4 Reasons You Need An Estate Planning Attorney in Florida For Medicaid and Long-Term Care

Long-term care planning can be daunting, but there is also a strong chance that you need help from the nursing home. Needless to say, nursing home costs are too high, and with Medicaid financial assistance, it becomes easier. Medicaid comes with several strict rules, and this program is designed for those with little or zero assets. Working with estate planning attorney Florida would be the best thing to streamline the process.

1. Planning ahead for Medicaid:

When it comes to availing Medicaid benefits, estate planning attorney Florida has various options. They plan ahead to get qualified for this program while protecting the assets. However, you can discuss the potential scenarios with the elder law attorney, like retirement age. The asset planning lawyer can give you solid tricks that will safeguard your assets from getting exploited and paying hefty healthcare bills. Implementing advanced estate planning is all about putting some guardrails in place to make it easier to take action if something happens to your spouse in future.

2. Asset Spend Down:

When the applicant has assets above the proposed limits set by Medicaid, they must implement spending down their assets to meet Medicaid's asset limits. Estate planning attorneys in Florida can do it, and they help with paying for long-term care out of pocket, paying off the debt, purchasing an irrevocable funeral trust, making modifications to one's home, and even going on a vacation. One thing is for sure: spending down assets allows the applicant to have excess assets, according to Medicaid's asset limit, to make them lower to comply with the asset limits. This is because Medicaid has a Look-Back-Period. Participating in Medicaid estate planning in advance can allow the future applicant to convert the countable assets into exempt assets while preserving them for the future of the family.

3. Look Back Rule:

The look-back rule is a certain period in which the Medicaid authorities scrutinize all the assets being transferred from the gifted assets or assets sold under the fair market value immediately preceding the date of the applicant's Medicaid application. Any Medicaid beneficiary violating the look-back rule can attract results and disqualification from the Medicaid program. In such conditions, estate planning attorney Florida helps to thoroughly adhere to the Medicaid look-back rule and prepare strategies to make all these things streamlined.

4. Medicaid Estate Recovery Program:

With the Medicaid estate recovery program, authorities attempt to reimburse for the long-term care cost which has been paid for a Medicaid beneficiary following their death. In such a condition, the attorney plays a crucial role in making these things streamlined.

Conclusion:

Estate planning Attorneys Florida assists to make the Medicaid procedure easy, adhering to its rules and securing the assets for the family members. These are the reasons that Medicaid applicants can get from a reputed estate planning attorney.