Nursing Home Protection
Protect what you’ve earned.
Jill Leopold Law can assist with nursing home protection from taxes by employing various legal strategies to help you preserve assets and minimize tax implications associated with long-term care. Some of our common approaches include:
1. Medicaid Planning:
Asset Protection Trusts: We can help you establish irrevocable trusts, such as Medicaid asset protection trusts, to shield certain assets from Medicaid eligibility calculations. These trusts are designed to protect assets while still allowing the individual to qualify for Medicaid benefits after a specified period.
Spousal Impoverishment Rules: In situations where one spouse needs nursing home care and the other remains in the community, we will assist in navigating spousal impoverishment rules. These rules allow the community spouse to retain a certain amount of assets and income to maintain their financial well-being.
2. Gifting Strategies:
Strategic Gifting: We can advise on the timing and structure of gifts to family members or into irrevocable trusts, reducing the individual's countable assets for Medicaid eligibility purposes. Properly executed gifting strategies can help protect assets from potential nursing home costs.
3. Insurance Planning:
Long-Term Care Insurance: We can help you explore long-term care insurance options to cover potential nursing home costs. Having adequate insurance can help protect assets by covering the expenses associated with long-term care.
4. Life Care Planning:
Comprehensive Planning: Jill Leopold Law specializes in elder law and life care planning to provide comprehensive strategies that address not only Medicaid eligibility but also other legal, financial, and healthcare aspects of aging. This may involve coordinating various legal tools, such as powers of attorney, advance directives, and wills.
5. Veterans Benefits:
Aid and Attendance Benefits: We can assist veterans or their surviving spouses in qualifying for Aid and Attendance benefits provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs. These benefits can help cover the costs of nursing home care.
6. Legal Documents:
Powers of Attorney and Advance Directives: We will help individuals draft and execute powers of attorney and advance directives, granting trusted individuals the authority to make financial and healthcare decisions on behalf of the person needing care.
7. Estate Planning:
Wills and Trusts: We assist with crafting wills and trusts that align with your goals for asset protection and distribution. Trusts, such as revocable living trusts, can help manage and protect assets during the individual's lifetime and facilitate a smoother transition of assets upon death.
At Jill Leopold Law, we understand Ohio’s Medicaid rules and regulations, and will recommend the best strategies based on your individual circumstances. Call us for a free consultation, to develop a personalized plan that protects what you’ve earned, preserve assets for your heirs and minimize taxes.
