My prior post, VA Planning - Transferring Assets after Eligibility has been Established, outlined the consequences a veteran will incur should he or she receive a lump sum of nonrecurring income, such as proceeds from a life insurance policy or an inheritance, after VA eligibility has been established.
However, I did not go into detail as to how the proceeds should be disposed of, and what the eligibility consequences will be thereafter.
Meet Sally Johnson.
If you recall from my prior post, ...
In Florida, Personal Services Contracts ("PSK"), which are also referred to as Caregiver Agreements, are widely used as a spend-down tool for Medicaid and/or VA benefits planning.
The PSK generally serves four purposes:
It reduces an applicant's countable resources to an acceptable level, which entitles the applicant to receive benefits;
It outlines the duties and obligations of the parties;
It establishes the compensation that will be paid to the caregiver; and
It dicta ...
I recently reviewed the letter submitted to the Center for Medicaid and State Operations ("CMS") by the National Association of State Medicaid Directors ("NASMD") that was dated March 10th, 2010. If you have not yet seen the letter, you may review it here.
The NASMD letter requested that CMS take the position that a Medicaid Compliant Annuity ("MCA") purchased by a community spouse "should be treated as a trust-like device, and that the entire amount used to purchase the MCA should be c ...
As we all know, Medicaid is the payor of last resort. Therefore, before Medicaid will provide any benefits on behalf of an individual, he or she must exhaust all outside funding sources, including monthly income from the Veteran's Administration ("VA"). With that in mind, how does a veteran qualify for both Medicaid and VA benefits?
Since Krause Financial Services successfully merged Veterans Aid & Attendance benefits planning into its array of complimentary services offered to elder law attorneys, I have received numerous inquiries related to the impact of an uncompensated transfer of an asset by a veteran who is already receiving VA benefits.
As most VA practitioners are aware, the VA Program has no look-back period for pre-eligibility uncompensated transfers. In my quest for an answer, I recently found ...
