How much money is an elderly allowed to give grown children and not affect assets if gong into a nursing home

thanks igloo. I have no idea what she is going to do and frankly really dont care. Of course I would be nice to have some extra money in my pocket but I am not wanting or expecting it. As for what would happen if lets say she needs family help-it wont be me cause I have no money -the judge does and oh well who knows what he would do.

Playa - just warm & cuddly, isn't he! Let me guess, he will be her DPOA and the executor for her will too and he knows the attorneys, so no advise needed......

Well you do what you can from afar. You know if she wants too, she should go ahead and gift out the $ now and not just the 5K each. If she has 100K (or whatever is burning a hole in her bank account), then do 50K dated 2012 and 50K dated Jan, 2013 and do it evenly and then just move on and hope nothing happens till 2019 when she is 88. Good luck & keep a sense of humor, you'll need it.lol.

thanks for the replies. I am not sure if she has contacted a lawyer. Everyone in the family is convinced she will live to be 100 so yes I guess she should do something with the money now if that is what she watns. I do not have a good realationship with her so I am not going to interfere more than what I have already and that was to advice her to consult a lawyer. I have mentioned this to my three brothers. My oldest brother is a retired judge. His only answer was if she gives the money away and should end up in a nursing home-if her money runs out within that five year period allotted-we as her kids are not responsible for her care and he said they would not kick her out of the nursing home. Not sure how to reply to that one.

83! She is a youngster and really you all could be looking at a decade before she even needs a NH. As others have said, she needs to work with an elder law attorney or estate savvy attorney who understands the nuances of how her state laws work. The good thing is that you all have time to work this out (well hopefully) and she can set things up to distribute out assets now, perhaps set up a special needs trust for herself and also for whatever family members might need this and change beneficiaries of insurance policies, etc. Often the focus is on getting rid of $ and not thinking about how it could pose a problem for the also getting older kids (you and your siblings). The Holidays are often a good time to bring all this up and coming up with a plan for the new year/2013. Good luck.

I put Medicaid into site search and came up with https://www.agingcare.com/search.aspx?searchterm=medicaid

If you click "Money and Legal" in the menu above, there are some articles on Medicaid and Medicare that will probably help. The discussion threads are scattered throughout the forum. You might find some of them by putting "Medicaid" into the search engine on the top right. Hope this helps.

could you direct me to where I would look here? What you said is my understanding but I was thinking there was a way around this. Her grown children dont want the money-but she is very adamant and sometimes does things without thinking of the outcome. I already told her she needed to contact an attorney on this-I will encourage her again Thanks

If she were to have to apply to Medicaid within the next five years, any gifts would be considered. Medicaid doesn't follow the IRS rules when it comes to gifts. All gifts are considered. There are other ways to shelter money, though. I am not very knowledgeable about them. There are some discussions here about how it can be done. It is always best to consult your own attorney, though, since he/she will know the laws of your state.