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 ...
In the recent case of In The Matter of Leon Schneider (N.Y. App. Div., 2 Dept., 2010 NY Slip Op 00971, Feb. 9, 2010), a New York appeals court ruled that the estate of Mr. Schneider must repay the state for the amount of Medicaid benefits provided on behalf of his wife, but only up to the amount of countable resources that he possessed above his community spouse resource allowance ("CSRA"), and by the amount that his monthly income exceeded his monthly maintenance needs allowance ("MMNA"). ...
Most of us will live a long life. However, if we live too long, our bodies are likely to wear-out, creating the high probability that long-term care will be needed. When such care is required, the consequences can be devastating to families, especially if it continues for many years. Presently, there is not a government entitlement program - Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans Administration that will pay all the costs, especially if our intent is to remain at home. In suc ...
In January of 2009, I worked with a Wisconsin elder law attorney who had a Medicaid case involving a husband and wife. In order to eliminate the spend-down amount, I recommended that the community spouse should purchase a Medicaid Compliant Annuity from Employees Life Company (Mutual). The community spouse agreed with my advice, and acted accordingly.
With the spend-down amount eliminated, a Medicaid application was submitted. The application was supplemented with three ...
With Krause Financial Services able to provide commercial Medicaid Compliant Annuities as short as 2 months, you may be asking yourself "How would my client EVER use such a tool?!" Such a short-term Medicaid Compliant Annuity is most often used in conjunction with a Gifting Plan, more commonly referred to as the Half-a-Loaf approach.
The goal of a Half-a-Loaf Plan is to allow the nursing home resident to give away approximately one-half of his or her spend-down amount, while retaining t ...
Many of the "Ask Dale" inquiries that I have received throughout the past week have been regarding the requirement of the beneficiary designations on Medicaid Compliant Annuities consisting of tax-qualified investments. At one time it was a federal rule that a state Medicaid agency was not required to be made a remainderman on annuities holding tax-qualified funds; however, this is no longer the case.
Most post-Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 ("DRA") states have dictated their own re ...
In 2010, there are slight changes to the personal and trust tax brackets. The following chart shows the projected tax brackets for married couples filing jointly, single filers, estates, and trusts.
Almost four years have passed since President Bush signed the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 ("DRA") into law. Forty-eight states have since passed the legislation, yet many elder law attorneys are not aware of an immense planning opportunity that still exists.
When DRA was signed into law in 2006, it was clear that some annuities required the state Medicaid program to be named as the beneficiary. If that was the case, the beneficiary designation was only to the extent that Medicai ...
An "irrevocable trust' can offer a grantor lifetime control over his or her assets of the trust is established with the following provisions:
All taxable income shall be disbursed to the grantor;
The grantor shall have the right to direct how the trust assets are held or reinvested; and
The grantor shall have a limited power of appointment over the final distributions of the trust; this power shall be in favor of a limited class of beneficiaries, consisting of the grantor's ch ...
With more and more attorneys adding VA pension benefit planning into their practices, the buzz word seems to be Aid & Attendance ("A&A"). While the A&A pension provides the largest monetary benefit to a veteran, what about the other millions of veterans who need financial assistance but do not medically qualify for the A&A pension?
According to the Veterans Benefits Administration, three levels of benefits exist depending on the claimant's level of disability. The ...
