If you're retiring or considering retiring, you may be concerned about eventual long-term medical care. Can you pay for it, or will you need Medicaid? That's a complicated question with no easy answers.
Most people want to stay in their homes; however, if you find yourself with a medical condition that requires increasingly complex medical care, staying in your home may not be an option. Nursing home care in Wisconsin is approaching $9,000 per month or more depending on your location and care needs. If you pay out-of-pocket, it may not be long before everything you saved is gone.
Medicaid can provide you with access to medical and long-term care services that you might not otherwise be able to afford. Unfortunately, the eligibility rules and application procedures for these programs have become so complicated that they are difficult for the very people they are designed to help.
Medicaid is intended to be the “option of last resort,” with income and asset ownership requirements. If you “own” too much, you won't be eligible for Medicaid until you are essentially out of money. If you're interested in preserving your home, property and other assets for your spouse and family, it's never too early to start structuring your estate plan with the help of a Waukesha Medicaid lawyer.
Planning for Medicaid in Waukesha
The earlier you get started on estate planning and preparing for Medicaid, the easier it will be for us to be able to prepare you for financial stability in advanced age. Our attorneys are ready to help and can create an entire estate plan that includes helping you preserve Medicaid eligibility. We can also review your current estate plan and recommend changes to help you become eligible for Medicaid, with issues like:
- Homeownership
- Planned gifts and transfers of assets
- Various types of trusts
- Medicaid eligibility requirements
If your current estate plan can't help you with Medicaid eligibility without requiring a complete spend-down of all your assets, maybe it's time to review that estate plan.
There are some spend-down requirements that we can discuss with you. Depending on your financial circumstances, your home or other assets could be at risk if you need to enroll in Medicaid. Heritage Law Office can help you understand how the process works and what we can do to protect your home and other property.
We can also help if your loved one has to be admitted to a nursing home on an emergency basis. While advanced planning is best, we can also help under these circumstances. We can review and make changes to an estate plan to protect and preserve assets in a crisis situation.
Waukesha Medicaid Lawyer at your Service
Trust attorney Brad Sarkauskas to walk you through Medicaid benefits in Wisconsin. He can help you not only apply for Medicaid but also properly position and plan for your assets before you apply so that you can preserve as much of your estate as possible. If you or someone you love is considering applying, but aren't sure what to do, contact Mr. Sarkauskas of Heritage Law Office by calling 414-253-8500 for a free consultation.
