I have moved into assisted living, and have applied for the VA Aid and Attendance benefit. In order to sell my condo, it must be placed in a VA-approved trust. A lawyer has offered to set this up for about $3500. Is this a reasonable fee?
We had our trust (which contains four properties and our cars), wills, medical powers of attorneys, and DPOAs done by a trust and estate attorney for $1700 -- in Southern California, the Land Where Everything Costs More.
Granted, it was about five years ago, but I doubt it's doubled in price in that time.
I don't understand what the VA has to do with your house. I applied for A & A for my Mom when she went into an AL and nothing was mentioned about her house I was selling needed to be in a trust. I thought the whole purpose of a trust was to protect it from recovery. I was not told that the VA would try to recover the money given thru A&A. Its considered a pension.
Having a Trust could effect any future Medicaid help. I don't see why anyone would go thru a Trust and then turn around and sell the house. But then, I am not familiar with trusts.
Who becomes the Trustee, the VA? And if the condo sells, the money stays in the Trust and the VA then oversees your spending?
JoAnn, My understanding about the current rules is that the Aid and Attendance benefit works similar to Medicaid in this regard. When you apply for A&A, they have to verify your existing assets, \excluding/ your residence. Assuming your assets are low enough to qualify, and you meet the rest of the requirements, you will begin receiving the pension. You can keep your residence as long as you like, but if your bank account later gets a sudden large infusion of money from the sale of your residence, your benefit could be reduced or eliminated. So by placing your residence into a VA-approved Trust, the proceeds of the sale go into the Trust, and you can draw on that money at will for whatever you’d like to spend it on with no need for VA approval that I know of.
While reasonable is a question of subjective opinion, I am certain this would be a likely cost for this to be done. I hope this is a trusted and recommended attorney. I think that what the government wants is to know that they can recover some expenses after death if need be, but I don't really understand how this works. I am told that you can ask for a VA advisor on their website for further guidance. I sure do wish you good luck.
We had our trust (which contains four properties and our cars), wills, medical powers of attorneys, and DPOAs done by a trust and estate attorney for $1700 -- in Southern California, the Land Where Everything Costs More.
Granted, it was about five years ago, but I doubt it's doubled in price in that time.
Having a Trust could effect any future Medicaid help. I don't see why anyone would go thru a Trust and then turn around and sell the house. But then, I am not familiar with trusts.
Who becomes the Trustee, the VA? And if the condo sells, the money stays in the Trust and the VA then oversees your spending?
So by placing your residence into a VA-approved Trust, the proceeds of the sale go into the Trust, and you can draw on that money at will for whatever you’d like to spend it on with no need for VA approval that I know of.