"Special needs trusts"
Info
Medicare & Medicaid. If this is a duplicate, please accept my apologies.
I live in Washington State and I will be going to at least two lawyers for
advice. My father-in-law has an inter-vivos trust which he set up that
allowed his wife to qualify for Medicaid. She has Alzheimer's and is in a
nursing home. I've learned a lot about this and would like to know if any
of you have any experiences with "special needs trusts." I need to set
something up now, rather than by will.
I doubt these trusts go by any other name, but, just in case they do, I'll
explain them below. I know that certain annuities can also be used to lower
the estate value for Medicaid purposes, so I'm also asking life insurance
companies for information.
The very important thing about them is that the money you put in them will
lower the value of your estate to a level that will be lower than the
maximum estate value that you can have to qualify for Medicaid. They can
also be used to lessen the likelihood of "Medicaid estate recovery" and
leave your spouse's estate intact. These trusts can be used to pay for
things that Medicaid won't pay for, such as movie tickets, clothes.
vacations, buying furniture, and what not.
Even if you don't live in Washington, your experience and information might
help.
Thank you very much.
Gerald Abrahamson
the disabled/elderly for a specific reason.
It is designed to supplement the benefits of
Medicare/Medicaid rather than replace it. Requires a trustee
to approve and make expenditures. Fees and costs will be
incurred, so research that before signing anything.
SNTs are fairly common, especially if a family member is
involved as trustee.
However, you should not massively fund your own SNT--because
then everyone would do it to get Medicare paying for
everything PLUS whatever a nice trust could buy.
Rather, trust assets must be for someone else--otherwise you
run the problem of the govt asking "Did you give anything of
value away?"--and you would answer "yes", because you funded
your own trust account. However, funding someone else's
(i.e., a family member's) trust is not something from which
you personally benefit.
Plus, for accident cases (and similar situations), the large
settlements go into a SNT in order to keep it segregated
from other funds, and to show it is used only for the
benefit of the intended recipient. It may also be possible
to set up a trust account such that the trust does not go to
the govt when the beneficiary dies. Generally, if you fund
your own SNT, when you die, the local govt gets it (to
recover their costs).... You probably don't want that...
There are very specific wording requirements for these types
of documents, and they are not particularly cheap to set up.
But it is possible to do if it meets your family's needs.
Regards, Jerry
Info
"Gerald Abrahamson" <jer...@visi.com> wrote in message
news:rcplk4p7rc5e4e4b3...@4ax.com...
his wife for Medicaid. Oh yes, I'm reaserching it, but the inter invos
trust is the one about which I can't find very much free info, i.e., just
the text of the law and very cursory info so I can ask informed questions of
the lawyers. My father-in-law lives in a rural arera where there are very
few brains to pick and the advice and legal work cost him $5000. I can't
afford the half-assed work done by the supposedly "best in the state" guy to
whom I was referred.
Info
sources. Do you know anything about "pooled special needs trusts?" I just
found a reference to that on the 'net. Thanks again.
I know that a surviving spouse can purchase "income annuities", in some
cases, to keep his or her estate value under the Medicaid ceiling. Do you
know anything about their use while both spouses are living? Thanks.
Gerald Abrahamson
<info...@nwfirst.com> wrote:
>
>"Gerald Abrahamson" <jer...@visi.com> wrote in message
>news:rcplk4p7rc5e4e4b3...@4ax.com...
>> Another name is "supplemental needs trust". Mostly used for
>> the disabled/elderly for a specific reason.
>>
>Thanks. Just the word "supplemental" has led me to additional information
>sources. Do you know anything about "pooled special needs trusts?" I just
>found a reference to that on the 'net. Thanks again.
>
>I know that a surviving spouse can purchase "income annuities", in some
>cases, to keep his or her estate value under the Medicaid ceiling. Do you
>know anything about their use while both spouses are living? Thanks.
I did some digging around a few years ago and the
supplemental term came up on the Social Security website.
The "pooled SNT" is a way for a (non-profit?) business to
charge fees and essentially do the same thing for a group of
unrelated people who need this type of arrangement. These
businesses usually cover one or more states, but not the
country. So look for one that covers WA. Funds are also
pooled (more to invest = more return? Madoff?)--and they
issue money as they approve it (no family involvement
required). Fees very definitely need to be considered if
considering a pooled SNT.
