<rog350[at]webtv.net> wrote in message
news:9603-48504E30-62[at]storefull-3136.bay.webtv.net...
- quote -

I believe your father posted this question and received many good replies,
including the possiblity of the establishment of a trust. Did you Google the
archives?

Elizabeth Richardson

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rog350[at]webtv.net wrote:
- quote -


As other people said this does involve legal questions - regarding both
Medicaid in Florida, and SS disability benefits in your state. A very
similar question was posted here in April, from the parents'
perspective...here was my reply:

============
Anthony wrote:
- quote -

Anthony, I'd strongly suggest speaking with an estate planning attorney
who is familiar with your type of case, it's a specialized area of law.
A big issue here is the effect of any inheritance on disability benefits
and other support that your son might currently qualify for. You may
have looked into this already, but there is an estate-planning method
called a "Special Needs Trust" that is used in this context. The purpose
of an SNT is to pass assets to a disabled beneficiary without
disqualifying them from their disability benefits. As part of that you
can include planning to address the estate administration - as someone
posted that's something to consider also, the probate of a FL estate,
given that your son is in MA.

Ideally you want someone that knows both MA & federal benefits law and
FL probate law...a Boston-based snowbird?
============

Here is the entire thread, including the complete original question (the
moderator of this group asks us to snip questions to keep down the reply
size):
http://tinyurl.com/6kd9t7

I think the consensus was to find some legal advice about this one. If
you post your home state perhaps someone who lives there can suggest a
legal aid resource near you - I can point you towards some groups in CA,
but don't know about other states.

-Tad

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<rog350[at]webtv.net> wrote
- quote -

To answer several of your questions, please consider reading
information at the following:
http://www.floridamedicaid.com/ (click on asset rules,
income rules, and homestead rules, for starters). Note this
is a commercial web site, and not one run by the state of
Florida. Commercial web sites generally hope you will buy a
product they are selling. Nonetheless, many commercial web
sites also offer good consumer information, in the hopes you
will go another step and buy their product.

Also, become familiar with
http://www.fdhc.state.fl.us/Medicaid/index.shtml. It has
telephone numbers you can call for questions you may have. I
am currently involved in arranging for a relative to have
Medicaid paid for nursing home. In the state where this
relative lives (not Florida), the Medicaid offices were very
helpful in answering my questions. They are there, after
all, to serve the public, especially the lower income
public. It appears your parents fall into this category
(like many elderly folks).

The questions you have come up often. Persevere using
resources like those above, and you will get your answers.
Do not go looking for a lawyer until you know for sure you
need one. And you may. So far it appears that your parents
and you will be able to prevent Medicaid from seizing the
house. But you may need a bit of help from an attorney.
Studying the above resources

No doubt there are other online fora (specialized in helping
those with elderly parents) on the net that will take
questions like yours.

For various reasons, I personally would not put much faith
in misc.legal.moderated to help you, or I expect it would be
about as helpful as the answers given here. You can
certainly post there and see if anyone has something
intelligent to say, though. Maybe there is a Florida
attorney or paralegal, specialized in Medicaid etc., who
lurks there.

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On Jun 11, 5:29*pm, rog...[at]webtv.net wrote:
- quote -

For starters, we MAY be able to answer your question, but it's
definitely a legal one. Medicaid is a real mess, and there are many
attorney's who specialize in the field. There are many caveats,
exceptions, and "well buts" and it is incredibly difficult to know
them all unless you make a living of it. Furthermore, the medicaid
*guidelines* are set by the Feds, but each state is allowed to make
its own rules within those guidelines. That makes it about 50x more
complicated (I can't speak for Guam and Puerto Rico). In short, leave
Dave alone; he's trying to help.

To ATTEMPT to answer your question:
Do you currently live at home with your parents? Are you a dependent
of theirs? Your posts makes it sound as if you do not, but I can't be
sure. The Florida medicaid estate recovery program does not pursue
cases in which a spouse or disabled/blind child is still living in the
home after the medicaid recipient's death. If you are not their
dependent and don't live at home and the remaining spouse is deceased,
the house does not qualify for homestead anyway and therefore your
sister has no bearing on the situation. The house can be sold to
reclaim medicaid payments. If you do live in the home, you can
continue to do so. The spirit of the law is thus: "if someone
genuinely needs the home and taking it would cause undue burden, it
can't be taken". That's very rough and loosley worded, but that's the
gist.

*I am not a lawyer. This should not be relied on as legal advice.*

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On Jun 12, 5:45*am, rog...[at]webtv.net wrote:
- quote -

No, I am not the moderator of the group. For my response, I trimmed
your post as per the policy of the newsgroup, which you can find in
the moderator's monthly postings, and even briefly at the end of every
posting. I suggested that you ask another newsgroup because your
question doesn't sound like financial planning to me. The lack of
answers so far in misc.invest.financial-plan tends to back up my
assertion that it isn't a financial planning question. I'm sure that
this kind of question is dealt with all the time by attorneys
specializing in the field of entitlements. That's why I suggested
misc.legal.moderated. Good luck.

Dave

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On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:29:26 -0500, rog350[at]webtv.net wrote:


- quote -

States administer Medicaid and have differing procedures. I am not
familiar with Florida procedures.

But where a beneficiary is receiving needs-based benefits and an
inheritance/gift would impact their qualifying for those benefits, it
is somewhat common to see trusts used. There is a specific trust that
would receive inheritances, etc., be able to benefit the beneficiary,
and yet not disqualify the beneficiary for other benefits.

Strongly suggest you contact your local Bar Association and ask for
the names of a few attorneys in your area who specialize in "Elder
care" and pay for an hour or so for their time. They would be
familiar with Florida rules and able to help you with a trust or
whatever. They could also help explain the recovery rules Florida
Medicaid will use in your parent's situation.

Good luck.

-HW "Skip" Weldon
Columbia, SC

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Dave I take it your the moderator of this group ?
I mean why did'nt my question post as a whole ? I don't think it was a
legal question anymore than the rich that post here ? You have no idea
what effort it took to write what I did and its not even posted ?


======================================= MODERATOR'S COMMENT:
Your original post was posted to the newsgroup when received on June 11.

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On Jun 11, 5:29*pm, rog...[at]webtv.net wrote:
- quote -

Try asking your question at misc.legal.moderated.

Dave

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I have been disabled since childhood and live on approx. $700. a month
SS. My parents are in the early 90's and live in Florida. The have a
50-100 K valued condo and less than 20 K in savings.
My parents have a will that leaves the other all at either of their
passing and then to my sister and myself when they both pass. My
concern is if either of my parents should need Medicad to pay for their
long term care later (I hope not).
I have read online that since I am disabled the state of Florida would
not come after my parents homestead at their passing to repay Medicaid.
What concerns me is if my parents will leaves their homestead to my
sister and I equally how would this effect this situation ?
or would it effect it at all ?


Thanks For Reading My Post

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