What Do I Need to Know About Asset Protection?
Video Summary
Good afternoon. My name is Tom Mitchell. I’m a partner with the law firm of Waller & Mitchell. We’re located at 5332 Main Street in Downtown New Port Richey. I’m an elder law specialist. That means that I do wills, trusts, powers of attorney, living wills, healthcare surrogate documents, trust and estate administrations, public benefits qualifications, and guardianship work.
Okay. All you 50 and 60-year-olds out there, how are your 70 to 90-year-old parents doing? Are you concerned that they’re going to have enough money to last the rest of their lives? Are they concerned that they’ll have enough money to last ‘til the end of their lives, and that there’ll be something left to give to you when they die?
If so, you need to consider consulting with us about asset protection. There are a number of federal and state programs that provide assistance to seniors who need help. These are generally means-tested program, which mean that you can’t have more than a certain amount of assets or a certain income level.
At Waller & Mitchell, we know how to get you qualified for those programs. And in some instances, we can accelerate that eligibility by legally transferring the money from the older generation to the younger generation, without incurring a penalty.
So if you’re interested in trying to help your parents live a better life and insuring that their goal of leaving something to their children and grandchildren is accomplished, please give me a call at Waller & Mitchell. The number is 727-847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
What is a Caregiver Trust?
Video Summary
Good afternoon. My name is Tom Mitchell. I’m a partner at the law firm of Waller & Mitchell. We’re located at 5332 Main Street in Downtown New Port Richey, Florida. I specialize in elder law. That is: I deal with wills and trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare surrogates, living wills, will and trust administration, public benefits qualifications, guardianship, and asset protection for seniors.
Hey there, 50 and 60-year-olds. How are your 70 to 90-year-old parents doing? Are you concerned that they’ll have enough money to live to the end of their lifetime and have quality of life? Are they concerned that they’ll have enough money to live to the end of their life and have something left to give to their children and grandchildren? If so, you need to consult with Waller & Mitchell. We can help you with this.
The average cost for a nursing home in the State of Florida, in the West Pasco area, is about $6,500.00 a month. If one of your family members – your parent, mother or father – is looking at the prospect of going into a nursing home in the near future, there are several things that we can do to help them get qualified at an earlier time, and to help preserve funds for the senior generation to pass to the junior generation.
One of the techniques that we use in this circumstance is called a “caregiver trust.” It’s specifically referred to in the Florida statutes, and it allows the spouse who is living at home – the well spouse, as we refer to it – to set up a trust for the benefit of the spouse who’s living in the nursing home, which we call the “institutionalized spouse.”
If that trust that’s set up by the well spouse contains at least 30 percent of the assets that are owned by the husband and wife team, then the money can be in the trust, and the nursing home spouse is not disqualified from receiving public benefits.
So if you’d like to look into something like this, please contact Waller & Mitchell at 727-847-2288, and I can help you.
What is a Special Needs Trust?
Video Summary
Good afternoon. My name is Tom Mitchell. I’m a partner in the law firm of Waller & Mitchell, and we’re located at 5332 Main Street in Downtown New Port Richey, Florida.
Did you know that ten percent of the families in America have a family member who is disabled, as defined by federal regulations? This could be a minor child who suffered malpractice at birth. It could be an adult who has been injured in a traffic accident or an industrial accident. It could be a senior citizen who has suffered neglect in a nursing home and incurred serious injuries.
If this describes anyone in your family, we at Waller & Mitchell can help you. There are federal and state programs designed to assist individuals who have these kinds of injuries and require special assistance. These programs are all means-tested. That means that you cannot have more than a certain amount of money and be qualified for these programs.
When these types of injuries happen to someone, typically there is a lawsuit filed on behalf of the injured party. And this lawsuit can result in hundreds of thousands or, in some cases, even millions of dollars that are to be made available to that person. The problem is twofold.
First, that money has to last for the entire lifetime of the individual. And, second of all, if they receive that money in their individual names, they will be disqualified from public assistance benefits because of the means testing that I mentioned earlier.
There is, however, a special kind of trust authorized under federal law that’s called a Special Needs Trust. In a Special Needs Trust, the money from the lawsuit settlement can be deposited to the trust account, and a trustee can be named, and the trustee can then pay for the special needs of the individual. The public benefits are still qualified for the individual, and they will pick up the basic nursing home and medical care.
What this allows for is that the special needs of the individual can be met – such things as advanced medical care, special caregiver services, education, entertainment. Any of those things would qualify.
In addition, with a Special Needs Trust, you can have a trust that’s set up by a third party. For example, a grandparent who has a disabled grandchild. In that circumstance, the grandparent sets up the trust, puts the money in the trust, and then the trustee administers the trust for the benefit of the injured party.
