Estate planning and Medicaid planning do not necessarily dovetail - what the atty did 7 years ago was probably done to avoid estate taxes, probate, etc. Which likely (& hopefully) made sense for the situation back then.Most of the time folks do annuities and life estates all to avoid probate and taxes….but if you need Medicaid totally makes you ineligible.
I'd bet that it's probably that your state's Medicaid program views any assets in a Life Estate as non-exempt asset as they pass upon death outside of probate. Since their non-exempt, their value takes you & hubs over the maximum allowed in non-exempt assets (which is 2K for hubs and probably 114K for you as most states have this for CS).
There probably is a solution but really you need experienced legal - I'd find an NAELA certified elder law attorney to deal with this. Get all your old legal and all your past 3 years financials together before the visit. They will have financial advisors who understand having funds done so they are Medicaid compliant. Stuff is going to have to be restructured for you as a "community spouse". The whole NH spouse & CS financials are a lot more complex than those for doing a widow or widower applying for Medicaid. Good luck.
Is Medicaid denying his application based on the Life Estate? What do they say is the reason if you don't mind saying.
There are some people on this board that are very knowledgeable in the ins and outs of Medicaid and qualifying for it. Hopefully, tomorrow they will see this question and give you some advice.
I'd bet that it's probably that your state's Medicaid program views any assets in a Life Estate as non-exempt asset as they pass upon death outside of probate. Since their non-exempt, their value takes you & hubs over the maximum allowed in non-exempt assets (which is 2K for hubs and probably 114K for you as most states have this for CS).
There probably is a solution but really you need experienced legal - I'd find an NAELA certified elder law attorney to deal with this. Get all your old legal and all your past 3 years financials together before the visit. They will have financial advisors who understand having funds done so they are Medicaid compliant. Stuff is going to have to be restructured for you as a "community spouse". The whole NH spouse & CS financials are a lot more complex than those for doing a widow or widower applying for Medicaid. Good luck.
There are some people on this board that are very knowledgeable in the ins and outs of Medicaid and qualifying for it. Hopefully, tomorrow they will see this question and give you some advice.