Walnut Creek Elder Law Blog

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive as an elder law attorney in Walnut Creek, CA is, “Can the State of California take my home if I die after having been on Medi-Cal?”

 The state will not actually take your home. But your home, if it is in your estate when you die, can be subject to a claim by the state after your death for the amounts the state has paid for your care. This claim will be paid when your property is sold from your estate. The state can only recover for the amounts they have actually paid for your care. Presently the amount they can recover is $7,092 per month, minus the share of cost that you have contributed to a nursing home. This amount of course would be less than what you would have paid as a private pay patient in a nursing home.

 In order to establish your home as an exempt asset when you apply for Medi-Cal, you must confirm your intent to return home if you have entered a nursing home. There is a question on the Medi-Cal application which allows you to establish this intent.

 The state will not pursue a claim for reimbursement against a surviving spouse of a Medi-Cal recipient as long as she is still living in the property. When she dies, the state will pursue the claim against any assets she received from her spouse, including the home, if he was a Medi-Cal recipient. In addition, the state cannot pursue a claim against the home if the Medi-Cal recipient is survived by a minor, blind or disabled child.

 There are techniques allowed by the state for protection of the home from a claim after death. For instance, we can “transmute” or transfer the ill spouse’s interest in the home to the well spouse during his life, and reserve a life estate to the well spouse. We can also transfer the home from a single Medi-Cal recipient to his children, for instance, and reserve a life estate to the Medi-Cal applicant. Transfers such as these must be done correctly and pursuant to the regulations in order to avoid a state claim, and in order to avoid capital gains issues. Please be aware that there is no protection for the home if it is in the revocable living trust of the Medi-Cal recipient when he passes away. Asset protection planning must be accomplished while the Medi-Cal recipient has good mental capacity. Otherwise, we may have to go to court to correct the problem. Do not rely on the idea that your financial durable power of attorney and revocable living trust will allow you to make these transfers during mental incapacity. The estate planning documents require specialized language in order to do this, and most plans do not have the requisite language.

 Keep in mind that the state cannot make a claim against assets that are not in your estate when you die. You will need the help of your elder law attorney aka your asset protection attorney in order create a long term care and asset protection plan for you. 

 Written Michael J. Young, elder law attorney, Medi-Cal attorney, senior law attorney and probate attorney in Walnut Creek, CA and former in-house counsel for title insurance companies. Mr. Young is a Medi-Cal attorney and is VA Certified. He is a member of NAELA www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com LawYoung1@Gmail.com 1931 San Miguel Dr., Suite 220, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. 925-256-0298. Mr. Young serves Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, including the cities of Walnut Creek, Alamo, Danville, Concord, Brentwood, Pleasant Hill, Antioch, Clayton, etc. Mr. Young advises clients regarding Probates, Probates with Real Estate, Medi-Cal, nursing homes, asset protection, the VA Aid and attendance pension benefit, and long term care planning. Mr. Young is an Elder Law Attorney and Probate Attorney with offices in Walnut Creek, CA. Walnut Creek Elder Law Attorney, Walnut Creek Probate Attorney. Senior Law Attorney

Most of our clients make it well known in their long term care plans, that if they become ill, they wish to be taken care of at home for as long as possible. My parents made a pact with each other that if either of them had to go to “rehab”  as my mother called it, which is a skilled nursing facility, that they wanted to return home and be taken care of at home. My mother died at home under hospice care. Your elder law attorney can make these desires known in your elder care estate planning documents. In fact, at the Law Offices of Michael J. Young in Walnut Creek CA, we have our clients sign a separate “Intent To Return Home Document,” which states that if they have to go to a nursing home, it is always their intent to return to their home.

Most of our clients also make it known in their long term care planning documents that if they have a terminal illness, and they would only survivie by being hooked up to machines, that they would rather instead, be allowed to die with dignity, and not be hooked up to machines.

Many people do not know that hospice care can take place at home, and that hospice care professionals can come to your home. Hospice is also often paid for by Medicare or private insurance. To qualify for hospice, a physician must confirm that in their opinion, their patient is likely to die within a six month period. This is generally all that is required. I remember how relieved my siblings and I were when my mother was on hospice at home, and various nurses, social workers, doctors, priests and other aides came into my parents home to attend to my mother. All of us benefitted from this process. 