The injured party continues to receive their public benefits, so we don’t have any problem with the money being diverted or expended unnecessarily. And the good thing about the third public trust is that after the death of the beneficiary, the disabled child, the original person who set up the trust can put in the trust where that money is to go if there’s anything left.
So if you’re interested in any of these concepts, give me a call. I’m Tom Mitchell. My number is 727-847-2288.
What is a Lifetime Personal Services Contract?
Video Summary
Good afternoon. My name is Tom Mitchell. I’m a partner with the law firm of Waller & Mitchell. We’re located at 5332 Main Street in Downtown New Port Richey, Florida. I’m an elder law attorney, which means that I do wills, trusts, estates, powers of attorney, living wills, healthcare surrogates, will and trust administration, public benefits qualifications, asset protection, guardianship work. All of those things pertain to the elder law area.
It frequently comes up in my practice that we have a family that has a senior member who has to go to a nursing home. Either they’re in the nursing home now, or they’re going to be going in the next few weeks, and the family wants to try and get the individual qualified for public assistance.
There are several federal and state programs that will pay for the nursing home care of an individual who is indigent. Now, indigency is defined somewhat differently under these federal regulations than you and I might think.
Basically, a single individual can have up to $2,000.00 in assets and get $2,025 a month in income. For a married couple, the person who’s living at home, who we call the “community spouse,” can have $115,000.00 in cash assets, plus the house and the car. And the institutionalized spouse, the person in the nursing home, can only have $2,000.00.
So the problem is: what do we do if the individual is a single person, and they’re only entitled to have $2,000.00, but they have $100,000.00? Or maybe it’s a married couple, and they’re entitled to have $115,000.00, and they have $200,000.00. What do we do about that extra money, to try and get the person qualified for the Medicaid Institutional Care Program benefit, yet still get as much money as possible down to the junior generation?
Well, there’s a technique that we call a Lifetime Personal Services Contract. This comes about because even though it’s your parent, and you might provide care for them and provide management of their medical and personal needs for nothing, that isn’t the law. You’re not required to do that. And so the only thing, under the Medicaid regulations, you can’t do is give money away.
So you can’t give the money away. So what do we do? We sign a contract with one of our children that they will manage our affairs for the rest of our life, and we’re going to transfer money to them now in satisfaction of that obligation. The next question is: “Well, how much money can we transfer?”
And in doing that, we have a calculation that has worked with the Medicaid authorities for many years. Basically, what you do is – you compute the person’s life expectancy. There are tables to do that. You figure out how many hours per month you think that you’re going to be providing these services. You figure out the rate that you’re going to charge.
And currently, in this area, we use the rate that the courts allow for family member guardians. And doing that, you can come up with a number. And that number is the amount of money that can be transferred from the senior generation to the junior generation now, and not disqualify the individual for Medicaid purposes for having made a gift.
So if you’d like to investigate this, please give me a call. This is Tom Mitchell. I’m at 727-847-2288.
- Published in Medicaid Planning, Videos
What Does Eminent Domain Mean?
Video Summary
Hi. What does eminent domain mean? Eminent domain is usually in conjunction with a government entity such as the Florida Department of Transportation or a county building a road, although it can be used by utilities to obtain easements. The government must compensate private property owners if they take their property and the process is called eminent domain and is a lawsuit that is filed to take someone’s property for public use.
The process usually starts by the governmental entity or utility contacting a property owner and asking them to donate the property. And usually the answer, it may be yes or no depending on if they need to road to go by their property or through their property. They don’t have to give the property to the governmental agency and the governmental agency or utility will then get an appraisal and tell them that they will pay them this certain amount of money.
The property owner does not have to take the amount that’s offered. If they don’t, they can negotiate with the county but usually the county will proceed with what they call a quick take program or lawsuit, which is an eminent domain proceeding whereby they deposit the money that they’ve offered to the property owner in the registry at the court and the court will then let the county take the property.
Then if you hire a lawyer and you negotiate further with the county then the price can go up once the property owner gets his own appraisals. If they can’t ever agree on or settle on an amount for the property, it then goes to a trial by jury and in Florida there’s only two times that you get twelve people in a jury box: one is a first-degree murder case and the other is an eminent domain proceeding. And then the jury of your peers are the ones that would determine how much money you would receive for your property in an eminent domain proceeding. One other nice thing about Florida’s eminent domain proceeding is the government entity is responsible for paying your attorney fees, which is a percentage of the increase between the amount that you receive and the amount that’s offered by the government or utility that’s taking your property.
So if you have any questions about eminent domain or if you get a letter in the mail that they’re gonna be taking your property, give me a call at 727-847-2288.
- Published in Real Estate, Videos