Question: My 80-year-old mother has memory problems and has been living with my wife and me for about six months now. She keeps begging to go home, but I know she can’t be left alone because she does not remember things like if she took her medications. She has ruined all her finances and cannot…
Question: My mother pays a lot of money every month for my dad to stay at a home care facility with staff. My mother cannot take care of him, which is why she found this place. Now, the facility has said they want him to leave. What rights do we have? What can be done?…
Question: I would like to know whether I would qualify for the caretaker exemption under Medicaid rules if my parents transferred their home to me. I have been caring for my elderly parents in their home in New York State for more than two years. However, for a period of approximately six months I transferred…
Question: What is the difference between Medicaid and Medicare? Answer: People with special needs may qualify for a variety of government benefits, including Medicaid and Medicare. It can be difficult to tell the two programs apart, especially because their names are so similar. However, Medicaid and Medicare, which account for the lion’s share of federal…
Question: How can I leave money to a child with special needs? Answer: In almost all cases where a parent will leave funds at death to a child with special needs, this should be done in the form of a trust. Trusts set up for the care of a child with special needs generally are…
Question: My mother went into a nursing home six years ago after she broke her hip. She receives Medicaid benefits. We intended for her to get therapy and return home, but while she was in the nursing home, she was severely injured in a fall and now cannot leave the nursing home. She sued the…
Question: I’m a social worker trying to help a man who needs a skilled nursing facility, but who has no money and has been estranged from his wife for 35 years. He needs to apply for Medicaid to pay for the nursing facility, but because he is not “officially” divorced from his spouse, I’m not…
Question: How can I protect a special needs trust from those who prey on vulnerable beneficiaries? Answer: An inheritance from parents who fund their child’s special needs trust by will rather than by revocable living trust is in the public record. Predators are particularly attracted to vulnerable beneficiaries, such as the young and those with…
Question: With a special needs trust that requires Medicaid to be paid back following the beneficiary’s death, what is the statute of limitations for that repayment? If Medicaid has not asked to be paid back, when can the proceeds be distributed? Answer: There is no statute of limitations. Under the terms of the trust, after…
Question: If the creator of a revocable trust wants to make a beneficiary a co-trustee and make the current successor trustee a beneficiary, does she have an obligation to inform the current trustee of the change? Simply, can the trust’s creator make whatever changes she wishes without telling anyone? Answer: The creator of a revocable…
