What happens when your spouse needs Medicaid and the other spouse depends on his income?

Get a copy of Gabriel Heiser's book "Medicaid Secrets...." Seventh Edition, it goes into great detail of all that is mentioned in above post, as well as ways to, and not to, place in Trust. I got a copy at our public library and will be purchasing one too. Its really much more in depth than the classes I've taken, or other retirement planning books, so far. Also keep in mind, most elder care lawyers will give a freecconsultation so maybe you want to read up in the book, have some ideas ready, and go to a free consult with your questions ready.

God bless you too. I'm happy I could help.

Thank you so much Christine73. Im from NY also and I didnt know how this Medicaid works. You put it so easy to understand. I follow your advice. God bless you and again thank you.

As for other assets, you also have the option of putting them ina "pooled trust," where you would submit all expenses (even mortgage and taxes and groceries) to the trust every month for payment. There are ways, but you need an elder law attorney--a good one-- to set them up for you properly. This is works if you're talking "community medicaid" where your loved on is still at home. If your spouse has to go into a nursing home, you can keep half his assets via a "promissory note" method the elder law attorney can tell you about.

I'm speaking for NY. Other states may or may not be different. First, the house you live in and one car is safe. Second, the gov't has a number that I think is referred to as a minimum monthly allowance. It's around $2000 a month. that's the money the gov't says you can "make" while your spouse is on medicaid, either from a job, his income, or a combination of both. So using this example, if you make $1000 a month, the gov't will allow you to keep an additional $1000 of your spouse's income every month, even if he is on medicaid, to bring you up to the minimum monthly allowance. If you make nothing, you keep $2000 of his money. In addition to that, you are allowed to keep $117,000 of shared assets AND your IRA and the *principle of your spouse's IRA are both exempt. Any required minimum distributions of your spouse's IRA are NOT exempt. I hope this helps. Again, these are the rules and numbers for NY. I got this information from attending a free medicaid seminar given by an elder law attorney to my local chapter of the Alzheimer's association. I would recommend you either contact an elder law attorney for more details, which you may have to pay for, OR attend one of these free seminars where you can ask all the questions you want for free. Good luck to you!