Disabled In Effects Of Will

Try asking your question at misc.legal.moderated.

Dave

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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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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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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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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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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: > My wife and I are 90 and living in Orlando, Fl > I have a son who is disabled (50) and lives in subsidized housing in > Massachusetts.

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):

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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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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