan Area: $12,805
- For 2020, the monthly Medicare Nursing Home Care rates are:
- Improper Asset Transfers: Unfortunately, this can lead to unnecessary, long waiting periods before eligibility for Medicaid or tax consequences for transferring assets or giving them away below market value can also be quite serious.
- Selling the Family Home: Even if you think that selling your family home is the best option to pay for long-term care or a nursing home, there are often many other ways to fund the care you need.
- Placing Assets Into Joint Ownership: In many cases, this is seen as the same as transfer and can lead to disqualification or a long wait time before Medicaid assistance.
- Not Paying Attention to Medicaid Estate Recovery: The government takes benefits seriously, and it will sell your property after your passing to cover the cost of benefits that were paid out.
- Not Working with an Expert: We’ve been there before, and we understand the best ways to protect your assets and get you the care that you need. Don’t hesitate to call us for a free 15-minute consultation.
Explore Your Nursing Home Options with Elder Attorney Services Long Island
We offer a complete range of long-term care, elder law, estate planning, Medicaid planning and asset protection services. It’s our goal to prevent problems before they occur, and we work with hundreds of families to develop care options that work for their goals and their budgets. For a free 15 minute consultation, contact us by calling (516) 274-9103 or visiting our website here.
