Ask Jaleh: Can You Use Medicaid To Compensate Family Members Who Are Live In Caregivers?
Video Summary
Can you use Medicaid to compensate family members who are live-in caretakers? Unfortunately, the answer is “no.”
On March 1, 2014 Florida discontinued all Medicaid HCBS Waivers relevant to the elderly for long-term care. Seniors now receive assistance from the statewide Medicaid Managed Care Long Term, also known as SMMC LTC Program.
If you have any other questions, please contact Waller & Mitchell at 727-847-2288.
- Published in Medicaid Planning, Videos
Ask Jaleh: What Is A Miller Trust?
Video Summary
What is a Miller Trust, and why would I need a Miller Trust in order to qualify for Medicaid?
Let’s talk about first what is the purpose of a Miller Trust, also known as a Qualifying Income Trust.
A Miller Trust solves a single problem. The problem is that the person applying for Medicaid has too much income. A Qualifying Income Trust is an irrevocable trust into which you put your income, and which pays anything left over at your death to the state of Florida, up to the amount of the Medicaid benefits paid on your behalf.
If a Medicaid applicant’s income exceeds the lawful amount for Medicaid eligibility, which is $2,199 per month – effective as of January 1, 2015 – a Qualifying Income Trust must be created with the applicant’s income in order to create eligibility for long-term nursing home care. This insurance is also commonly referred to as a Miller Trust. This is an irrevocable trust.
The income of a Medicaid applicant which exceeds the eligibility criteria is placed in the trust, and someone other than the applicant is the trustee. The trust income will be disposed of in accordance with the directive of the Florida Department of Children and Family Services after the applicant has applied for Medicaid and been approved.
Generally speaking, the applicant will be allowed to retain $105 per month of the income, and may be entitled to divert some of the income to the community spouse if the spouse’s income falls below $1,966.25 per month. This is effective as of July1, 2015. They must also pay a fixed amount towards the patient responsibility for nursing home care.
In the event that there are excess funds in the amount after the applicant dies, Florida Medicaid is entitled to reimbursement from those funds.
Income from Medicaid eligibility purposes is considered gross income. This means that all deductions are added back into the income before one can determine the total amount of income for Medicaid eligibility purposes and is another example of why proper Medicaid planning is so important for each involved individual, and why a Qualifying Income Trust may be necessary.
The Qualifying Income Trust may be created by the applicant if the applicant is competent to do so. The Qualifying Income Trust may also be created by the applicant’s spouse, if there is one, and if the spouse is competent to do so. The Qualifying Income Trust may also be created by the attorney-in-fact pursuant to the applicant’s durable power of attorney, provided the durable power of attorney authorizes the agent to do so.
The form for the power of attorney must include specific authorization for the agent or attorney-in-fact to sign the irrevocable Qualifying Income Trust for the incapacitated person’s skilled nursing home Medicaid eligibility.
If none of the above conditions exist, a court proceeding would be necessary to secure the authority to create a Qualifying Income Trust. Following the detailed requirements for drafting Qualifying Income Trusts and for administering an irrevocable Qualifying Income Trust is important for maintaining Medicaid eligibility for an elderly person after it is first obtained. Your attorney should provide you with detailed and specific directions for the proper funding and administration of the irrevocable Qualifying Income Trust.
The Qualifying Income Trust must be properly managed, and payments must be made each month to maintain eligibility. There are very specific rules that must be followed for the trust. For example, it must be a non-interest bearing account.
Please call me at 727-847-2288 for information about the Miller Trust, and if the Miller Trust is a proper planning tool for you and/or your loved one to become eligible for Medicaid for long-term skilled nursing care.
Do I Need A Lawyer To Transfer Property?
Video Summary
Do I need a lawyer to transfer property?
Well, you probably don’t need a lawyer to transfer personal property that does not have a title. However, if you are transferring an automobile you will go to the Department of Motor Vehicles and you have a title and it is pretty uniform.
However, if you are talking about transferring real estate, then a deed is what is used to transfer real estate. There are certain requirements that are required, so if you know what you are doing – not that you think you know what you are doing – then you don’t need a lawyer. However, to be sure that this is accomplished and the correct legal description is included, I would strongly suggest that you contact a lawyer to prepare a Deed of Conveyance and that the legal description must be accurate. The marital status is involved; joinder of spouse is in the event it is your homestead or the spouse’s homestead.
