明星黑料

Question:聽聽My mother has a trust that protects her house in case she needs long term care in a nursing home.聽聽Is this legal?聽聽Also, when she dies the trust is paid to another trust for me.聽聽Do I need this?聽聽I am only 53 and my mother is 75.

Answer:聽I assume what you are describing is an Irrevocable Medicaid qualifying trust.聽聽Based upon that assumption, the trust is a very common and effective way to protect assets in case your mother later needs nursing home care or community home care through the Medicaid program.聽聽The benefit of the trust is that your mother continues to live in the home, pay all the real estate taxes and expenses but after five years, if she needs Chronic Care Medicaid in a nursing home setting, then the house is fully protected.

For the rest of 2021,聽if she needs community care at home the house is protected immediately, there is no five year look back.聽 However,聽Medicaid law changed in October 2020, a major impact being the implementation of a 30 month look back period for Community Medicaid. If your mom lives in the home and needs community care, the house has a certain amount of protection.聽聽While she is alive, there can be no lien placed on the home.聽聽However, upon her death, Medicaid is a 鈥渟uper creditor鈥� in her probate estate unless she is survived by a spouse or disabled child. The trust also preserves her Star exemption and/or Veterans Exemption- which are reductions in her real estate taxes.聽聽In terms of long-terming planning, protecting the homestead in an Irrevocable Trust makes sense.

With respect to the trust for you, I am assuming the trust you describe protects you in case you later need long term care.聽聽When a third-party (your mother) leaves you an asset in a properly drawn descendants trust, you get all the use and enjoyment of the property and yet, if you later need care, the assets is protected.聽聽You may one day sell the property and invest the proceeds.聽聽Regardless of what assets are in the trust, they are protected from the cost of care.聽聽If your mother lives another twenty years (which is entirely possible- as people are living well into their 90鈥檚) then you will be 73 when she dies.聽聽Whatever is in the trust created by your mother will be protected not only from the cost of long-term care but also from distributions to divorcing spouses and general creditors.聽聽The beauty of this planning device is that you can take all the money out of the trust at any given time, if you choose to do so.聽聽The trust protects you from others but deprives you of nothing.