How to Stop Your House Being Used to Pay Nursing Home Fees After The Death of a First Spouse

Quite an emotive subject. We all know of person who has lost their home to pay for Nursing Home Fees. All too often this means that the family home, which was meant to be the inheritance to the children, is now swallowed up in the cost of Nursing Home Fees. What causes most upset is the fact that all this happens when a surviving parent is ill and the family are distressed. So can it be stopped?

Of-course it can, although not many habitancy know about the process. It is fairly simple. Both parents write a Last Will and Testament and also a Trust. You only need ten pounds to set up a Trust. I like to call the Trusts, family Trusts. This is how the law works:

Nursing Homes

Make sure that the house is in Tenancy in Common. Most houses are not. They have been purchased in Joint Tenancy. This is wrong! examine your deeds or get your solicitor to examine your deeds to ensure that the family home is in Tenancy in Common. In other-words each spouse owns half the property. Make a Will. Both parents must make a will each. The main component of the Will should be the Trust into which the property, valuables, stocks and shares plus money can be placed. Put as much in the Trust as you can. The main beneficiary of the Trust will be the surviving spouse and both parents can do what they want with the estate while they are alive because the Trust does not come into effect until the first spouse dies. Make a Trust each. It a process known as Equalising the estate. It doesn't matter how big the estate is.

That is it! That is all there is to it! It undoubtedly is that simple. Every person should do it.

Now what happens is that on the death of the first spouse, their half-house goes into the Trust and not to the surviving spouse. Should that spouse then have to go into a Nursing Home at a later date then their half-house is assessed. The Inland revenue regards a half-house as valueless as far as estimation is concerned. So on paper the surviving spouse who goes into a Nursing Home, does so without funds, and so avoids having the house sold to pay Nursing Home Fees while at the same time reducing potential inheritance Tax.

Please remember that this law is at its best whenever a spouse goes into care following the death of the first spouse. It is approved by the revenue and it has been done before.

So to recap:

You must have your jointly owned property in Tenancy in Common. This is vital. You must each write a Will and begin a family Trust.

Thank you for taking the time to read this short article.

How to Stop Your House Being Used to Pay Nursing Home Fees After The Death of a First Spouse

My Spouse Has to Go Into a Nursing Home - How Much Can I Keep?

Most people know that in order to qualify for Medicaid coverage of a long-term stay in a nursing home, the nursing home resident cannot own more than ,000 in cash or other "countable" assets. But if you're married, and one spouse is going into a nursing home and the other is remaining "in the community" (i.e., continuing to reside at home), how much can the so-called "Community Spouse" retain? That estimate is carefully by a blend of both federal and state Medicaid laws. (Note that for these purposes it doesn't matter either assets are titled in the sole name of the nursing home spouse, the community Spouse, or jointly in both names.)

The basic rule is that the community Spouse can keep 50% of all of the countable assets of both spouses, based on what they own when the other spouse first enters the nursing home for a continuous duration of at least 30 days.

Nursing Homes

Most of the states only permit the at-home spouse to protect one-half of the total estimate of the couple's assets, up to 9,560, but with a minimum of ,912. So if the couple's total assets are under ,912, the community Spouse can keep it all; if their total assets are between ,912 and twice that estimate (i.e., ,824), the community Spouse retains ,912; if between ,824 and 9,120, the community Spouse retains half; and if over 9,120, the community Spouse is puny to protecting 9,560.
Here are some further examples:

Examples:

1. Assume a consolidate has total assets of ,000. Half of that is ,000, which is less than the "floor" amount, so the at-home spouse can protect ,912; the equilibrium must be "spent down" before the nursing home spouse can qualify for Medicaid.

2. If the couple's assets total 0,000, then the community Spouse can protect the full 50% amount: ,000.

3. If the couple's assets total 0,000, the community Spouse's protected estimate is puny to 9,560.

States following the above rule are known as "50% states." However, the most lenient states ("100% states") permit the at-home spouse to keep 100% of the couple's combined assets, but never more than 9,560. So if the couple's total assets are, say 0,000, the community Spouse can protect not just 50% (,000) but 9,560. (The 9,560 shape changes annually, to keep up with inflation; this is the 2009 amount.)

In all states, once the community Spouse's share is set aside, the nursing home spouse can keep up to ,000 in cash, but the equilibrium of the couple's assets must be eliminated somehow before the nursing home spouse can qualify for Medicaid.

So what do you do with the "excess" assets over the limits discussed above? The state Medicaid management department will tell you that you must "spend down" the excess assets, and if it's a small amount, that's verily the simplest way to qualify.

Another alternative is for the consolidate to plainly give away the excess, but that will cause a duration of disqualification from Medicaid eligibility for the nursing home spouse.

The consolidate could turn some or all of the excess from "countable" to "non-countable," e.g., buying a new car, improving the house, purchasing a Medicaid annuity, etc.

Finally, many of these options are quite technical and want the skills and advice of an experienced elder law attorney. Unless you're an attorney "in the trenches" on a daily basis, it's easy to miss a new state Regulation or department Letter and make a mistake that will wind up costing you ,000s!

My Spouse Has to Go Into a Nursing Home - How Much Can I Keep?