There is any number of other formalities as far as executing a deed. The cost for us to prepare deeds is $250, the cost to record, depending on whether or not there is a mortgage. So, if you know how to do it and you do it right, well, you don’t need a lawyer. If you have some questions or you want to make sure it is done right, I suggest that you do use a lawyer. If you need some help with deeds, give me a call at 727-847-2288.
- Published in Videos
What Do I Need To Know About Construction Contract Agreements?
Video Summary
What do I need to know about construction contract agreements?
I am assuming you are talking about this from a consumer standpoint or an individual point of view.
The first thing you need to do is investigate who you are contracting with. You need to ask them for their license to make sure that they are properly licensed. You also need to make sure that they have the proper insurances if they are going to work on your property, and you might ask them for that.
You need to also say, “Well, could you give me the last three jobs that you worked on so I can contact those folks and get a reference?” You need to do due diligence with these contractors as far as getting references, as far as checking with the Better Business Bureau, contacting Consumer Affairs to see if they have any complaints, and just Google them to see what the other consumers say; I know that there are ratings there.
It is really critical for you to do your due diligence before you enter into a contract. I have a saying, “It is hard to make a good contract with a good player,” and that is where you are going to run into trouble. If the contractor is bad, well, you are not going to wind up with a good contract to begin with.
Also, you need to verify whether or not a building permit is necessary, and confirm that the contractor is going to apply for a building permit. This has to do with something as simple as replacement of windows or replacing air conditioners, and certainly as far as roofs are concerned. If a contractor does need a building permit, before they get the building permit they are going to need a Notice of Commencement, which you will need to sign. This will protect you under the construction lien statute.
The contract also should start with a deposit. You do not want to give the contractor too much money before he ever starts the work. He is going to want some money, and he may be ahead of you a little bit as far as the amount of work that he does versus the value that you have received. So, you need to break down the payments in installments, and certainly you need to reserve a final payment. The reason for this is if for some reason the contractor would not complete the work, you should have enough money – or almost enough money – to complete the work by hiring someone else, whereas if you have given all your money to the contractor up front and he then leaves, then you are in a bad situation and it will cost you to get someone else to finish it. It will cost you a lot more than you initially contracted for.
Also, the contract that you have with your contractor needs to not only break down the payments, but also provide that they will be giving you progress payment affidavits stating that they paid all of their subcontractors and material men before you give them the next draw. Therein lies the reason why you want to break down your payments into at least three installments.
Before you give the contractor the last payment, you need to be sure that he provides you with a contractor’s final affidavit saying that he has paid everyone. Once he gives you that, you can give him the final payment, provided you haven’t received any sort of noticed from any material men or anyone else who says, “Well, you need to make sure I get paid.” If you have, you need to require your contractor to give you a release from that subcontractor or material man that they used on the particular job.
These are some of the things that you need to look at in your contract. The other thing is that you need to put down a date by which all this work is going to be done. The contractors may have some problems with doing that as far as any penalties are concerned, but you definitely need to have a time period. I get calls all the time that “he started on this, and I haven’t seen him in six weeks,” or whatever. Something in the contract should say an outside date that this should be done. So, if the job should take 30 days, you say, “Well, if it is not done within 30 days then I have a right to terminate the contract if it is not done in 60 – or some outside date.” This is difficult to negotiate, but you don’t want to just leave it open as to when this contractor is going to come back.
Construction contracts are hopefully fairly detailed and may have certain provisions in there about effective workmanship, on how you are supposed to claim it before you can bring an action against your contractor – which is a losing proposition. Something you else you want to address in the contract is what kind of warranties you are going to have, and be sure you receive those before you give them the final payment. Don’t take “no” for an answer, and “I’ll get it to you later,” or whatever. Say, “No. I need that before I give you this final check,” and make sure that once the building permit is pulled – or you see the building permit – that the Building Department signs off on your building permit on the final inspection.
I am not sure that I have covered everything, but hopefully that gives you a running start at looking at entering into a contract to have construction work done on your home or your property. If you have any questions about it or need some help with it, give me a call at 727-847-2288.
- Published in Real Estate, Videos