Elder Law Answers
Using a Prepaid Funeral Contract to Spend Down Assets for Medicaid
In addition to helping your family after your death, a prepaid funeral contract can be a good way to spend down assets in...
Read moreWill I Have to Spend Down My Income For My Wife to Be Eligible for Medicaid?
- August 24th, 2018
Q
My wife may need to go into a nursing home and apply for Medicaid in a little more than five years. She has $930 a month in Social Security and no other income. She does have term life insurance policies of $180,000. I have a pension of $3,500 a month, income through work of $100,000 a year, and $350,000 in term life insurance. Questions: 1) What will happen to her life insurance? 2) Will I have to spend down my pension or work income to make my wife eligible for Medicaid? 4) Will my life insurance be in any jeopardy? I plan to eventually talk to an Eldercare Lawyer.
A
Neither of your life insurance policies or your income should be a problem. The life insurance policies have no cash value since they are term policies. You may want to transfer ownership into your name. In addition, you will not need to apply your income to your wife’s cost of care once she receives Medicaid coverage. Just her income would go to the facility. And, yes, it’s important that you consult with a local elder law attorney who can advise you on the best planning strategies and local application of the rules. To find one near you, go here: https://www.elderlawanswers.com/USA-elder-law-attorneys.
Local Elder Law Attorneys in Ashburn, VA
Meet Jean Ball
(703) *** ****
Learn more
Jean Ball
Hale Ball Carlson Baumgartner Murphy PLC
Jean Galloway Ball is certified in Elder Law by the National Elder Law Foundation. She is a 1977 honors graduate of the National Law Center, George Washington University, and she did her undergraduate work at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1971. She is admitted to practice in Vir...
(703) *** ****
Tell us about your legal issue and we will put you in touch with Jean Ball.
Meet Margaret O'Reilly
(703) *** ****
Learn more
Margaret O'Reilly
Margaret A. O'Reilly, PC
Margaret A. O’Reilly is an estate planning and elder law attorney with over thirty-five years of legal experience. Attorney O’Reilly graduated from Duke University with a degree in psychology, and received her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts. For over 15 y...
(703) *** ****
Tell us about your legal issue and we will put you in touch with Margaret O'Reilly.
Meet Samantha Fredieu
(703) *** ****
Learn more
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) *** ****
Tell us about your legal issue and we will put you in touch with Samantha Fredieu.
