Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

To accurately answer this requires a full disclosure of your mother's assets and an evaluation of the state of her health and mental capacity. A general answer follows and please note I am talking about the rules promulgated in New York.

The government entity that would pay for the nursing home is Medicare, administered by the State and Federal Governments. They examine the assets of the person over 65 going into the nursing home. If any assets were transferred within the last 5 years (the current "lookback" period) they are counted. One exception is if assets were transferred to a child caring for a parent: only transfers within the last two years are counted.

If the present and transferred assets are over a certain amount (always changing) there is a "penalty period." for example: If $70,000 was the amount of existing and counted transferred assets and the nursing home average for the State is $7,000 per month, the first ten months of nursing home coverage would not be paid by Medicare.

To properly review and understand the methods to protect the assets of the family, and to allow them to be transferred at the lowest tax rates, an elder care attorney is needed, as well as an accountant to work with the attorney. The amount you spend may seem high until you compare it to the amount that may end up being paid to the nursing home.

Please review all your parent's assets with a competent attorney immediately.