expecting money soon. she needs costant care .the money will not go far.want to help her keep medicaid. what are her options? read about a miller trust. would this help my mother?
I'd talk to an estate attorney. You may need to set up a trust of some sort. You are right that she would lose her Medicaid status until that money is gone. There may be a way around this, but there may not. Medicaid is for people who have no resources. She would be able to go back on Medicaid after the money is spent. Legal advice is warranted here. Good luck, Carol
if she is on ssi and on medicaid/medicare then u need to put it towards funeral cost or something of the like I am having to do the same thing for my husband in order to be his aide and keep his longterm care going....if not I would call ssi and medicaid find how out u can do this and if possible may retain advice from elder care attorney or tax advisor....that is all i can say at this point but u will find out if u can make it a win win situation for her instead of win/lose one...
You need to speak with a certified elder attorney BEFORE she gets the money. The $ may be able to be titled in another name or a trust or a special needs account and put in place as that while it is in probate. It's 20K?
Miller trust, imho, doesn't work for this. Miller is really designed for those who have a consistent monthly income that is over the Medicaid monthly asset limit. Like your mom gets 1K from SS and 2,500 from retirement AND she has no other assets but is basically 1,500 a mo over the Medicaid limit but not enough to pay for NH. Miller is used for those scenario's: the extra above the Medicaid limit $ goes to the trust with the beneficiary of the trust being the state's Medicaid program on death. You or other heirs do not get the Miller trust $ per se.
Miller really has to be done by an attorney as it needs to be flexible and meets each state's unique spin on Medicaid. By flexible, I mean where it can adapt to an increase in the rate taken out without having to re-do Miller each time SS goes up.
Sadly, 20K isn't that much money once they are in a NH. If she doesn't have funeral & burial and small ($ 1,500) term life insurance already. You could buy all those - that will likely run 10K and use the balance to buy new walker, hearing aids, clothing, dental work (this usually isn't covered by Medicaid) and 1 mo of NH and I bet that eats up the whole 20K or close to it.
Once they are on Medicaid, their finances are pretty transparent so you don't want to do anything that will red-flag them or you could find yourself having to private pay for her care till the influx of $ is sorted out. Whatever you do try to get anything bought within a month's cycle so that Medicaid stops for only that month. If she is even $ 1 over the Medicaid limit for a month, it's private pay for the NH for that mo.
I'm assuming this is $ from a estate in probate. If you can, have whomever is the executrix for where the 20K is coming from to do it for the 1st of a month so you have a full 30 days to spend down the 20K. The executrix can easily hold a check for a couple of months or even till the start of a new tax year if need be. No need to rush through probate - most states have it where you can take 4 years to finalize. Good luck.
Carol
Miller trust, imho, doesn't work for this. Miller is really designed for those who have a consistent monthly income that is over the Medicaid monthly asset limit. Like your mom gets 1K from SS and 2,500 from retirement AND she has no other assets but is basically 1,500 a mo over the Medicaid limit but not enough to pay for NH. Miller is used for those scenario's: the extra above the Medicaid limit $ goes to the trust with the beneficiary of the trust being the state's Medicaid program on death. You or other heirs do not get the Miller trust $ per se.
Miller really has to be done by an attorney as it needs to be flexible and meets each state's unique spin on Medicaid. By flexible, I mean where it can adapt to an increase in the rate taken out without having to re-do Miller each time SS goes up.
Sadly, 20K isn't that much money once they are in a NH. If she doesn't have funeral & burial and small ($ 1,500) term life insurance already. You could buy all those - that will likely run 10K and use the balance to buy new walker, hearing aids, clothing, dental work (this usually isn't covered by Medicaid) and 1 mo of NH and I bet that eats up the whole 20K or close to it.
Once they are on Medicaid, their finances are pretty transparent so you don't want to do anything that will red-flag them or you could find yourself having to private pay for her care till the influx of $ is sorted out. Whatever you do try to get anything bought within a month's cycle so that Medicaid stops for only that month. If she is even $ 1 over the Medicaid limit for a month, it's private pay for the NH for that mo.
I'm assuming this is $ from a estate in probate. If you can, have whomever is the executrix for where the 20K is coming from to do it for the 1st of a month so you have a full 30 days to spend down the 20K. The executrix can easily hold a check for a couple of months or even till the start of a new tax year if need be. No need to rush through probate - most states have it where you can take 4 years to finalize.
Good luck.