By proceeding, I agree that I understand the following disclosures:
I. How We Work in Washington. Based on your preferences, we provide you with information about one or more of our contracted senior living providers ("Participating Communities") and provide your Senior Living Care Information to Participating Communities. The Participating Communities may contact you directly regarding their services. APFM does not endorse or recommend any provider. It is your sole responsibility to select the appropriate care for yourself or your loved one. We work with both you and the Participating Communities in your search. We do not permit our Advisors to have an ownership interest in Participating Communities.
II. How We Are Paid. We do not charge you any fee – we are paid by the Participating Communities. Some Participating Communities pay us a percentage of the first month's standard rate for the rent and care services you select. We invoice these fees after the senior moves in.
III. When We Tour. APFM tours certain Participating Communities in Washington (typically more in metropolitan areas than in rural areas.) During the 12 month period prior to December 31, 2017, we toured 86.2% of Participating Communities with capacity for 20 or more residents.
IV. No Obligation or Commitment. You have no obligation to use or to continue to use our services. Because you pay no fee to us, you will never need to ask for a refund.
V. Complaints. Please contact our Family Feedback Line at (866) 584-7340 or
[email protected] to report any complaint. Consumers have many avenues to address a dispute with any referral service company, including the right to file a complaint with the Attorney General's office at: Consumer Protection Division, 800 5th Avenue, Ste. 2000, Seattle, 98104 or 800-551-4636.
VI. No Waiver of Your Rights. APFM does not (and may not) require or even ask consumers seeking senior housing or care services in Washington State to sign waivers of liability for losses of personal property or injury or to sign waivers of any rights established under law.I agree that: A.I authorize A Place For Mom ("APFM") to collect certain personal and contact detail information, as well as relevant health care information about me or from me about the senior family member or relative I am assisting ("Senior Living Care Information"). B.APFM may provide information to me electronically. My electronic signature on agreements and documents has the same effect as if I signed them in ink. C.APFM may send all communications to me electronically via e-mail or by access to an APFM web site. D.If I want a paper copy, I can print a copy of the Disclosures or download the Disclosures for my records. E.This E-Sign Acknowledgement and Authorization applies to these Disclosures and all future Disclosures related to APFM's services, unless I revoke my authorization. You may revoke this authorization in writing at any time (except where we have already disclosed information before receiving your revocation.) This authorization will expire after one year. F.You consent to APFM's reaching out to you using a phone system than can auto-dial numbers (we miss rotary phones, too!), but this consent is not required to use our service.
*If I am consenting on behalf of someone else, I have the proper authorization to do so. By clicking Get My Results, you agree to our
Privacy Policy. You also consent to receive calls and texts, which may be autodialed, from us and our customer communities. Your consent is not a condition to using our service. Please visit our
Terms of Use. for information about our privacy practices.
With SSD I would go to an elder attorney who knows Medicaid. My nephew also has an annuity for his Moms pension. I am payee. Money goes into his annuity acct ea month and I transfer it to his checking account. Since I am on all his accts, I can oversee his spending. You could have the money placed in an annuity and a certain amount going into his bank acct monthly. Just another avenue. But a Special Needs Acct may be the only way to guarantee his Medicaid is not stopped.
This system goes along just fine & dandy as long as the parents are alive and have use their the funds, like they use their monthly SSA income to pay bills. It’s all OK.
BUT
should something happen to change that, house becomes a problem. Unless family is truly prepared to take over all costs 100% till an undetermined period of time, house can become an albatross. If you do the house in a Trust please please pls do other significant assets titled into the same Trust that make $ and are managed by a financial advisor and the attorney for the Trust.
I’ve been on the forum a long time and what comes up over & over time & again, is the kids are gobsmacked & surprised that LTC Medicaid requires their elders to do a copay of almost all their monthly income to the NH. All elders in a NH on Medicaid get to keep is a smallish PNA personal needs allowance of $35-115 a month. PNA avg is $50/$60. So realistically is just enough for the on premises beauty or barber shoppe visits and some toiletries replacement. No-nada-zero $ for property taxes, roof repair, insurance, whatever. Family start squabbling as to who pays for what; inevitably someone in the family will refuse to pay a penny. Neighbors who so loved mom, now not so nice about that house with its unkempt yard. House becomes an albatross.
