Assisted living or nursing home care is needed: Mother needs a nursing home. I 'm a co-owner of all her assets. Is she medicaid eligible before all of the assets are spent? In other words, is my share of the assets protected?.
What is likely going to happen when mom applies for Medicaid, is that the state will require anywhere from 6 months to 5 years of all of mom's financials. That means any accounts with her name on them or tied to her SS #. Medicaid basically views all these to be wholly her assets and subject to a spend-down before she will qualify for Medicaid.
What you have done is called commingling - although it probably seemed to be a good idea years & years ago, it now is a problem. You now will have to be able to clearly show separation of the joined assets. Clearly be able to show your income stream & mom's income stream. imho this is not a DIY project - although you will have to get the paperwork & details together - you need an attorney to structure how the division is done that will pass Medicaid scrutiny.
Personally I would go as soon as possible and set up individual account in each of your names & SS #'s of which your income goes into yours & mom's goes into hers. Do this soon so that you start 2015 with direct deposit of mom's SS and retirement or any other income she gets going in to create a fresh start on all this. Do this & get an elder law appointment set up. This site has a drop down list by state for attorneys too. Good luck & keep a sense of humor in all this.
western, I really think it would be wise to consult a lawyer specializing in Elder Law with your questions, and find out any legal ways to protect your share of the assets.
The nursing home does not have access to the assets. The assets much be "spent down" before Medicaid is available. One way to spend them down is to pay a nursing home. There are many other ways to do that, too. The lawyer can help you understand your options.
Who pays the taxes on the yearly income of the assets. The reason that I ask this is because I was joint owner of my mother's investments with right of survivorship. I was also joint owner of her bank accounts. However, she was the primary owner and thus paid taxes on the yearly gains of those accounts and assets. I never had to use the investments for her care because she died before the bank accounts were depleted.
I am legally able to withdraw my share of these assets. I would then pay the taxes on this money. Is it permissible to withdraw these funds before she enters a nursing home?
Who pays taxes on the assets? No, she is not medicaid eligible before her assets are spent. If she pays the taxes on the assets, then medicaid will view the whole as belonging to her. Those assets will need to be spent only for her care before she can become medicaid eligible. When she applies for medicaid, they will do a five year look back into those assets to see how it has been spent and if she did any special gifting within those five years.
What is likely going to happen when mom applies for Medicaid, is that the state will require anywhere from 6 months to 5 years of all of mom's financials. That means any accounts with her name on them or tied to her SS #. Medicaid basically views all these to be wholly her assets and subject to a spend-down before she will qualify for Medicaid.
What you have done is called commingling - although it probably seemed to be a good idea years & years ago, it now is a problem. You now will have to be able to clearly show separation of the joined assets. Clearly be able to show your income stream & mom's income stream. imho this is not a DIY project - although you will have to get the paperwork & details together - you need an attorney to structure how the division is done that will pass Medicaid scrutiny.
Personally I would go as soon as possible and set up individual account in each of your names & SS #'s of which your income goes into yours & mom's goes into hers. Do this soon so that you start 2015 with direct deposit of mom's SS and retirement or any other income she gets going in to create a fresh start on all this.
Do this & get an elder law appointment set up. This site has a drop down list by state for attorneys too. Good luck & keep a sense of humor in all this.
The nursing home does not have access to the assets. The assets much be "spent down" before Medicaid is available. One way to spend them down is to pay a nursing home. There are many other ways to do that, too. The lawyer can help you understand your options.