Using Unprotected Funds to Improve the Family Home for the Community Spouse
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.
In this newsletter we discuss spending “countable” life savings towards home improvements.
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 the community spouse is living in the home, the family home is exempt and is not counted as an asset when determining Medicaid eligibility for the ill spouse.
Under the Medicaid law in New York State, a single person in a nursing home in New York State in 2025 is entitled to keep $32,396 of family assets. When there is a married couple, the at-home spouse (Community Spouse) is entitled to keep one-half of the couple’s life savings, with a minimum of $74,820 and a maximum of $157,920.
Example: Tom is in a nursing home. Mary is at home. They own their home and combined life savings of $200,000. Under the Medicaid law for 2025, in this example, Mary would be allowed to keep $100,000 and Tom would be allowed to keep $32,396.
This leaves them with $67,604 of excess funds that will have to be spent before Tom will be eligible for Medicaid coverage to pay for his nursing home care.
Although Mary can keep the family home as an exempt asset, she cannot keep the $67,604 of excess funds above the spousal allowance.
One method of protecting some or all of the $67,604 is to spend it on home repairs and home improvements. For example, Mary could pay for a roof, siding, furnace, kitchen counter top, and hot water heater.
Caution: Once your life savings has been spent toward the cost of care, you cannot get it back to pay for home improvements.
For more information about Medicaid Eligibility, 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 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
