| Veteran's Receiving MassHealth for Nursing Home Care Can Elect to Keep $90 of Monthly Pension |
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Little known to many nursing home residents, current
MassHealth regulations exclude $90 of the
monthly Veteran's Administration pension paid to a
veteran or a veteran's spouse currently residing in a
nursing facility and receiving MassHealth coverage
from being applied as countable income paid to the
long-term care nursing facility. This means that
nursing home residents who qualify may keep $150 a
month rather than the standard $60 a month personal
needs allowance.
In order to apply, the Veteran's Administration
pension recipient must send a letter to the local
Boston Veteran's Administration requesting to
reduce their benefits to $90 a month. The Veteran's
Administration will seek verification of the necessity of
long-term care services from the veteran's doctor and
the nursing home. If this benefit is not requested, the
veteran's entire pension will continue to be paid to the
nursing home.
See MassHealth
Regulations Chapter 520.015 and Veteran's Administration
Regulations Chapter 39.
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| M&A's Lunch Speaker, Blair Trippe, Explored Effectiveness of Family Mediation |
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As people age, family dynamics change,
which can impose new stresses on elders and their
loved ones. Faced with such challenges, many
families may need help with complex emotional
decision-making. Mediation provides an opportunity
for the elder person, all involved family
members, other caregivers and professional
advisors to participate in creating a thoughtful plan for
the future through shared decision-making.
At Margolis & Associates' February First-Monday
Lunch, Blair Trippe, a mediator, trainer and principal
of Agreement Resources LLC and founding partner
of Elder
Decisions delved into different conflict
resolution styles based on the type of relationships
and the significance of the issue at hand. For a family
grappling with issues related to an elder's finances,
capacity to make significant decisions, daily living
arrangments and assistance needs, or family
disagreements about certain decisions, mediation
with an experienced family mediator can be a
successful avenue toward realistic, workable
solutions.
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| Case Reflects Difficulties with Nominee Realty Trusts and Second Marriages |
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A recent Massachusetts case, Jane
Peters Clark Dawson, et al. v. Freya Allen Shoffner, et
al., reflects the misuse of realty trusts and the
need for open communication within families,
especially in second marriages. The case involves
two marriages, three families and numerous real
properties held by two realty trusts. Realty trusts are
often used to hold property without publicly
disclosing the true beneficial owner(s) who are listed
on a separate unrecorded schedule of beneficiaries.
In this case, the court found that absent a
schedule of beneficiaries, the realty trusts did not
exist when the real estate properties were first
transferred into them. To the dismay of the children
from the owner's first marriage, both properties
passed according to their father's will, granting both
properties to ultimately be shared amongst all
members of the owner's family.
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| Support Hale Barnard's Elderly Residents by Attending 2007 Annual Spring Fundraiser |
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Hale Barnard Services for Older People, located in the
heart of Boston’s Back Bay, provides housing, health
care, social and money management services to
Boston’s elderly and disabled in need. Hale
Barnard's annual spring fundraiser will be held on
March 30, 2007, at First Church in Boston. The invent
includes a reception from 6-7:00 pm, three
entertainment acts, and a silent auction. Tickets for
this event are $50 each ($35 is tax-deductible.) To
purchase tickets for this event, please call Kristen at
(617) 536-3726 x15 or email fundraiser@
conversent.net.
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Court Penalizes Family for Failing to Plan for Medicaid Eligibility Rules |
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A Massachusetts appeals court recently held that
paying a relative for services is a transfer for less than
fair market value without documentation to prove the
Medicaid applicant intended to pay for services at the
time they were rendered. (Andrews v.
Division of
Medical Assistance)
The case involved an elderly woman who was cared
for by her daughter and son-in-law, in their home, until
she moved to a nursing home. Unaware of Medicaid,
they decided to sell the elder's home. The daughter
and son-in-law took a year and a half off of work to
make major self-renovations, worth $100,000, which
greatly increased the house's value. When the elder
applied for Medicaid, the state determined there was
no evidence of an intention to pay the daughter and
son-in-law for the work they performed, and included
the $100,000 payment for renovations in calculating
eligibility for benefits.
Unfortunately, the court evaded the real legal issue of
how could the elder's intentions be proved when she
suffered from advanced dementia, and discharged the
commonsensical inference that most people don't
take extensive time off of work to perform home
renovations without the intention of compensation.
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