Since June 30, 2006, your Federal Government has made it a rule that you must spend all of your money before you can get care in a nursing home. The goal of these strict new rules is to make the healthy spouse poor. They have made it so that you can only look back 5 years. This means that you had to do something to protect your assets 5 years before you got sick.
If you don't pay close attention, all the money you've saved up can go away right in front of your eyes because you got sick. If you or your spouse gets sick, you have to spend all of your money before you can ask the government for help. This means that your healthy spouse won't have enough money to keep living the way you and your spouse are used to.
Good health is very important and a blessing, but you can't count on it because no one can know what will happen in the future. But you can do something about this right now to make sure that your wealth is no more than what the government can expect from you.
There is a way to keep your assets from being spent down by the nursing home. So, you ask, what is this secret? Simple. It's called a trust that can't be changed.
So, what is a trust that can't be changed? An irrevocable trust can move your assets so that you can control and limit how much can be asked for. Of the law that says you have to spend down your savings to get into a nursing home. Your main home, your vacation home, your CDs, stocks, bonds, and other investments are all assets that can be repositioned.
By "repositioning" your assets, or giving them to an irrevocable trust, you legally no longer own them. This means that no one can ask you for them or sue you for them. Even more important, you don't have to go through the expensive probate process or pay estate taxes if you no longer own your assets.
Also, if you have a will, it won't protect your assets from the nursing home spend-down, get you out of probate, or keep your estate from being taxed. So, a trust that can't be changed is often the best choice.
A team of knowledgeable professionals like accountants, lawyers, and financial planners can help you make a solid, personal, and well-planned irrevocable trust that can stop these more than just unpleasant things from happening. It can save you and your family's money and even your lives.
