Medicaid Qualifications - Pay ing for nursing home care - Cary nc - Carolina family estate planning

****** At Carolina Family Estate Planning, we understand that creating an estate plan is not the easiest topic to discuss. Perhaps the discussion started after a major life change, like a birth in the family or a loved one’s move to a nursing home. Regardless of the reason, rest assured that our firm is dedicated to providing members of the communities of North Carolina with extensive resources to help you make the best decision for you and your family. Together we'll create a plan that best fulfills your dreams and goals. We'll help you arrange your affairs in a way that is both personally satisfying and that meets your unique objectives—all while accomplishing substantial savings for your family in the long run. We believe in a team approach, working collaboratively with your other professional advisors. We will work closely with your financial advisor, accountant, insurance agent, or other advisors to ensure that your entire financial plan works together and is suitable for your situation. Learn every aspect of how to completely plan an estate in North Carolina: Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning Alzheimer's Planning Asset Protection Medicaid and Long-Term Care Veterans’ Aid & Attendance Executors, Trusts & Probate Protecting Minor Children Resources for People with Disabilities Carolina Family Estate Planning 51 Kilmayne Dr., Suite 203 Cary, NC 27511 Phone: 919-443-3035 email: ****** If my spouse is in a nursing home and we need help paying for care, what will I have to live on if they receive Medicaid? For a married couple that might be applying for assistance in Medicaid, if one spouse is in a nursing home needing care and the other spouse is still living at home, that spouse living at home Medicaid calls that the ‘community spouse’. And there is certain safe harbor protection for that community spouse. When they look at the income, there are some formulas involved. The community spouse is entitled to keep all of his or her income, if his or her income is below a certain threshold, they might be entitled to claim some of the income of the spouse that’s in the nursing home. It’s formula based so I can’t really tell people how that’s going to be until I have all the information from them but you can usually assume at a minimum that the community spouse is going to be able to keep about $1,992 a month but often its higher than that. It honestly depends on whose income it is. That will dictate how much they will be able to keep. There are also sometimes shelter allowances to go towards living expenses, utilities, things like that so that’s part of the formula that comes into play. When it comes to the savings and how much of the savings of the spouse might be able to keep, a rough way to think of it Is they total up everything the couple owns, his, hers, ours it doesn’t matter how it’s titled. If you're married they're going to count all assets of either spouse. They total everything up and they say community spouse can keep half but no more than $119,220. I should say all of these numbers do get adjusted periodically, so they do change over time. It gives you an idea of how the program works. That’s what Medicaid will tell you, that the community spouse can’t have more than $119,220 but often through planning we can preserve more than that. There are some allowances for things, that certain amount of life insurance or a car, prepaid funeral arrangements, and then there may be through some panning that we can do to preserve more assets for that community spouse but that gives you some idea of that minimums. ****** ...