re: Wills & Paying For Nursing Home Question

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BRgetthenet

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This is not as uncommon as some might think, just removed my mother from a nursing home because of similar reasons that we noticed with patients.

This is my biggest fear in life. My 80 year Dad lives with me and is still relatively independent but needs help sometimes. If it ever got to the point that I had no choice but to put him in a home it would destroy me. No person should ever have to live in one of them places. Then you see these videos of how the workers there treat the patients. If someone miss treated him I fear what I might do to them.

Does a trust protect you from having to sell everything before Medicaid kicks in?

Lot of not so great advice in this thread.

Whatchoo talkin bout, Wills?

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If you're putting a loved one in a nursing home a will is null and void.
Medicaid requires that's persons assets to be spent down under two thousand before they would qualify for any assistance.
However, if you're loved one has a living spouse they can qualify for assistance at 120K in assets.
Reference: wife works in a nursing home.

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Thank you.

I am just trying to figure something out. My grandmother (dad's mother) was put in a nursing home. She lived with my aunt.. My dad passed away before my grandmother developed Alzheimer's and when he was still alive, my grandmother did her will. My dad's father passed away 2 days before I turned 1 years old and she never remarried.

When it comes to money my aunt is shady as hell. Before putting my grandmother in a nursing home she brought her to my aunts lawyer for her to sign to have the will changed. My grandmother did not want to sign her and my aunt and her daughter basically forced her to sign a new will. This is where things get confusing.

In her will she was going to leave everything to her grandkids (I am one of her four grandkids). I don't know why my aunt had to pretty much force her to change her will. If it went towards paying for the nursing home that's not an issue, but if there was more to it she would never tell me.

This happened years ago.. Because my aunt and uncle invested a lot of money into the Stanford Company that ended up being a ponzi scheme (their son in law advised them to do so and they listen to whatever he tells them to do). And I was recently told that my aunt wanted to take care of her grandchildren (she has 3 children. Two sons and a daughter and 10 grandkids. She favors her daughter and daughter's kids. It isn't out of reach to think that she could have forced my grandmother to redo her will leaving my aunt with everything that was leftover (assuming that what my grandmother had was used to pay for her nursing home)

I am probably sharing too much info, but it's the only way I will likely get an accurate answer.

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Correct. Medicaid will do a look back into property and finances.

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The "lookback" period was three years. It may be five years now. Paying out normal expenses and reasonable onetime expenses isn't a problem. It's when someone transfers a large amount of money shortly before moving into a nursing home that really raises the red flag. The penalty for getting caught is pretty severe. I don't remember specifically, but I think it was double the fraud amount.

I just went through this shite with my mother. She was determined to leave money to her 12,grandchildren when she died. I had been after her to start transferring money to the kids while she was alive and she could see them enjoy it. I told her many times that unless she dropped dead from a heart attack or stroke, a long term care facility was going to end up with her money, not her grandkids. We're Irish German, so we've got hard heads. So we did it her way - which is to say, we did nothing.

As predicted, she ended up in a fricking nursing home. A shitty one is $6,000 or $7,000 a month. A place like Christwood costs a bundle, if you can even get a bed. It's hard to get a bed at most of the places on the Northshore, or at least it was 18 months ago. I wouldn't wish it on a dog. If you truly love your family member, kill them before they have to go to one of those places.

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If you're putting a loved one in a nursing home a will is null and void.

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I don't think this is correct.

If a patient is mentally incompetent, then a will can't be changed by that person. But I don't know why moving into a nursing facility would void an existing will.

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An irrevocable trust will work but I believe it has to be around for several years before going in, otherwise it’s just hiding money to skirt the system.

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As I understand it, this is the only way to do it...and you basically have to form the trust 5 years before you go into a nursing home. Basically, I see no reason to go ahead and form the trust early on and then you are good to go when you get to that point in life.

there are attorneys who specialize in just such trusts....

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My grandmother did not want to sign her and my aunt and her daughter basically forced her to sign a new will.

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I'm not an attorney, but that sounds like "duress" to me. You need a lawyer.

Also, don't count on inheriting any thing of value from your grandmother. It sounds like the fix is in.