One common misconception for those who have entered a nursing home is that the home must be sold before one can attain Medicaid eligibility. This is simply not true. The home is exempt from counting as a resource for Medicaid eligibility purposes if it is the principal residence of the following: • The applicant/recipient; • The spouse of the applicant/recipient; • The parent of an applicant/recipient under age 18; • The biological or adoptive child
Early in my legal career a person’s Last Will and Testament dictated where a person’s estate would go to and who was in charge. Today, a Last Will and Testament is still important for many issues, but the common use and practice of beneficiary designations for almost any type of property interest in Indiana can control who receives much of their estate, and not their Last Will and Testament. In Indiana, you can name a
There are different ways to handle bank accounts for estate planning purposes. If a client merely adds a Payable on Death (“POD”) designation on a bank/credit union account titled solely in the name of the client, then the beneficiary has no right to access funds or information on this account during the life of the client; however, upon the death of the client, the money will transfer automatically to the listed named beneficiary(ies) and avoids
A pooled special needs trust is a “pooled” trust combining the assets of many individuals with each disabled beneficiary having a separate sub-trust. The pooled trust is run by non-profit organizations. For Indiana residents, we have the SWIRCA Pooled Trust (812–492‑7441) and the Arc of Indiana Master Trust (317–977‑2375). Both have great support teams and will answer any questions you may have. A pooled trust is established for the sole benefit of a disabled individual that
The difficult decision has been made to move forward with nursing home placement for your loved one. Once a suitable nursing home has been chosen based on your visitation of facilities and reviews and data such as can be found on Medicare.gov, you may wonder when to begin the process of qualifying financially and applying for Medicaid to help pay for the nursing home costs and protect your loved one’s hard-earned savings. The answer is