Legal Question in Elder Law in Pennsylvania

Re: Nursing Home

In PA individuals are entitled to both Medicare and Medicaid, one is a federal and one is a state program, however, if an individual has income or property the state holds they MUST use ALL of their own income prior to the state stepping in....what individuals do to avoid this is transfer their property shortly before they enter a nursing home or hospital...well that doesn't work because......their now is a 5 year lookback period in which the state can recoup any amount of property or income to the transferee if it occurred within 5 years times from when the state starting kicking in their share of the money.

My advice is to immediately sell all remaining interest(s) in the house and / or other property of the parents to the children, then have the parents gift any profit they receive to the children....you are allowed to gift at least $10,000.00 per year per child....then have the parents rent back the house from their children...if your parents can trust you and your sister this would protect your parents and yourself from the state trying to recoup money from your parents if they ended up in a nursing home.

I also highly recommend contacting an attorney to go throught this procedure!

My office also offers flat rate pricing and free consultations, for additional information please visit my firm's website at www.AlleghenyAttorneys.com or by calling my office at 412.731.0865.

Sincerely,

Marc V. Taiani, Esquire

AAAL - Allegheny Attorneys At Law