4 Situations Where You Don’t Need Me

18 Aug 2022 · 1 min

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In this advisory video, the speaker outlines four scenarios in which pursuing a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust or similar Medicaid‑protection strategies is unnecessary. First, if a couple’s estate exceeds roughly $3 million, they can afford private long‑term care, making Medicaid planning redundant. Second, if a family would never consent to a nursing‑home placement, there is no point in creating a protection trust. Third, when a couple’s assets already fall within Medicaid’s allowance—specifically, the rule that permits a community spouse to receive about $128,000 when only one spouse requires care—their existing eligibility makes a trust superfluous. Fourth, if the individual does not have at least a five‑year window before needing care, the required look‑back period prevents a trust from providing Medicaid protection. The speaker emphasizes practical, situation‑based decision‑making rather than a blanket approach to asset protection.

Chapters

Usually I'm on here telling you about how it's important to protect your assets from Medicaid, from the nursing home, Medicaid liens, Medicaid recovery. But for some people, it's just not the right thing to do. First situation would be where your estate's just too large. For instance, if you had an estate of over $3 million, even as a couple, if you both needed long-term care, you could privately pay for that care. And my suggestion to you, if you needed long-term care, would be to find one that serves cocktails at 5 o'clock. That's the one you want to be in. Not a Medicaid nursing home. Second situation would be if you're in a family where they would never allow you to go into a nursing home. There's no point in doing a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust. The third situation would be if your estate is the size where you would already qualify anyway. If you're a couple and only one of you is going into the nursing home, the regulations allow you to shift about $128,000 over to the spouse that's not going to be in the home. And the fourth situation would be if you don't have 5 years before you're going to need the care. If you're already in bad medical shape, there's no point in creating a trust where you're going to need 5 years before it provides Uh, just exemption from Medicaid.