Family Home—Transfer to a Qualifying Child
This edition of the Koldin Law Center E-Newsletter is part of a series on Medicaid rules for “countable” life savings that must be spent towards the cost of care before you can qualify for Medicaid eligibility versus “non-countable” life savings.
There are many special rules regarding whether the family home is “countable” or “not countable.”
In this newsletter we discuss transferring your family home to a qualifying child.
All prior newsletters are saved on our website. You can read them by clicking here.
“Countable” assets in your name must be spent towards the cost of your care before you will qualify for Medicaid coverage to pay for your long-term care in a nursing home or at home.
Under the Medicaid law, the family home is a special asset that has important additional protections in the event of a long-term illness.
When a single person (never married, spouse has already died, divorced, or spouse is already in a nursing home) enters a Nursing Home, he/she is entitled to keep $31,175 (2024 figure).
Unless a special exception applies, the family home is no longer exempt and must be sold and spent towards the cost of care before the single person would become eligible for Medicaid.
There are special situations where you can transfer your home to your child without a transfer penalty period of ineligibility.
Child Who is Blind, Disabled or Under Age 21
Under the Medicaid law, if your child is legally blind, disabled, or under age 21, the family home can be transferred to your child without any Medicaid transfer penalty period of ineligibility.
If your child is also receiving Medicaid or other government benefits, it may be advisable to transfer the home to a Supplemental Needs Trust. For more information about Supplemental Needs Trusts, click here.
Your child may also need to review his/her estate planning options to protect the home for other family members.
Child Who is Serving as Your Primary Care Giver
Under the Medicaid law, your home can be transferred to your child if he/she was residing in your family home as his/her primary residence for a period of at least 2 years immediately before the date you became institutionalized and provided care to you which permitted you to reside at home, rather than in a nursing home.
The Medicaid Applicant has the burden to prove to the Medicaid Agency that (1) the child moved into the family home as his/her permanent residence for the past two years and (2) but for the child’s care, the parent would have had to enter a nursing home during this two-year period.
For a discussion about how to protect your life savings even if you are already in a nursing home, please visit our website by clicking here.
At the Koldin Law Center, P.C., located in East Syracuse, New York, we have over 50 years of experience helping individuals plan for immediate crisis and long term care.
The Koldin Law Center, P.C. limits its practice to the specific field of Elder Law which includes estate planning and Medicaid law.
Our attorneys are available to discuss your estate planning options, including the advantages and disadvantages of Revocable Trusts and Irrevocable Trusts, along with other estate planning considerations including a Will, Power of Attorney, and Health Care Proxy.
When the Koldin Law Center, P.C. handles a Medicaid case, we not only handle the entire application process, but we also review asset protection options with our clients. We review with our clients who are already in a Nursing Home options to protect some or all of their assets beyond merely establishing Medicaid eligibility.
We do not charge a fee for the initial consultation. We welcome your children, family attorney, accountant, and/or financial planner to be present at the initial consultation.
There is something you can do.
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Our Attorneys are available to speak to your organization
Our Attorneys speak to groups throughout New York State as a public service. If you would like to arrange for one of our Attorneys to speak to your group, please contact our office.
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We appreciate your referrals
We have been told by many clients who are in a crisis that they wish they had known about our firm much sooner. We are proud of the many families we have helped in times of crisis.
We are also proud of the many families we helped avoid financial crisis by doing estate planning in advance.
We all share the responsibility for making our family and friends aware of the planning options available to them.
Your referral to the Koldin Law Center could make a major difference in the lives of your family and friends if they are someday faced with a long term illness.
Remember that the Koldin Law Center offers many services for clients of all ages. Our services range from basic estate planning such as a simple will to complex estate planning including asset preservation planning.
THERE IS NO FEE FOR THE INITIAL CONSULTATION
