We're renters, $2,400 monthly. Have approx. $100,000 joint savings. Husband has Parkinson's, will eventually need nursing care. Dilemma: should we use money buy small condo or pay elder attorney retainer fee $16,000 for future Medicaid Qualified Annuity?Understand they will look even at my small $400 monthly pension and $3,000 Apple stock. My husband is handicapped, uses a walker even before Parkinson's dx. Please, any suggestions appreciated. Thank you.
You mention eventually needing nursing care, so would not recommend buying condo & having a mortage to pay. What if you need to sell when nursing home needed ? News states housing prices falling. You could be stuck with mortage higher that what condo worth when attempting to sell. Can you move to smaller apt. Maybe senior independent living. We did that, rent was $ 2000 AND included food, utiliies, cable. Plus no worries on paying for repair as that handled at no cost. We actually spent less that way. Also, Physical Therapy available and aide to hire as needed ( as just for showering and morning getting up and dressed. You do have a lot of options but life issues hit so fast. You have enough time. Don 't let someone take money from in order to "help" preserve it. Prayers.
What were you thinking you would need this elder law attorney for? By the time you have spent down 100,000, which will be QUICKLY done if one of you requires any time in care, your application to Medicaid will be simple, and it is very unlikely to be affected by any 400.00 monthly pension.
Wishing you the best. If you are currently "making it" I would continue to do so. Inflation, that I can see is not at all helped recently, and having seen a small package of Oscar Meyer Bacon in a cheap Kroger outlet for 12.99 I am fair flummoxed that anyone thinks things are going in a better direction. But there you are. Hang in there. And I wish you all the best.
You need to find out what the Medicaid rules are for a “community spouse“ in your state. When one spouse is in a facility, the one that remains in the community is allowed to keep a certain amount of assets and income.
My concern is that if the community spouse is allowed to keep more than 103,000 or even 103,000 less what you pay the lawyer, the trust isn’t a good idea. Also, Medicaid has a look back timeframe that the funds would need to be in the trust before they wouldn’t count as assets.
Bogleheads are very good with financial questions. Like can I afford a condo? You will need to give them information about your income as a couple and your income as a community spouse. what do you expect the HOA fee to be? What do you expect the property taxes to be? what funds do you expect to have available for repairs or other unexpected increases in cost?
Yes, we are aware of the 5 year look back. Real estate, as long as the community spourse resides in it, is allowed and not affected by the look back. Have my own IRA which is not included. We have two more exploratory meetings with elder attorneys to check their fees. We've already gone to our bank and know the amount we can afford for real estate if we decide that route. So my post was more directed at couples in our situation who are renters and decided to buy a home or condo to spend down. But thank you for your response.