Yeah, Property is nicely secured in a Trust done 5+ years prior so in theory outside of Medicaid estate recovery but if family and heirs (the end beneficiaries) won’t pay & do for however many years needed till beyond the elders grave, the house becomes a constant problem.
Trusts imho really need other assets (stocks) besides the house titled in the Trust that make $ and “feed” the Trust. So those assets make income & this income used to pay taxes, insurance, whatever, should the elder not be able to use their outside funds. Trusts defund.
You see at tax sales properties that are delinquent for property taxes that are titled in a Trust, or LLC, or Life Estate. They get a redemption done & sold just as easily as a home in a person’s name.
I will contact the Bogleheads so I know what kind of lawyer to go to and more questions I should ask. The more I know the more confused I seem to get!!
If anyone else has suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
I'm the Trustee for my parents' trust and took it over before they died because they were not capable of handling their finances. After they died, I just transferred half of their assets to my brother, and that was it. No courts were involved, and no probate was opened. It's private and not public information.
Get on the internet and read up on trusts and special needs trusts. You really need to understand how they work so you don't make a bad financial decision.
A Trust will be only valid if you draw all assets into it. That is to say the accounts will now say "Trust of" and the home deed will need to say "Trust of". And you would put your smartest most able child in charge of the Trust upon your death as the Trustee, to do exactly what the Trust says. If they need help they hire an attorney, just as you have, or a Fiduciary. And the money is either divided and the trust "dispersed" or keeps functioning to give your son an "allowance." As to SSDI rules, I don't know them, but a Trust and Estate attorney WILL know them for your area. It was always my understanding that someone on ANY government assistance cannot hold substantial amounts of money, and that was the "why" of special needs trusts". But I surely could be wrong on that one.
This decision can only be yours. If there is substantial funds involved then I would get the Trust. If there is just a home and some few accounts I would do a simple will, and I would put names on those accounts as POD (pay on death) so they don't go through probate.
It's in your hands, and the advice of an attorney is good as you get. Ask all the questions you can think of and I sure do wish you the very best of luck. Whatever choices you make discuss them ALL with ALL your kids together so they understand how it stands.
As for selling the house my husband and I are in OK shape but if that changes or one of us has to go to a nursing home, we can't stay here. We are very rural and alone. I would not like to have to buy another house at this stage of the game and not being able to rent has thrown me for a loop. My house and a little extra is all I have to leave for my 5 kids, and I would like for Medicaid not to get it. I guess I have a lot of thinking to do.
But if he receives Medicaid for health, he could lose it because of an inheritance. Once the inheritance is spent down, then he reapplies for Medicaid.
I would not put his inheritance in a Special Needs trust. I handle my Nephews and it can only be used for certain things. No housing, no food, no utilities because you can get these with help from agencies. Its very very limited. And when son passes, any remaining money goes to Medicaid. I think a regular Trust would be a good thing. Talk to the lawyer and make sure it won't effect the help he is getting.
My nephew is on the autistic spectrum. He lives on his own and is doing well handling his SSD but I would not allow him to handle money an inheritance may bring him.
If you yourself aren't an attorney, then why are you second-guessing someone who is? Maybe get a "second opinion" from the correct type of attorney. Someone with specific experience creating trusts.
I believe that SSDI is a means tested program; meaning that if your son inherits money outright from you, he will no longer be eligible for SSDI or Medicaid. He would have to re-apply once his inherited money runs out.
I assume that the lawyer is looking to put the house in an irrevocable trust in order to keep it from being subject to Medicaid Recovery.
If you are looking to move to a rental, why not do that now and put the funds from the sale (minus capital gains) into the trust. Or into a Medicaid compliant annuity to pay for your care?
https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v66n3/v66n3p53.html#:~:text=Social%20Security%20disability%20benefits%20are,by%20a%20self%2Demployed%20person.