The hospice process allowed my mother, my dad, myself and my siblings to  to appreciate our last days together with my mother, outside of the traditional, more hectic hospital atmosphere.  

For more information about hospice, long term care planning, asset protection, Medi-Cal qualification and the VA Aid & Attendance Pension Benefit, please feel free to contact Michael J. Young at The Law Offices of Michael J. Young in Walnut Creek, CA. www.youngelderlaw.com www.walnutcreekelderlaw.com

Written Michael J. Young, elder law attorney, Medi-Cal attorney, senior law attorney and probate attorney in Walnut Creek, CA and former in-house counsel for title insurance companies. Mr. Young is a Medi-Cal attorney and is VA Certified.  www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com LawYoung1@Gmail.com 1931 San Miguel Dr., Suite 220, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. 925-256-0298. Mr. Young serves Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, including the cities of Walnut Creek, Alamo, Danville, Concord, Brentwood, Pleasant Hill, Antioch, Clayton, etc. Mr. Young advises clients regarding Probates, Probates with Real Estate, Medi-Cal, nursing homes, asset protection, the VA Aid and attendance pension benefit, and long term care planning. Mr. Young is an Elder Law Attorney and Probate Attorney with offices in Walnut Creek, CA. Walnut Creek Elder Law Attorney, Walnut Creek Probate Attorney. Senior Law Attorney

Scammers are consistently targeting older people. An older client of ours in Walnut Creek called us to ask how she could be taken to the airport so that she could give a courier $2,500 for a service fee. The service fee was apparently to ensure that she would receive $25,000 that she was told she won in a contest. Our client said that she had made the check out and was ready to have it delivered, and that it had to be delivered no later than 3:00 p.m. that afternoon. We instructed our client to do nothing. We followed up by calling the person back who called her. It was an obvious scam, and we contacted the FBI.

Another client told us that she received an e-mail, purportedly from her grandson, stating that he was in Europe and needed money wired to him right away. The e-mail stated that the grandson had been robbed, had no money, and was living in the street waiting for the money to be wired to him. This was a ridiculous story and an obvious scam Please do not respond to e-mails like these or click their links.

In another case, a man who was almost 90 years old and who was suffering from some dementia, was the victim of a scam involving time shares. An unscrupulous salesman sold the senior a number of time shares, which the older person would never be able to use. Fortunately, the timeshare contracts were reversed by his daughter, but not without a lot of time and effort.

These stories are very disheartening to me, as an Elder Law Attorney in Walnut Creek, who for many years has endeavored to help seniors keep what they have earned. We do this through the preparation of asset protection plans, revocable living trusts, powers of attorney and wills, and assistance with applications for Medi-Cal and the VA Aid and attendance Pension Benefit.

Written Michael J. Young, elder law attorney and probate attorney in Walnut Creek, CA and former in-house counsel for title insurance companies. www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com LawYoung1@Gmail.com 1931 San Miguel Dr., Suite 220, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. 925-256-0298. Mr. Young serves Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, including the cities of Walnut Creek, Alamo, Danville, Concord, Brentwood, Pleasant Hill, Antioch, Clayton, etc. Mr. Young advises clients regarding Probates, Probates with Real Estate, Medi-Cal, nursing homes, asset protection, the VA Aid and attendance pension benefit, and long term care planning. Mr. Young is an Elder Law Attorney and Probate Attorney with offices in Walnut Creek, CA. Walnut Creek Elder Law Attorney, Walnut Creek Probate Attorney.

PROBATE is a court proceeding that is used to distribute your assets to your beneficiaries at the time of your death. Probates are complex, and require that numerous forms and regulations be followed, before the court will sign an order distributing your assets to your beneficiaries or heirs. 

