Do I Have to Pay the Decedent Credit Card Bills and Medical Bills From a Joint Acct?
Video Summary
Do I have to pay the decedent’s credit card bills and medical bills from a joint account which was maintained during his lifetime and I the co-owner? The answer is no. Creditors are required to file their claims in a probate proceeding, and if there is no probate proceeding, they have no way to file a claim and no way to recover whatever bills that are owed. This even goes to Medicaid liens. If there are no assets in the decedent’s name, they’re not able to recover these and you have no responsibility to use the money that was in a joint account to pay the decedent’s bills. The joint accounts are by statute become the asset or the sole owner of the co-owner of account. So if you have any questions, give a call (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Medicaid Planning, Probate, Videos
Do I Have To Pay The Decedent Credit Card Bills And Medical Bills From A Joint Account?
Video Summary
Do I have to pay the decedent’s credit card bills and medical bills from a joint account which was maintained during his lifetime? And I am the co-owner? The answer is no. Creditors are required to file their claims in a probate proceeding, and if there is no probate proceeding, they have no way to file a claim and no way to recover whatever bills that are owed. This even goes to Medicaid liens. If there are no assets in the decedent’s name, they’re not able to recover these, and you have no responsibility to use the money that was in a joint account to pay the decedent’s bills. The joint accounts are by statute become the asset or the sole owner of the co-owner of the account. So if you have any questions, give a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Medicaid Planning, Probate, Videos
Do I Need Require a POA For Assets And Healthcare Decisions?
Video Summary
Do I need power of attorney for assets and a healthcare decision? Well, those, I usually do that in two different forms. First, let’s talk about healthcare decisions. That’s called a healthcare surrogate form. And whenever I prepare that, it has what they call a HIPAA waiver whereby you authorize someone to make, to be able to receive your medical information and authorize the medical providers to talk, to whoever you designate. It also then provides you designate someone to make healthcare decisions for you if you are unable to do so. And so that’s a healthcare surrogate, which is specifically designed to designate someone or several people to be able to make healthcare decisions for you. A durable power of attorney is one usually used to take care of your business, such as your banking, being able to buy and sell assets. And so that is why you would sign a durable power of attorney, to appoint an agent to be able to take care of your business. I know many powers of attorney do also authorize the make certain medical decisions, but the healthcare surrogate form is specifically designed for that. But the power of attorney can authorize the setup of what they call a Miller trust in order to help qualify you for Medicaid. And so it has to do more with your business rather than for your healthcare decisions. So, yes, I think you should have both of those, so that you have someone to be able to make those healthcare decisions for you on the one hand, and then on the same person or someone else be able to make business decisions for you. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Medicaid Planning, Videos
If I Go To A Nursing Home, Will They Take My House?
Video Summary
If I go to a nursing home, will they take my house? The answer is no. Nursing homes usually are charged for their services. This is usually after you go to the hospital, you go to rehab, and then it’s determined that you need skilled nursing care. The cost of the nursing home, it runs about $8,000 or more per month. In the event that you cannot afford the $8,000 a month, you would need to apply for Medicaid or have your power of attorney or agent apply for a nursing home for you. There are two tests to obtain Medicaid so that the state would pay for your stay. One is an income test and the other is an asset test. And the asset test exempts your home from the determination. And also your home is exempt from the payment of creditors’ claims including, Medicaid reimbursement, as well as any judgments of any nursing homes that are involved. So the answer to your question, answer to the question is no. The nursing home will not take your home. They cannot take your home, nor can any creditor. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Medicaid Planning, Videos
Once You Are Eligible For Florida Medicare Can You Live In Any Assisted Living Facility?
Video Summary
Once you are eligible for Florida Medicaid, can you live in an assisted living facility? The answer is yes, you can. As far as qualifying for Medicaid, you must meet certain criteria, which is an asset test and also an income test. You cannot rent out your, if you own a home and then you’re going to move to an assisted living facility, you can’t rent out your home or sell the home. You can also obtain Medicaid assistance as far as going into an assisted living facility. Although there is a wait list , I don’t know, a year or 18 months or whatever, and you should contact an elder law lawyer. The question all had the were also had words in here about Medicare, which it doesn’t matter if you can live anywhere you want to with Medicare, that does not prohibit you from where you live or what you in anything as far as your economic, income or your assets, as far as receiving Medicare is concerned. So if you have any questions about this, you can give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Medicaid Planning, Videos