An income annuity merely changes the assets (usually cash
from house or other large asset sale) to an annuity. In pure
money terms, it is a bad idea. Might be smarter to have the
SNT funded with that cash. These annuities always have VERY
low interest rates--so they are a bad investment. If you are
trustee for father/mother, then it may be possible to create
a SNT (need trustee) or join an existing pooled SNT (if no
one reliable to be trustee or want professional trustee).
Can also use attorney as trustee, but $$ for their time.
"Inter invos" appears to be something that can ONLY be done
while alive (make a choice or decision, for example). You
can put in a will what you want done (because the will was
written "inter invos"). But, if you DON'T specify something,
then nobody can make the choice/decision for you after you
are dead unless you have specified someone to do so.
You can create a SNT for someone from assets after your
death, for example. Trustee needs to be appointed (or a
method to get one established) or join a pooled SNT to get
them to do it if family/friends are not able for some
reason. Again, lawyers required. The legal costs we saw were
similar to yours--and we are in a big city. So, it looks
like the lawyers have us over a barrel--no competition.
Sofia
>
> I live in Washington State and I will be going to at least two
> lawyers for advice. My father-in-law has an inter-vivos trust which
> he set up that allowed his wife to qualify for Medicaid. She has
> Alzheimer's and is in a nursing home. I've learned a lot about this
> and would like to know if any of you have any experiences with
> "special needs trusts." I need to set something up now, rather than
> by will.
Hi Info! I'm Sofie and come from England, UK, not from Washington.
Can I take a moment of your time to tell you about one of my favourite
authors, Terry Pratchett, a fantasy writer who developed Alzheimer's
earlier this year. He pledged $1million in a bid to help find a cure
for this devastating disease of the mind and memory. I heard he also
earned himself a knighthood only yesterday, New Years Eve, for his work
as a writer, so it seems that he is still able to use his mind to some
degree!
Anyway, I wanted to show to you a quote I found by TP in a
health magazine I bought from England called Healthy (July 2008).
...."Personally I'd eat the arse out of a dead mole if it offered me
a fighting chance. I am along with many others, scrabbling to stay
ahead long enough to be there when the cure comes along. There's
nearly as many of us as there are cancer sufferers, and it looks as if
the number of people with dementia will double within a generation. In
most cases, alongside the sufferer you will find a spouse suffering
just as much. It's a shock to find out that funding for Alzheimer's
research is just three per cent of that to find cancer cures."
As Alzheimer's is an awful mind & memory fighting condition, just
like epilepsy, I thought I ought to put this one up as a reminder
that it seems we have so much in common with Alzheimer's then it only
seems right to at least know and feel what some of them are going
through at a time like this. I even thought after reading his quote,
that in Research for Epilepsy we also have very little support given to
us, or always had a family member sitting by our bedside suffering
just as much as ourselves, and therefore we also have that in common
too.
Terry Pratchett also adds that at least he still has a few more years
left in him to write a few more fantasy novels for his fans. I'm so
glad he's so loyal to us, and we love him for it - till death us do part
it seems!
Good luck to your Father-in-Law's wife, and hope she can struggle
on for as long as she can through this devastatingly fatal condition!
Good luck Terry, please, please live as long as you can too!
All the best
Sofie
--
Please visit my deviantART page: http://sofen.deviantart.com/
m...@privacy.net
Sofia wrote:
>Please visit my deviantART page: http://sofen.deviantart.com/
I must say that I really have really liked the deviantART page
over the years. Your crossposting - not so much.
Your post was about Terry Pratchett and Alzheimer's, but you
posted it to:
alt.fiftyplus
alt.fifty-plus.friends
alt.sixtyplus
alt.social-security-disability
alt.support.alzheimers
alt.support.amputee
alt.support.arthritis
alt.support.epilepsy
alt.support.sleep-disorder
alt.support.wheelchairs
..even though it has nothing to do with sleep disorders,
wheelchairs, amputations etc.
Please do not crosspost off-topic material.