By - Stouffer Legal
Often when someone approaches us about Medicaid Asset Protection or planning strategies to invoke Medicaid to cover costs, they ponder whether these tactics are in fact ethical. Attorneys are charged with some of the highest ethical rules of any profession and this applies to estate planning attorneys as well. Attorneys provide complete disclosure of the strategies being utilized to Medicaid agencies during the Medicaid application process. This planning in not at all about "hiding" assets. There are legal (and ethical) ways to shelter assets based on knowing the intricacies of the laws and how to apply them to specific fact patterns.
The way the laws are currently written, no individual has a right to basic long-term care; however, there are ways to provide coverage for a majority of the types of health conditions one faces in later years. There are other conditions though that are not covered and can cause significant long-term care costs not provided for by typical policies.
To prevent a senior from poverty due to long-term care costs, proper Medicaid planning includes strategies to protect spouses, to purchase certain types of insurance, apply for exemptions of certain assets, and in some cases transfer assets to other family members.
Medicaid eligibility rules are extremely complex and require highly experienced legal counsel.
