Looking to the future, would an individual account held for many years be subject to the look back period if a spouse was in a nursing home applying for Medicaid?
This question is dependent on whether they are looking at your assets as a married couple, and would depend on the rules of your state. For instance, most money held in our own name before marriage can remain our own assets in most states if kept in our own names. Then if there is, say, credit card debt by the other spouse our own assets are not a part of it. If you get an inheritance in most states it is solely yours and cannot be tapped by the spouse IF you keep it in your own name. But if you marry this inheritance to the spouse by putting it in joint account the inheritance then belongs to them as well.
As this is all very complicated and goes state by state and type of account by type of account, and whether assets in the account were consider joint in some states because put there during a marriage, and on and on and on, it is important that this be a LAWYER QUESTION.
If you are thinking to the future you will have other attorney questions as well. You can try CPA, Banker, etc and see who knows what, but an attorney in your state, esp specializing in elder law, should have all the answers. So in these crucial questions it's important to buy an hour of attorney time with your list of questions.
In some states, a spouse living at home can place her/his money into a Medicaid-compliant annuity as long as s/he does this before the spouse in long-term care requires Medicaid. I would have done this had my husband not died before we ran out of his money. States also let the spouse at home keep a certain amount of joint assets; the allowable amount increases every year by a small percentage; it's probably around $125-$130K now. If the spouse in long-term care has term life insurance it's important to pay the premiums because Medicaid cannot touch term life insurance, but can take whole life proceeds upon the Medicaid recipient's death. The spouse at home can usually keep the house or condo. Medicaid only goes after it after the spouse at home dies.
For instance, most money held in our own name before marriage can remain our own assets in most states if kept in our own names. Then if there is, say, credit card debt by the other spouse our own assets are not a part of it.
If you get an inheritance in most states it is solely yours and cannot be tapped by the spouse IF you keep it in your own name. But if you marry this inheritance to the spouse by putting it in joint account the inheritance then belongs to them as well.
As this is all very complicated and goes state by state and type of account by type of account, and whether assets in the account were consider joint in some states because put there during a marriage, and on and on and on, it is important that this be a LAWYER QUESTION.
If you are thinking to the future you will have other attorney questions as well. You can try CPA, Banker, etc and see who knows what, but an attorney in your state, esp specializing in elder law, should have all the answers. So in these crucial questions it's important to buy an hour of attorney time with your list of questions.
Is the spouse with the accounts the one who is applying for Medicaid?
Or do you mean the non-applicant spouse?
If the account is in the name of the person who is applying for Medicaid and it's within that person's state lookback period, then yes.
If it is in the non-applicant spouse's name (only), then no.