Married Couples and Medicaid: Establishing Eligibility is Much Easier and Can Happen Much Sooner than You Probably Think
With the help of a good Elder Law attorney, establishing eligibility for Medicaid for a spouse in a nursing home can occur much sooner and is much easier to accomplish than what you might expect. Within the Medicaid eligibility rules, there are plenty of opportunities for achieving this. Because of the way the income rules work […]
Married Couples and Medicaid: Understanding the Division of Assets Process
How the division of assets is handled, in regards to Medicaid eligibility, is important for many married couples facing one spouse entering a nursing home. This is one instance in which Missouri law and Illinois law is very different and that is the question of how much in assets the community spouse, the one not in […]
Married Couples and Medicaid: Is Getting A Divorce A Good Idea?
For a married couple facing the possibility of one spouse having to go into a nursing home, the question that may be on their minds is: Should we consider getting a divorce so that we can protect things through the spouse who won’t be going into the nursing home? Not only could getting a divorce […]
Married Couples and Medicaid: How Much Income Can the Community Spouse Have?
For a married couple applying for Medicaid, there are bound to be concerns regarding income and particularly how much income the community spouse (the one who isn’t in the nursing home) gets to keep. In Illinois, the base number is a set number that applies in all situations and that is $2,739. In Missouri, however, it […]
Married Couples and Medicaid: Cars, Trucks and Other Vehicles
The Medicaid rules regarding cars, trucks and other vehicles are different for a married couple than they are for a single person. A single person is only allowed to have one vehicle in Illinois that is limited to $4500 in value (unless it is used or equipped for medical transportation), in Missouri without that particular […]
Married Couples and Medicaid: What Happens If the “Well Spouse” Dies First?
We can be very successful through various planning means in protecting assets for a married couple through the well spouse, or the one who is not in the nursing home (known in Medicaid-speak as the community spouse). But, what if that spouse happens to be the one who dies first? Most married couples have what […]
Married Couples and Medicaid: How Much Assets Can the Community Spouse Keep?
If you are married and looking at applying for Medicaid, there are bound to be numerous concerns regarding the “community spouse,” the one who is not going into the nursing home, and what assets they are entitled to keep. One important asset the community spouse is entitled to keep is the residence. In addition to […]
Married Couples and Medicaid: Your Residence
The opportunity to protect your residence when one person of a married couple goes into a nursing home is different, consistent with Medicaid eligibility, than if you are a single couple. For married couples, while the spouse who is going to apply for Medicaid can only keep $2,000 worth of assets, the spouse who is not in […]
Do Transfers of Assets From One Spouse to the Other Affect Medicaid Eligibility?
One of the most central questions we get from married couples during Medicaid planning is also one of the most misunderstood questions: What is the effect of transfers of assets prior to application from one spouse to another? The common misconception is that married couples believe they can’t transfer assets between each other because of the […]