A probate with regard to your home and other real estate assets can usually be avoided with the use of revocable living trusts. To do this, title to your home would be transfered on the County Record from yourself, to yourself as trustee under your revocable living trust. For instance, the deed would be from John Doe to John Doe as Trustee of the John Doe Revocable Living Trust dated January 15, 2012. The terms of the trust will state who the home will be distributed to after you die, and this transfer can be completed on the County Record without a probate. 

However, not everybody passes away with their home in a revocable living trust. There are many occasions where individuals will pass away with their home in their name alone, and they may or may not have a will. A probate will probably be required whether they have a will or not. The terms of the will determine who the beneficiaries of the home will be. If there is no will, the home will be distributed to the “heirs at law” of the decedent.

With regard to real estate, a probate is required to clear the title so that the property can be distributed to the beneficiaries or heirs of the decedent, or so that the property can be sold and the proceeds of sale distributed to the beneficiaries or heirs. Clients will ask me why a probate would be required if the decedent has a will naming somebody as a beneficiary. To find the answer to this, we first need to first look at the County Record to see who the record owner is for the home. The last deed of record could be in the name of John Doe. John Doe is now deceased, so who can sign a deed from John Doe to his beneficiary? The answer is no one, which is why a court order would be required.

Written Michael J. Young, elder law attorney and probate attorney in Walnut Creek, CA and former in-house counsel for title insurance companies. www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com LawYoung1@Gmail.com 1931 San Miguel Dr., Suite 220, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. 925-256-0298. Mr. Young serves Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, including the cities of Walnut Creek, Alamo, Danville, Concord, Brentwood, Pleasant Hill, Antioch, Clayton, etc. Mr. Young advises clients regarding Probates, Probates with Real Estate, Medi-Cal, nursing homes, asset protection, the VA Aid and attendance pension benefit, and long term care planning. Mr. Young is an Elder Law Attorney and Probate Attorney with offices in Walnut Creek, CA. Walnut Creek Elder Law Attorney, Walnut Creek Probate Attorney

     Does your Financial Durable Power of Attorney (financial DPA) contain asset protection and government benefits qualification language? It probably does not, unless it was prepared by an elder law attorney. If you lose mental capacity, your spouse or children may be prevented from gifting your assets to themselves, in order to help you qualify for Medi-Cal or for the VA Aid & Attendance Pension benefit.

If your financial DPA contains any gifting language at all, it is probably limited to the annual gift tax exclusion amount, which is $13,000 per person this year. This language is usually of little help for Medi-Cal qualification. In addition, the language will probably not allow for gifting to the ”attorney in fact”, who is the person acting for you.  Specialized language is required under the law in order to allow for any gifting to the person acting as the “attorney in fact.” This specialized language usually does not appear in a “regular” financial durable power of attorney.

For instance, the home can easily be established as an exempt asset for Medi-Cal qualification. If the home is in the name of the Medi-Cal applicant who has lost mental capacity, and we want to transfer the home to a child and reserve a life estate to the applicant in order to avoid a Medi-Cal lien, most financial durable powers of attorney will not allow for this. Most financial durable powers of attorney will allow a transfer only upon receipt of consideration from a sale for fair market value of the real property.

To give another example, the Medi-Cal applicant, under the regulations, is allowed to own a life insurance policy, with a pay on death figure in any amount. However, in order to qualify for Medi-Cal, the applicant’s life insurance policy cannot have more than $1500 cash value. If there is a $5,000 cash value, for instance, the Medi-Cal applicant cannot qualify. The remedy is to liquidate the cash from the policy and then gift it out. What do you do however if the Medi-Cal applicant has lost capacity? We need to then look at the powers in the financial durable power of attorney. However, although most financial DPAs may allow for a liquidation of the cash value, they will not allow you to gift the cash out. The Medi-Cal applicant can only retain $2,000 in non qualified accounts, and if the cash from the policy cannot be gifted, it would have to be spent before qualification for Medi-Cal can be obtained.

The financial DPA in an elder law context, is also coordinated with the revocable living trust of the applicant. There should be specialized asset protection language in the trust, which refers to the financial DPA. This specialized language will allow the attorney in fact to “stand in the shoes” of the maker of the trust, for all purposes, including for Medi-Cal qualification. This technique is allowed by law, and provides the greatest amount of flexibility for the family who is helping the older person who has lost capacity, when we are applying for Medi-Cal.

