Elder Law Answers
Proving That a Transfer Was Not Made in Order to Qualify for Medicaid
Medicaid law imposes a penalty period if you transferred assets within five years of applying, but what if the transfers h...
Read moreWhat Can You Legally Spend Money on in Order to Qualify for Medicaid?
- July 25th, 2014
Q
My mom needs to go on Medicaid and has a substantial sum of money in her bank account. What can we legally spend this money on in order for her to still qualify for Medicaid coverage of her nursing home care?
A
You can spend the money down on anything for your mother, including paying for her care and prepaying for her funeral. You may pay off any debts she has and, if she owns a home, pay down the mortgage and pay for maintenance and repairs (but not improvements). If anyone in your family is disabled, she can make gifts to that individual or into trust for his or her sole benefit. In some states nursing home residents can transfer funds to so-called (d)(4)(C) trusts (also called "pooled trusts") for their own benefit.
These are the general rules. It’s always important to consult with a local elder law attorney to learn about how these rules are applied by your particular Medicaid agency or whether there are particular circumstances in your mother’s situation that would permit her to preserve some of her savings.
Local Elder Law Attorneys in Ashburn, VA
Meet Mindy Felinton
(301) *** ****
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Mindy Felinton
Felinton Elder Law & Estate Planning Centers
Mindy Felinton concentrates in the areas of Medicaid planning, Veterans' Benefits, asset protection, nursing home planning, elder law, wills, estate planning, trusts, living wills, powers of attorney, probate administration and trust administration and began her legal career 30 years ago as an Assistant State Attorney...
(301) *** ****
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Meet Samantha Fredieu
(703) *** ****
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Samantha Fredieu
Hale Ball Carlson Baumgartner Murphy PLC
Attorney Samantha Simmons Fredieu is an associate at Hale Ball. Ms. Fredieu graduated magna cum laude from Vermont Law School where she was the symposium editor on the Vermont Law Review, a production editor on the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, and a member of the Moot Court Advisory Board. She has clerked for...
(703) *** ****
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Meet William Fralin
(301) *** ****
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William Fralin
The Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm PC
Bill founded The Estate Planning & Elder Law Firm, P.C. in 1994. Bill limits his practice to the areas of estate planning and administration, incapacity planning, Medicaid, asset protection planning, and elder law. He is one of (15) fifteen attorneys practicing in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, ce...
(301) *** ****
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For more on spending down assets to qualify for Medicaid coverage, click here.
Last Modified: 07/25/2014
