Keep your Home #assetprotectionplanning #estateplanning

25 Sept 2023 · 1 min

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In this brief presentation, the speaker outlines a two‑step plan to safeguard a homeowner’s primary asset—the house—from being seized by the government when applying for Medicaid long‑term care benefits. The first step is to obtain long‑term care (LTC) insurance, which the speaker notes is difficult to secure because few carriers offer it, it is costly, and underwriting is stringent. The second step is to transfer the home into a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT). Once the home has been held in the MAPT for at least five years, it becomes exempt from Medicaid’s asset recovery after the applicant qualifies for nursing‑home benefits. The speaker emphasizes the critical timing issue: the five‑year look‑back period must be satisfied before the need for care arises, so early planning is essential.

Chapters

You're about to hear my plan to protect your biggest asset from government recovery. For many of you, your biggest asset is your home. You worked your entire life for it and you poured most of your money into it. But if one day you have to go to a nursing home, the first thing you'll have to do to get benefits is to give the government a copy of your deed. Let's make sure that doesn't happen. First thing you need to try to do is get long-term care insurance. Here's the problem: carriers that offer it are very few, it is very expensive, and it's very hard to qualify for it. Step 2 of this plan would be to put your home in a trust that protects it from Medicaid recovery. It's called a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust. Once the home is in that trust and it's been there for 5 years, the government cannot get to it. Downside is if you don't make it 5 years before needing long-term care. If that happens, there is no protection. So look into this early while the chances are high that you still have 5 years before you'll need the care.