Remember that if existing estate planning documents are not updated before the older person loses capacity, we may have to resort to a court proceeding to modify the language in the documents. This process is expensive and is not always guaranteed. The best approach is to pre-planning, and to have your estate planning documents updated as early as possible by a qualified elder law attorney, who practices full time in this area of the law. 

Written Michael J. Young, elder law attorney in Walnut Creek, CA. www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com mike@WalnutCreekElderLaw.com. 1931 San Miguel Dr., Suite 220, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. 925-256-0298. Mr. Young serves Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, including the cities of Walnut Creek, Alamo, Danville, Concord, Brentwood, Pleasant Hill, Antioch, Clayton, etc. Mr. Young advises clients regarding Medi-Cal, nursing homes, asset protection, the VA Aid and attendance pension benefit, and long term care planning. Mr. Young is a Concord Elder Law Attorney with offices in Walnut Creek, CA.

This is a brief list of exempt assets for Medi-Cal qualification. Your home is generally exempt, and you can take steps to protect your home from a Medi-Cal lien after your death. Your household goods and personal belongs are exempt. You can have an exemption for one car. Term life insurance policies are excluded, but you cannot have more than a total of $1500 cash value in the policies.  You can keep your IRAs and other “qualified accounts.” You can only have $2,000 of non qualified assets. 

This is a brief synopsis of exempt assets, and of course planning and applying for  Medi-Cal is much more complicated than is presented here. In addition, if you are a wartime veteran or the surviving spouse of a wartime veteran, you should consider planning and possibly applying for the VA Aid & Attendance Pension Benefit. Planning for the VA Aid & Attendance Pension Benefit should be coordinated with your planning for Medi-Cal benefits. Your elder law attorney, who is also certified by the VA, can help you with planning for both benefits. 

This blog is written by Michael J. Young, Elder Law Attorney, for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. You should consult an elder law, government benefits and asset protection attorney for your particular case, and before you proceed with any planning.

For additional information you can go to Mr. Young’s website at  www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com . You can send an e-mail to Mr. Young at mike@WalnutCreekElderLaw.com. His address is 1931 San Miguel Dr., Suite 220, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. Phone: (925) 256-0298. Mr. Young has clients in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, including the cities of Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Concord, Antioch, Bay Point, Alamo, Danville, Clayton, etc. Mr. Young advises clients regarding Medi-Cal, nursing homes, asset protection, the VA Aid and attendance pension benefit, and long term care planning. Mr. Young is a member of NAELA.

Michael J. Young, elder law attorney, represents many older clients in Brentwood, CA. Mr. Young practices in the areas of  estate planning, long term care planing, government benefits planning and asset protection. Author of The Alzheimer’s Legal Survival Kit and The Nuts and Bolts Guide to Veteran’s Benefits, Mr. Young helps his clients plan for the VA Aid & Attandance Pension Benefit for wartime veterans, and for Medi-Cal.  Both of these publications are available through Mr. Young’s website at www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com The Aid & Attendance Pension Benefit, (A&A) can help pay the costs for in home care, assisted living facilities and board and care. Medi-Cal pays for skilled nursing costs. Both programs are income and needs based, and they have different rules for qualification, gifting and asset protection. As a result, for the veteran, both must be planned for at the same time. Mr. Young’s long term care planning and estate planning emphasizes not only on ‘what happens when you die’, but ‘what happens if you don’t die.’

For additional information, please feel free to contact Mr. Young’s office at 925-256-0298 and his website at www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com

This information is not to be taken as legal advice, and you are encouraged to see an elder law attorney for your particular situation. 

Written Michael J. Young, lawyoung1@gmail.com, elder law attorney in Walnut Creek, CA. www.WalnutCreekElderLaw.com mike@WalnutCreekElderLaw.com. 1931 San Miguel Dr., Suite 220, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. 925-256-0298. Mr. Young serves Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, including the cities of Walnut Creek, Alamo, Danville, Concord, Brentwood, Pleasant Hill, Antioch, Clayton, etc.